Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ExiLives (Exiled Lives on the Stage: Turkey’s Artists at the Crossroads of New Aesthetic Practices and Political Subjectivities)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-09-01 al 2022-08-31
Importance for Society
The 'silent exodus' of artists from Turkey is not widely known, nor are the societal and artistic effects of this migration in motion. The choice of particular urban contexts will shed new light on the different positions, influences and implementations of European policy in these local areas. Key is to help develop society's awareness around mapping, analysing and understanding positive societal responses to exilic art. Berlin as a ‘city of exiles’ is known by its vast history of labour migration and current attraction for refugees and migrants. By doing the research with the Free University Berlin as its base, the project aims to renew the urgency for historical and contemporary studies of exile within the German research context, innovating current debates of diaspora, exile and post-migration for the Turkish and Kurdish art communities.
Objectives
(1) To critically examine the current artistic reflections of artists in exile from Turkey through their artistic works and statements.
(2) To map the supportive networks, institutions, residencies and routes used by artists at risk from Turkey.
(3) To explore new political subjectivities through newly produced theatre plays and performances, and the ways in which the artists redefine the relationship between aesthetic action and affective politics.
(4) To remodel the analytical vocabulary surrounding the ‘exilic experience’ in order to discuss associated artistic practices.
Conclusions
A new, interdisciplinary ethnographic study has revealed substantial differences in the way support and cultural production of (self-)exiled artists and artists at risk are organized in Germany, UK, and the Netherlands, on different levels of state and city. A more in-depth policy report has contributed to the distribution of knowledge on the different support mechanisms, institutions and networks in Germany. The theatre arts were also analyzed and discussed for their model function of the new reality of exiles, where the workings of aesthetics and performative affects aim to impact cultural debates of community, conviviality, social justice, peace, dignity, and free speech. Through a series of public panel debates and a podcast, the awareness of the relevance of Turkey's artistic exodus on Europe's institutions and development of independent theatres, including archives, has been addressed.
As main results, the project produced: two edited journal issues; an edited book; two book manuscripts; four book proposals; two peer-reviewed articles; a policy report; two popularizing articles, one in German and English, the other in English and Turkish; a research article with the pilot program Open Research Europe; nine paper presentations; a podcast series; a project website; and videos of all public events. The research publications are available in open-access in the repository ‘Refubium’ of the Free University of Berlin, the repository 'Pure' of the University of Groningen, Zenodo (indexed in OpenAire), as well as the Fellow's own Academia.edu and project website, exiledlives.eu.
The project also aimed at impact through capacity building and societal debate. The video-records will keep a memory engendering further potential impact. The podcast aimed at raising consciousness of different aspects related to current exile and the artistic production around it. Capacity building activities like the two book projects with young Turkish scholars, Deniz Basar and Eylem Ejder, will also have further impact on Turkish and Kurdish (theatre) scholarship as well as contribute positively to the knowledge and memory of Turkish and Kurdish theatre in the last decade, despite Turkey's censorship. Throughout the project, artists in (self-)exile from Turkey have been given opportunities to connect with different audiences and explore new workshop formats. Such initiatives may have a larger scope than academic and individual career developments too, particularly for the Kurdish artists whose language and art have been too often censored in their own communities. The project nurtured further transnational perspectives and collaborations, including the support of the Dîwan international theatre academy.