Drawing from the Gezi protests that took place in Istanbul in 2013 and the kind of collectivities formed there between different artist and non-artist groups, and as an artist who was on the process of writing her PhD, I wanted to not just reflect on what happened in and during the Gezi protests, but also create my artistic research that reflects and sustains the ideas of hope and solidarity afterwards.

The saying ‘Maybe, we will benefit from our neighbour’s good fortune’ (komşuda pişer, bize de düşer) in Turkish involves a slight double entendre; it means the positive circumstances and good fortunes of those around us will also hold for us, yet at the same time signifies the state of exploiting and creating opportunities from these good fortunes. I thought that this old saying, referring very much to the changing dynamics of neighbourhoods in big cities could hold a potential for a research question for an exhibition: Can the the lost values of traditional neighbourliness provide frameworks for solidarity and resistance? Can collective production and communality, and a concept of neighbourhood formed around such an understanding, constitute a counter-stance towards oppressive politics? These questions became the first step of my research methodology for the exhibition.

Click here to view the remains of this cancelled presentation on Research Catalogue