Transfer Turkey-NRW: 2005-2007

santralistanbul was selected the Turkey partner for 2005-2007 by the international art and artists exchange programme “Transfer”. The programme, which is implemented by the Cultural Secretariat of Germany’s North Rhine Westphalia since 1990 with new partnerships selected from different countries every two years, was implemented with santralistanbul in Turkey in the 2005-2007 period subsequent to its partnerships with Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Poland and Israel in the previous periods.

The objective of the “Transfer Turkey-NRW: 2005-2007” project was to establish a resourceful cultural dialogue between Germany and Turkey, thus contributing towards discovering and supporting outstanding new talents. The programme, in which 14 artists from both Germany and Turkey have participated, aimed to highlight the mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries and familiarise their cultures.

In December 2005, seven artists from each country were specified from among more than 100 applications to participate in the programme as a result of an evaluation conducted by the jury comprised of both countries’ specialists. In this context, artists from Turkey visited Germany in June and July 2006 and attended various activities, while artists from Germany arrived in Turkey in October, and stayed through November as santralistanbul’s guests, attending numerous cultural activities in different cities.

The works, which the participating artists created in line with their impressions of the partner country, were first exhibited in Germany, then in Turkey. The exhibition in santralistanbul was the last stop of the exhibitions of the “Transfer Turkey-NRW: 2005-2007” project after those in Aachen (Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen), Bochum (Museum Bochum) and Münster (Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster).

The “Transfer Turkey-NRW: 2005-2007” project, which targeted to contribute to the development of a dialogue between the artists of the two countries, provide for new encounters and explorations geographically and socio-culturally, and further open new channels in artistic production, was supported by the Goethe Institutes in Turkey and the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts.