HAPPENINGS
Orta Okul’s “Happenings” series draws inspiration from Allan Kaprow’s concept of immersive, site-specific art events. Happenings aim to transform everyday habitats into spaces of interaction, layered with relationships, values, and a focus on the practical impact of art. Through these organic interventions, we aim to create accessible, useful art experiences that resonate with diverse communities.
KÜÇÜK BİR AYRINTI
(A MINOR DETAIL)
Küçük Bir Ayrıntı (A Minor Detail) workshop is inspired by two women: Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who, in her book of the same name, addresses the place of minor details within grand narratives, and Beser Sonar, who, when she first moved to Germany, had to cook her meals without salt for weeks because she didn’t know what salt was called in German.
In this workshop, different generations of migrant women from Turkey came together around a table to make clay tablets inscribed with minor details from migration experiences.
This work will be part of the 50th-anniversary exhibition of the Türkiye Kadinlar Birliği (Women's Union of Turkey), on the evening of Saturday, March 8th.
YAŞASIN AKBELEN
(LONG LIVE AKBELEN)
“Yaşasın Akbelen” (Long Live Akbelen) was created in İkizköy, Muğla with women whose lives are deeply impacted by the mining industry. The Akbelen Resistance has been ongoing since 2019, sustained by the villagers’ tremendous sacrifice, dedication, and significant labor and resources. During this Happening led by Ece Gökalp, who focuses on the destruction of forests and cultural heritage in the region, Gökalp, and the women crafted a banner reading “Yaşasın Akbelen, Yaşasın İkizköy” using collected natural materials and the cyanotype technique.
TEA SUGAR DREAM
Tea Sugar Dream focused on the themes of migration and joy, in collaboration with women who migrated from Turkey to Berlin during the 1960s and 70s. How did women, who moved to Germany without knowing the language and often worked in low-paying jobs or unpaid domestic labor, preserve their joy during their migration experiences? Could their methods serve as guidance for new generations of migrants? Building on these questions, Tea Sugar Dream carried out projects centered on collective joy.
This collage was created in October 2023 by a group of migrant women, and was dısplayed on a billboard in Berlin.
A DAY AT SAVVY
On December 7th, we collaborated with SAVVY Contemporary as part of the HISTORICAL CHILDREN: LULLABIES FROM WOUNDS TO WONDER exhibition, where Leila Boukarim and Asaf Luzon conducted a DIY fanzine workshop for children. The exhibition explores the role of children and youth in imagining post-decolonization futures through interactive storytelling, art, and creative expression, celebrating their agency and imaginative capacities.
During the event, the children shared their stories using mixed media techniques and sticker prints of photographs from their personal archives.
INVISIBLE BORDERS
In parallel with the Open Frame seminar, Orta Okul organized a themed guided tour for “Invisible Borders” exhibition at Spore Initiative. The exhibition showcased works created by refugee and local children from the Sirkhane Darkroom Project in Mardin, led by Syrian photographer Serbest Salih, as well as by students from various grades in Neukölln. The goal of the exhibition tour was to inspire children by showing how their peers use photography as a method of storytelling.
The tour was organized in collaboration with Saboura Manpreet Naqshband, a political scientist, cultural anthropologist, and intersectional educator. Following the guided tour, Naqshband also led a short activity for the children.