AFERIM YAVRUM Little Gestures of cooperation

AFERIM YAVRUM! Little Gestures of Cooperation Istanbul 05/02 - 13/03 2010

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian

BM SUMA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER - ISTANBUL Artist: Silvina Der-Meguerditchian

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

by Beral Madra pag. 2 WORKS Little Gestures of Cooperation pag. 6 Videos and installations pag. 28 TURKISH TRANSLATION İşbirliği için Küçük Jestler pag. 48 BIOGRAPHY pag. 56

INTRODUCTION

by Beral Madra

In his collection of articles entitled “The Freedom of the Migrant”*, Vilem Flusser engages with various aspects of this existential and tortuous human activity that is migration, triggered by politics and economy. Interestingly, the phrase “Objections to Nationalism” follows the title and points to the author’s critique of nationalism as a cause of migration. This argument is central to the creativity of the migrant. Flusser, who died in a traffic accident on his way back from Prague to France, where he spent the last years of his life, was a Jew, born in Prague, who migrated to Brazil from Europe. His writings on being and exile and on a stateless and rootless existence refer to his personal experiences.

Flusser encapsulates these as follows:

“Vertriebene sind Entwurzelte, die alles um sich herum zu entwurzeln versuchen, um Wurzeln schlagen zu können. Und zwar tun sie dies spontan, einfach weil sie vertrieben wurden. Es kann jedoch geschehen, dass sich der Vertriebene dieses Aspekts seines Exils bewusst wird. Dass er entdeckt, dass der Mensch kein Baum ist. Und dass vielleicht die menschliche Würde eben darin besteht, keine Wurzeln zu haben. Dass der Mensch eigentlich Mensch wird, wenn er die ihn bindenden Wurzeln abhackt”.(*) The exhibition “Well done, my little child!” gives an intimate analysis of such an experience.

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian is a migrant artist, born in 1967 and raised in Buenos Aires as the grandchild of an Armenian family that had been forced to emigrate from Anatolia.

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Since 1988 she has lived Berlin, a city where migrants of Turkish origin constitute the largest minority community. Turkish migrants are not absent from Buenos Aires either. However, the hostile atmosphere between Turkey and Armenia since 1914, the period of the Cold War, as well as the peevishness and introversion of the Armenian Diaspora has affected several generations. Today, despite the efforts of many including those of Silvina, resolving these memories continues to prove difficult. Silvina Der-Meguerditchian questions these effects through her art. Her starting point lies in the interdiction of social contact with Turkish migrants in Buenos Aires during her childhood, as well as in the complexity and enigma accompanying this illicit relation. In an inquisitive and probing way, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian documented her encounters with Turkish people over a period of 20 years. The objective was to overcome her fears, to challenge negative prejudices, and to question the image of Turks, both hated and loved.

Following her process of engaging with the decrease and the absence of the Armenian population in Turkey, the artist shares with us the outcome of her experiences. These include the pursuit of her family’s traces in their former homeland Gaziantep, which she visited in 2006, as well as her visits to Istanbul. This exhibition attempts to write a new and untold story of a mournful past. Silvina Der-Meguerditchian weaves a net of communication, builds a bridge between the estranged and starts a conversation with the unknown. Her attention is directed towards integration and disintegration, construction and deconstruction. In “Aferim Yavrum, Little Gestures for Cooperation�, we observe her arrival in Turkey, the deportations filling her mind and memory. We watch her cope with the rigidity of the official discourse and simultaneously experience a sense of belonging to the land. Her installations of knitted wool allude to traditional handicraft while reflecting the heartbreaking stories the artist was told by her grandmother and evoking the patience associated with knitting.

The texts, often full of irony, that accompany the encounters and conversations and which are documented in videos and photographs, present us with a heterogeneous narration. And this narration reveals the moments of sorrow, anger, irony and joy encountered on the rough path of rapprochement. The patient perforation of pieces of white paper with Turkish words from the artist’s memory and the shiny shadows these papers reflect on the walls count among the most poetic works of the exhibition. They visualize the relation between memory and language. This visual poetry, however, does not stop Silvina Der-Meguerditchian from criticizing radical and pessimistic people on all sides of the historic conflict, responsible for political and psychoanalytic deadlocks. She calls for a non-prejudiced examination of the issue. She wants to list the rightful and the unjust. And she wants people who struggle with this problem to benefit from these insights. Like us, she does not want another generation to live in this deadlock…

The exhibition and the catalogue contribute to the peace we hope to build between Armenia and Turkey in the coming future. We hereby thank all our supporters who made this exhibition possible.

(*)“Displaced persons are uprooted, trying to uproot everything around them to be able to put down roots. And they do so spontaneously, simply because they were displaced. However, it may happen that the displaced person become aware of this aspect of his exile. That he discovers that man is not a tree. And that maybe human dignity consists of having no roots. That man becomes man by chopping off the roots that bound him.” *Vilem Flusser (Author) The Freedom of the Migrant-Objections to Nationalism University of Illinois Press Vilem Flusser Von Freiheit der Migranten Bollmann 1994, p.107

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LITTLE GESTURES OF COOPERATION mixmedia work - selection the following texts are translations of the handwritings on the objects

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BERLIN, KASTANIENALLE 1991

object in wood, photography, handwriting on glas 92 x 72 x 10 cm 2009

In the early 90s, I started working at an animation studio. “Hahn Film” was full of foreigners, a veritable tower of Babel: Englishmen, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Poles, Hungarians, and so on. There was even an Argentinean working there. We became friends. My friend C. was having a hard time of it integrating into German society, and this was causing him considerable distress. Perhaps because his grandmother was German and he rejected that part of himself, he befriended T., a Turk. T. had been the animation director for the film Asterix in America for a while. One day C. said I should have lunch with him and T. in the studio kitchen. As soon as we were introduced, I felt the need to tell T. that we came from the same place or had something in common. I didn’t say that to provoke him. I think I was very naive. I told him that my grandparents were also from Turkey and had had to leave, that they were survivors of the genocide.

“Genocide?” He said, “What genocide?”

THAT NEVER HAPPENED. The piece of bread I was chewing stuck in my throat. Without saying a word, I stood up and left.

I never exchanged another word with him.

I think this experience rather clearly marked a long pause in my attempt to re-establish some form of relationship with Turks. It was better than five years before I could tell anyone straight out that I was Armenian, etc. C. and T. remained friends.

I wonder if C. would have remained friends with someone who denies what the military did to missing persons in Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s.

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I was invited to a conference in conjunction with the exhibition “Focus Istanbul.” I had two pieces on exhibit. The conference was called “Turkey: A Model?” It was about just how far Turkey can serve as a model for the integration of an Islamic community into a pluralistic society and, more generally, for the modernization of Muslim society. A very European question... People from various walks of life had been invited: journalists, writers, philosophers, and artists. I went the day Hrant Dink spoke. I wanted very much to meet him. He made a strong impression on me. He spoke convincingly and with great confidence. Ali Akay, another speaker, also caught my attention. He also spoke convincingly,and very abstractly, using philosophical language. In good, elegant deconstructionist style, he advocated completely dismantling national identities. I was quite irate. I thought, first they expunge us and our national identity from their country, putting their “nationalidentity” above everything else, and then, ninety years later, he just moves on up the dialectical spiral and says, that’s it, “national identity” is in any case over and done with, passé, out of date, simply and totally OUT. I was so mad at myself that I couldn’t respond then. I thought I’d write him, and that that might give rise to an interesting dialogue. In any case, I argued, it would be a better exchange than the one I tried to have with the man on the bus two years ago. We had a good exchange of emails. We didn’t agree right away but we had a good basis for discussion. The first time I went to Istanbul, we met for a glass of red wine. I saw that we shared an interest In French philosophers and a love for art. There were some “unsaids” between us, but, intuitively, I felt that everything was alright.

In 2007, I invited him to write the catalogue text for Underconstruction’s exhibition at the Venice Biennial. He came to the opening on the Island of San Lazzaro. Since then, we’ve been sending each other invitations to exhibitions and have kept in touch contact by email.

BERLIN, MARTIN GROPIUS BAU 2005

object in wood, photography, handwriting 42 X 36 cm, each 2009

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ISTANBUL, KEMERALTI CADDESI 2005 object in wood, photography, handwriting 15 x 20 x 8 cm 2009

The first time I went to Istanbul, I boarded the plane at midnight. From that plane that night, I saw the biggest full moon I’d ever seen. The clouds lent everything a very mysterious air... I was terrified ... I almost could hear a gray wolf howling.

The next day I went out on my first expedition, very cautiously. All of a sudden, I found myself in front of a church. Then I realized that it was an Armenian church. I was very excited. I wanted to go in and look for a long time, but I couldn’t find the door. I walked around the block several times and still couldn’t find the door. I thought to myself, “What’s this? Have they closed all the entrances?”

Finally, I made myself understood with gestures; I had tried speaking Armenian, but none of the people around could understand me. They sent me to where the door was supposed to be. Finally, I found another building in front of the door; it seemed to camouflage it. I wondered whether it was hidden that way to protect it or to prevent people from going inside…

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The European Cultural Foundation invited me to a face to face meeting. There were curators and artists from different countries who had been fellows of the foundation. Then I noticed a girl. She was introduced as Melek, from Istanbul. This round I didn’t pounce. I thought, calmly, and let’s see ...

I didn’t want to jump into the pool from the beginning. I wanted to take care of myself a little. I was letting Banu do something good for me in Berlin as my personal trainer, “without preconditions.”

So first I wanted to see what kind of person she was.

Each one would do a presentation and in discussions I was going to find out more about her without exposing myself.

Her talk and movies looked very interesting. There was a feeling of sympathy and empathy I would say, but we didn’t approach too much ... Now I know that was because of the language, my English is not very good and hers is not the best either ... but at that time I was not quite sure why we could not speak well.The final night we were all invited to a dinner by the ECF in a canal boat. She wanted to put lipstick and had no mirror. Instinctively, I had the impulse to help her, to stand up and put the lipstick on her lips. And then I realized that the gesture was a bigger thing, also from her side, the fact that she accepted…

Later I received an invitation to send an application for the Filmmor Film Festival and I did.

I thought, these are the paths that I have to go. A year later I was invited to the festival. Although I know it was not easy for the organizers to fund my travel costs, they did it. It’s a small gesture, but to me was very important and reassuring because it demonstrates a real desire to have me there.

Hatice told me I was “at home” in Istanbul and Melek thanked, she said that my presence gave them the opportunity to talk about one issue that needs a lot of discussion. It was a refreshing gesture.

AMSTERDAM, LLOYD HOTEL 2008

object in wood, photography, handwriting special thanks to the fotograf Agnieszka Rayss 92 cm x 72 x 10 cm 2009

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I needed a set of good photos for the Kahvehanne project. The artists ought to have good pictures of themselves for their homepage, I thought. I made an appointment with B. at Ute Langkafel’s studio. B. was a production assistant on the project. She had to take down information about me and confirm that the photos had been taken. As always, my name became a subject of conversation. She asked, “Is your name of Turkish origin?” I reacted as if I’d been stung by a tarantula. NO! I said, and launched out on a long explanation. I said that I knew many Armenian surnames contained Turkish words, but that MY name was 100% Armenian. It was Der-Meguerditchian: “Mgrdel” meant “baptize” in Armenian and “Der” showed that someone in my family had been a priest...

I was a bit irritated. I thought she could have been a bit more sensitive. After everything that had gone on between us...

But, on the way home, I was surprised at myself. My reaction hadn’t been much to boast about, either...

BERLIN, DRESDENERSTRAßE 2008

object in wood, photography, handwriting 30 cm diameter, each 2009

As if there were something shameful about being Turkish! I hadn’t been very nice.

I told my mother the story, adding that I was puzzled over the way I had behaved and didn’t think I had reacted particularly well. My mother proceeded to tell me a story of her own. On a visit to me a few years earlier, she had gone to Kaiser’s supermarket. At the meat counter, inspecting the various kinds of meat, she’d been unable to decipher a few words on a package. A helpful woman had come along and told her, in English: “That’s turkey.” She answered as if she had been stung by a tarantula: “No, I’m Argentinean!“ We had to laugh at ourselves!

A couple days later I apologized for my reaction, and I explained B. how hard all this was for me. I said that nothing but contact between us brought these things out, so that we could work on them.

She said that, in any case, she had nothing to do with it; she’d been born in Germany. I told her that that was OK, that I understood, that I didn’t want to attack her, that I just wanted to explain my reaction, and so on. Looking back, I hope that she remembers this encounter, that it left its mark on her. A few weeks ago I asked about my other grandfather’s last name: Tobdjian. My mother said it came from Topchu (cannon in Turkish) I’d never asked about the meaning of that particular last name... Three cheers for selective perception!

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I would never have thought that, one day, I’d be sitting in an all-male cafe full of Turks, telling them my grandparents’ story. The Ballhaus theater in the Naunynstrasse had invited me to participate in a project called Kahvehanne; the guest artists were mostly third-generation Turks. I’m not Turkish, but I, too, belong to the third generation of emigrants from Turkey. At least, I make bold to think so: I’m a third-generation migrant. My grandparents come from the same place as the parents and grandparents of most of those artists, although our ancestors left Turkey for different reasons. After drifting so long through an imaginary world, I make bold to take that place as my point of reference for a while.

For four days, the men of Yavuzeli e.V. shared their haunt, seeing people coming into their café every 15 minutes to watch my short film “in between.”

Out of interest, or, perhaps, out of the habit of watching a screen whenever something moves on it, many of them saw my film many times. I think they liked seeing their streets and highways, and listening to music, very similar to their own, that evokes the sadness and the empty feeling that comes with changing places. I had my prejudices about seeing so many Turkish men sitting together in a Kahvehanne. I assumed all of them were deniers.

Still, I thought to myself that we shared the experience of living in a foreign country, and that that might lead to the awareness that we had something in common. To my surprise, a man approached me the very first day and asked what my work was about. He said: “It’s about the deportees, isn’t it?” I said: “Yes”. He said: “That’s a very sad story.” I answered that it was. And he continued in a very low voice: “The government says that it wasn’t genocide but I think it was.” I was astounded.

Others looked at me with suspicion, but, as a rule, were very kind. Another very interested man invited me to drink a cup of tea and said: “But you were collaborating with the French!”

I answered that we did, but asked what he expected after what had happened in 1915 and 1916.

In the end I thought it would be a good idea to treat them all to pakhlava, of the choicest sort, of course. I went to a Kilicoglu bakery in the Adalberstrasse, bought some pakhlava, and served it to them. Then I took my things and said goodbye.

In the car, on my way back to Charlottenburg, the tension fell and I burst out crying, the way I did this summer, when I had to climb over a boulder on my path in Austria and, after having the fright of my life, had to release the tension by crying.

BERLIN , ORANIEN PLATZ, 2008

object in wood, photography, handwriting 92 x 72 x 10 cm 2009

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I went dancing with two girls in their twenties.

They worked for the Filmmor Festival. They were pretty. I liked the way they took my English colleague Karen and me in hand. At first they thought I was just Argentinean, but then, as we got to talking, they realized I was Armenian, too. The previous month, they’d been in Iran and Yerevan.

When I asked why they’d gone there, one of them told me that since conservatives in Turkey say such bad things about both countries, she wanted to go take a look for herself. These two girls were very savvy! And they were barely twenty years old! The atmosphere where we went dancing was great; the music was live, provided by an oriental rock group. It was a very rewarding experience and I really enjoyed dancing with the two girls. The group even played a song with Armenian lyrics: “Girl, why did you go away, little honey, why did you go away and forget me?”

ISTANBUL, PERÁ 2009

object in wood, photography, handwriting 30 x 50 x 5 cm 2009

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Today I spoke to D., a Turkish student, the first Turkish student I’ve had in all the years I’ve been teaching at university. I asked if she wanted to be in my collection of Turkish/Armenian encounters.

She was born here in Germany, but her family is from Afion, like Auntie Anita’s family. When I described the project, I told her where my grandparents came from and that they had survived the genocide. She looked a bit uncomfortable and said: “We don’t know whether that happened or not” ...

Then I asked if I could take a picture of her for my project and she refused, but told me that, if she could be helpful in any other way, all I had to do was ask. I wanted to cry...

This student had been so nice to me and so friendly and recent experiences had been so positive that I felt especially hurt when she said: We don’t know whether that happened or not.” At the same time, I wondered what she meant by “if I can be helpful in any other way?” How is one to bear the fact that someone so young and warm and friendly says she doesn’t know if something that shaped and defines one’s whole existence happened or not?

BERLIN , HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY 2009 object in wood, photography, handwriting 20 x 30 x 8 cm 2009

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My grandfather Avedis played the kanun. Everything about Avedis was a cultural legacy: he was a photographer, he painted and he was involved in vocational theater. My son Avedis is a musical child.

I thought I’d love his having some connection with Armenian culture, given that we live outside the Armenian community because I don’t fit in with the community here in Berlin. Maybe learning the instrument my grandfather used to play would be a way. Earlier, I’d considered having him take lessons from an Arab musician. This year, as I’m bent on reconciliation, I thought I’d look for a school of Turkish oriental music. I found one in Kreuzberg and went there with Avedis. The teacher gave me a very friendly reception. It seemed to me he was wondering why I wanted my child to learn to play that particular instrument. I told him that my family was Armenian and that my grandfather played the kanun. He put his hand on his heart and said he had great admiration for Armenian musicians and that Armenians were great composers of Eastern music. When the time came to buy an instrument, he said, I should buy a Turkish, not an Arab instrument; Turkish instruments were better.

Avedis could take private lessons once a week and attend group classes twice a week, in an orchestra with all the oriental instruments. On the one hand, I liked the idea of Avedis playing oriental music and taking part in this world that I didn’t know. I asked what language the children spoke. The teacher told me they had that problem; among themselves, the kids spoke German, so I needn’t be afraid that Avedis would be excluded. I said we had the same problem in the Armenian schools in Argentina, that Spanish-speaking children wouldn’t speak Armenian. On the other hand, I thought: ”What if they talk about him behind his back? Maybe they’ll speak Turkish and he won’t understand what they’re saying... or, worse, he’ll learn Turkish instead of Armenian...

I don’t know if I can handle this at the moment…

Sometimes I have “great ideas” but can’t follow up with feelings. I think I’m going to take Avedis to an Arab music school to learn to play the kanun.

BERLIN , SOLMSTRASSE 2009

object in wood, photography, handwriting 92 x 72 x 10 cm 2009

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INSTALLATIONS & VIDEOS

Video THE JUGGLER, 4 min, Music by THEA FARHADIAN - 2009

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Malabarista is a video installation by Silvina Der-Meguerditchian with sound by Thea Farhadian (San Francisco). Over two years ago Silvina DerMeguerditchian captured images of a juggler she encountered in a public space. The footage remained in her computer until the exchange with Thea Farhadian. Malabarista, Spanish for “juggler”, speaks to a quality of in-betweenness - between photography and video, between movement and impediment, between abstraction and narrative, between a difficult past where it is challenging to stay connected to the events of history and the longing to remember. The work acts as a metaphor for the juggling of Armenian and Turkish stories.

This history is so fragile that one is compelled to re-tell the story, but through another lens, and decades later. Silvina Der-Meguerditchian understands the artistic collaboration in “Malabrista” as part of a larger experiment, a process that seeks new, contemporary forms of expression for the current existence of the Diaspora. In the video the Armenian identity seems diverse and enigmatic, and arises in the intersection of constant motion and (further) development: patterns collapse and reconfigure together, disappear and return as images, as acts, as music...

B.Höffer

THE JUGGLER

Video 4:00 min Music by THEA FARHADIAN 2009

E (existence) paper, wool 35 x 60 cm 2009

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from the series Semantic Fields NOUS paper, wool 150 x 120 cm 2009

The three works of the “Semantic Fields” series are variations on a common theme: “E” (existence), “Nous” (we) and “Ben/Sen” (I/you) form a continuous narrative which tells the story of Silvina Der-Meguerditchian’s personal path of coming to terms with the trauma of the Armenians’ expulsion from Turkey and her attempts at rapprochement. The visualization of an absence; the void left behind by the Genocide of the Armenians thereby forms the starting point of the artist’s creative process.

It appears as if torn out, the scrap of paper on which the Armenian “E” –a synonym for “being”– becomes readable through a form of puncture: the pricking of the smallest of holes as signs of the disappearance. The artist fills these holes with fleecy woolen threads, lending them a new materiality and asserting in a forceful manner the existence of a cultural Armenian identity. This assertion becomes in the work “Nous” an appraisal as well as a biographically motivated question: Who are we?

How might a contemporary Armenian identity look in light of the past? The “holes”, the present and the lost, remain visible. From others there appear to grow threads, always establishing new connections and linkages. Yet these connections appear vulnerable, unsettling, in part even threatening: reminiscent of barbs and thorns and the trauma of the void. The room installation “Ben/Sen” goes one step further. Differently-colored woolen threads –coming out of the holes in the paper– fall harmoniously to the floor from opposite walls and come into contact with one another. They enter into dialogue and join in some places into a whole.

Ben/Sen imparts the wish of the artist of “coming together” after the breach, of seeking out common cultural identities and living reconciliation.

B. Höffer

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BEN / SEN paper, wool 2009

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LA QUÊTE D’UN REFUGE

Video 24:20 min Interview in Armenian with English Subtitles 2007

La quête d’un refuge is a documentary based on an interview with Dr. Vahe Tachjian that took place in Berlin (2006). Tachjian, born in Beirut and living in Berlin since 2006 is a researcher and author specialized in the Late Ottoman Empire and the modern States of the Middle East. In this video I use a minimalistic visual language: historical images are shown and discussed on his imac laptop. The thread of the conversation reveals step by step the collective picture in which my grandparents have lived. I realize that orphans with their traumas, fears and hopes constructed our third generation reality in the Diaspora.

PRESENCES Installation 2007

The installation “Presences“ is about the Armenian presence in Aleppo, Paris, Buenos Aires and Córdoba and implies absence of Armenian life today in the native city of my grandparents, Ainteb, now called Gaziantep - which is 120 km away from the Turkish / Syrian border. Historic images between 1910 and 1975 document the life of my family in exile showing very meaningful moments such as the arriving of my grandmother Agavni on a trip to her sister in the USA. It was their first reunion in over 50 years of separation after they had survived the death marches of 1915.

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PRESENCES

photography, wool different sizes 2007

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IN BETWEEN

Video 12:00 min 2008 With a French text from Laurence Zakri Turkish translation: Tunรงay Kulaoฤ lu German translation: Jochen Mathies

In between describes migration. The video combines images from the coffee ground with the reconstruction of a real journey that one part of the artist’s family went on from Ainteb, today Gaziantep, in Turkey, passing Aleppo (Syria) on the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, between 1915 and 1926. The road is interspersed with images of the coffee ground, poetical abstractions of different possible outcomes, interwoven in a way that leads oneself to be forever „In between“ two or more geographies.

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It seems as if there were single, differently sized pieces of wallpaper forcibly detached or torn from their connective base: “Emptied Words” is an installation of small paper objects. Each one of these objects bears a Turkish word or saying, which is formed by the stringing together of small holes (in negative form):

“Dert var gelir geçer, dert var deler gider” “There are things that pass by; there are experiences that bore through you and leave a hole forever.”

The punctured words first develop their actual visibility, however, through their inverse shadows on the wall; they move between presence and absence.

Turkish words like “old man”, “cabinet”, or “what comes, comes”, “I cannot breathe” … are personal mementos of the artist, just like the embroidered pink silk cloth of her great grandmother, which hangs equally next to the scraps of paper on the wall. As a child she heard these words almost daily from her grandparents, without knowing of their linguistic-cultural background. Over the course of time, these words became empty shells of a connection which was suppressed and silenced.

In this work, however, the words become evidence for Silvina Der-Meguerditchian: Like the small threads which are left hanging, almost by chance, in the “holes” of the words, they point to a piece of her own identity previously manifested through absence, the Turkish language and culture.

B.Höffer

EMPTIED WORDS paper, yarn different sizes 2009

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The film “We come from there” is a very personal document on the still existing and felt closeness and ambivalence to the Turkish language and culture among Armenian migrants of the 2nd and 3rd generations: The artist gives the word to her own family, which for the most part has lived in Argentina since their expulsion from their homeland. The introductory part of the film work shows an open conversation between Silvina and her parents, aunts and cousins. They discuss the traces which the Turkish language has left behind even today in their own language or vocabulary. Above all, it’s the memories of their childhood, of the conversations between parents and grandparents, which are connected to the “Turkish”. Almost all of them speak a few snippets of “Turkish”. This astonishing intimacy to a culture nonetheless overlaid by silence and prohibition has something eerie about it; it touches and unsettles at the same time. And yet it appears to be unavoidable: “It`s natural, we come from there.”

In the second part of the film, the artist’s mother speaks with obvious delight about her memories of the

WE COME FROM THERE

Documentary 21:00 min Interview in Spanish with English subtitles 2009

silenced “Turkish part” which is breathed new life by her stories. She reports how the adults would often speak “Turkish” in everyday life among one another. It was simply their language. In any case, the children were forbidden to speak this language. This made the “Turkish” into something attractive and desirable for the children, yet at the same time a menacing secret, a taboo. Nevertheless, the “Turkish” language found its way into the children’s memory and vocabulary. Silvina’s mother especially remembers the numerous sayings whose pithy life and household rules she still knows by heart. They remained an element of the own cultural identity. At the same time, they point to the links between the so-called “Turkish” and “Armenian” culture: the “Turkish sayings” often have Armenian origins, became translated, and were widely disseminated primarily in the Turkish language. They let one become visible as part of the other, and vice versa; they appear in this context as “little gestures” on the way to reconciliation. B.höffer 46

İşbirliği için Küçük Jestler

Turkish Translation

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BERLIN, KASTANIENALLE 1991- pag 8 90’ların başında animasyon stüdyosu “Hahn Film”de çalışıyordum. Yabancıların çoklukta olduğu bu stüdyo gerçek bir “Babil Kulesi” gibiydi. Benim gibi Arjantin’den gelen C. ile yakın arkadaş olduk. Büyükannesi Alman olmasına rağmen C.Almanya’ya uyum sağlamakta zorlanıyordu ve yakın arkadaşlarından biri Türk T. idi. T. Bir dönem Amerika’da Asterix filminin animasyon yönetmeniydi. Bir gün C. beni stüdyodaki restoranda T.ile birlikte öğlen yemeğine çağırdı. Yemekte T.ile tanışır tanışmaz ona içtenlikle aynı yerlerden geldiğimizi ve benzerliklerimiz olduğunu söyledim. Amacım onu kışkırtmak değildi, büyükanne ve büyükbabamın geçmişte soykırımda kurtularak Türkiye’yi terk etmek zorunda kaldıklarını söyledim. T. Soykırım mı? Ne soykırımı? ÖYLE BİRŞEY OLMADI…dedi.

Lokmam boğazıma takıldı, hiçbir şey söylemedim ve masayı terk ettim. Bir daha onunla tek kelime bile etmedim. Bu deneyim Türklerle olabilecek ilişkilerime ara vermeme sebep oldu. Bundan sonra tekrardan birine ben Ermeniyim, diye kendimi tanıtmam beş yıldan fazla zaman aldı. C.ve T. arkadaşlıklarına devam etti. Acaba C. 70 li, 80 li yıllarda Arjantin’de kaybolan insanların varlığını reddeden biriyle de arkadaş kalmaya devam eder miydi?

BERLIN, MARTIN GROPIUS BAU 2005- pag 10 “Focus İstanbul” başlıklı bir sergi için, İstanbul’da bir konferansa davet edildim. İki işimle katıldığım serginin konferans konusu “Türkiye bir model mi?” idi.

Konferansın içeriği ise; Türkiye’nin, müslüman çevreler ve çoğulcu toplum anlayışı ile bütünleşmede ne kadar rol oynayabileceği ve islamın modernleşmesine nasıl bir katkıda bulunacağı idi. Çok Avrupa’lı bir soru... Çok çeşitli alanlardan katılımcıların olduğu konferansa ben konuşmacı olarak Hırant Dink’in katıldığı gün gittim. Çok etkilendiğim Hırant Dink ile tanışmak istiyordum, kendinden çok emin ve çok olumlu bir konuşmacıydı. Beni etkileyen bir başka konuşmacıda Ali Akay idi. Oldukça soyut bir biçimde milliyetçi kimliğin bozulmasının sorgulanmasını savunarak, kutuplaşmaların önüne geçilmesi gerektiğini vurgulayan yapıcı bir felsefeyle konuşmasını sürdürdü.

Oldukça sarsılmıştım; biz ve bizim ulusal kimliğimizi silmekte olduklarını düşündüm ve kendi “ulusal kimlik” anlayışlarını savunacaklarını düşündüm.

Konuşmanın devamında anladım ki “ulusal kimlik” geçmişte kalmış… Bütünüyle gündem dışı.

O anda cevap veremediğim için kendime çok kızdım ve ilginç bir diyalogla sonuçlanabilecek yazılı bir cevap vermeyi düşündüm. Her şekilde, iki sene önce otobüste karşılaştığım adamdan daha verimli bir sonuç alacağıma inandım. Çok iyi bir mail yazışmamız oldu, her konuda anlaşamamakla beraber aramızda iyi bir müşterek oluştu. İlk İstanbul’a gelişimde buluştuk, Fransız filozofları ve sanat hakkında sohbet ettik, uzlaşamasak bile aramızın iyi olduğunu seziyordum. 2007 yılında Venedik Bienali’nde açılan “Undercontruction” sergisinin kataloğuna yazılacak bir metin için onu Venedik’e davet ettim. San Lazzaro adasındaki açılışa geldi. Hala birbirimizle mail yoluyla haberleşiyoruz.

KEMERALTI CADDESI 2005- pag 12 İlk defa İstanbul’a uçuşum bir gece yarısıydı. O gece uçaktan gördüğüm dolunay hayatımda gördüğüm en büyük dolunaydı, bulutlar da her şeye daha da gizemli bir hava katıyorlardı. Korkmuştum, neredeyse boz bir kurdun ulumalarını duyacaktım. Ertesi gün adımlarımı çok dikkatli attım. Aniden bir kilise ile karşılaştım, bir Ermeni kilisesi olduğunu fark ettim, çok heyecanlandım. İçeri girip bakmak istedim ama kapıyı bulamadım. Birkaç kez etrafında dolaştım ama kapıyı bulamadım. “Bu da ne?” diye düşündüm. Bütün girişleri kapamışlar mı? Kendimi el kol işaretleri ile anlatmaya çalıştım, Ermenice konuştum ama kimse anlamıyordu. Beni kapının olması gereken yere yönlendirdiler, en sonunda kapının ağzında kamuflaj gibi yapılmış başka bir bina olduğunu fark ettim. Bu koruma amaçlı mı yapılmıştı yoksa insanların içeriye girmelerini önlemek için mi kendime sormadan yapamadım.

AMSTERDAM, LLOYD HOTEL 2008- pag 16 Avrupa Kültür Vakfı bir görüşme için beni davet etti, vakıfla ilişkide olan çeşitli ülkelerin küratörleri, sanatçıları biraradaydı. Derken bir kadın gözüme çarptı, İstanbul’dan diye tanıtıldı adı Melek. Sakin ol; dedim kendime, göreceğiz… Hemen balıklama atlamadım biraz bekledim, “önkoşullandırmadan” beklemeyi Berlin’deki özel çalıştırıcım Banu ile tecrübe etmiştim.

Nasıl biri olduğunu anlamaya çalışacaktım, herkes sunumlarını yapıp, açıkoturumlar devam ederken kendimi göstermeden anlayabilirdim. Konuşması ve filmleri oldukça ilginç idi. Sempati ve empati duyguları vardı diyebilirim ama çok yakınlaşmadık. Şimdi düşünüyorum 50

da her ikimizin de İngilizcesi çok iyi değildi, belki lisanımız yetmedi... Yine de niye konuşamadığımızı bilmiyorum... Son gece hepimiz vakfın teknede verdiği akşam yemeğine davetliydik, rujunu tazelemek istedi ama aynası yoktu, içgüdüsel olarak, yardım dürtüsüyle kalktım rujunu sürdüm. O an anladım ki jest yapabilmek çok önemli, o da böyle kabul ediyordu...

Daha sonra Filmmore Kadın Filimleri Festivaline bir başvuru daveti aldım ve başvurumu yaptım. Bunlar geçmek zorunda olduğum yollar diye düşünüyordum. Bir yıl sonra festivale davet edildim. Festivali düzenleyenler için benim yol paramı karşılamak zor olacak diye düşünürken parayı buldular. Bu belki küçük bir jestti ama benim gerçekten orada olmamı istediklerinin bir göstergesi olduğu için çok önemliydi. 2009’un Mart ayında ben filmin sunumu için İstanbul’dayken Hatice İstanbul’da kendimi evimde hissetmemi söyledi; Melek ise benim orada bulunmamın çok tartışılması gerekli bir sorunu konuşma fırsatı yaratmış olduğundan dolayı bana çok teşekkür ettiğini söyledi. Çok rahatlatıcı davranışlardı.

BERLIN, DRESDENERSTRAßE 2008- pag 18 Kahvehane projesi için fotoğraf çekmem gerekiyordu.

Sanatçıların web sayfaları için güzel birer portre fotoğraflarının olması gerekiyordu. B. ile Ute Langkafel Stüdyo da randevulaştım. B. Projenin yapım asistanıydı.

Benim hakkımdaki bilgileri yazıp, fotoğrafların kabulünü yapması gerekiyordu. Her zamanki gibi ismim yine baş konuydu…“İsmin Türkçeden geliyor değil mi?” diye sordu.

Bir tarantula tarafında ısırılmış gibi “HAYIR!” diye cevap verdim ve uzun bir açıklamaya giriştim: Birçok Ermeni soyadı Türçe kelimeler taşır ama benim soyadım Yüzde yüz Ermenice, Mıgırdıçyan, “mıgırdıç” Ermenice vaftiz edilmiş demek ve ‘’Der’’ ailemde bir papaz olduğunu gösterir… Biraz canım sıkılmıştı. Aramızda olanlardan sonra biraz daha duyarlı olması gerekirdi değil mi? diye düşündüm. Eve dönerken kendi davranışıma şaşırdım, hiç kibar değildi ve adım Türkçe olsa bile bu bir hakaret değildi ya… Hiçte güzel yapmamıştım. Hikâyeyi anneme anlattım, bu kötü tepkimden ötürü kendi kendime hayret ettiğimi söyedim. O da bana başka bir hikâye anlattı. Birkaç yıl evvel beni ziyaret ettiğinde Kaiser süper markete gitmiş. Et reyonunda etlere göz atarken bir paketin üstünde yazılanları anlayamamış ve bir kadın yardım etmek için yaklaşmış bu “Turkey(Hindi)” der demez annem tarantula tarafından sokulmuş gibi “HAYIR! Ben Arjantliyim”demiş. Kendi halimize güldük!

Birkaç gün sonra tepkimden ötürü B. den özür dileyerek bütün bunların benim için ne kadar zor olduğunu anlattım.

Birbirimizle ilişki aracılığı ile su yüzüne çıkan problemleri çözmenin tek yolunun bu ilişkileri kurmak olduğunu söyledim. Bana bu sorun ile hiçbir ilgisi olmadığını zaten Almaya’da doğduğunu söyledi. Tamam, seni anlıyorum dedim, ona saldırmak istemedim. Ona sadece tepkimi açıklamak istemiştim… Geriye dönüp baktığımda, umarım bu karşılaşmamız onu biraz bilinçlendirerek hafızasında bir iz bırakmıştır diye düşünüyorum. Birkaç hafta evvel, diğer büyükbabamın soyadını araştırdım: “Tobdjian”(Topçuyan). Annem Topçu’nun Türkçeden geldiğini söyledi. Bu soyadının anlamını hiç sormamıştım… Yeni bir bakış açısı daha,üç alkış!

BERLIN, ORANIEN PLATZ, 2008- pag20 Asla, bir gün erkeklerden oluşan bir Türk kahvesinde oturup geçmişimden konuşacağımı düşünmemiştim. Ballhaus Nauynstrasste “Kahvehane” başlıklı projesi için beni davet etmişti ve katılımcıların çoğu üçüncü kuşak Türk idi. Ben Türk değilim ama aynı zamanda üçüncü kuşak Türk göçmenleriyle aynı yerdeyim. Bu düşünceyi sevdim, üçüncü kuşak göçmendim. Büyük ebeveynlerim oradaki birçok sanatçıyla aynı yerlerden geliyor ama benimkiler çeşitli nedenlerden dolayı Türkiye’den ayrılmak zorunda kalmışlar. Göçmen dünyada çok kulaç attıktan sonra, asıl meselemi ortaya koydum. Dört gün boyunca Yavuzeli’nden gelenler kısa video filmim “In Between” i onbeş dakika da bir izlediler. Hiç bir ilgi duymadan, sadece hareketli bir ekrana bakarak defalarca seyrettiler. Bana öyle geliyor ki; aşina oldukları sokaklar, aşina oldukları müzikler öylesine üzüntüyle, öylesine kaybettiklerini anımsatarak, yaşadıkları topraklardaki değişimleri onlara anlatıyordu ki... Bir sürü Türk erkeğini Kahvehanede bir arada görünce, önyargılı düşüncelerim geri geldi ve hepsinin gerçekleri görmezden gelen kalabalık olduğu idi...

Bununla birlikte, yabancı bir ülkede yaşayıp, aynı deneyimlerden geçerek, paylaştıklarımızla yeni bir başlangıç noktasında buluşabileceğimizi düşündüm. Benim için çok şaşırtıcı olan, ilk gün bir adam yanıma geldi ve “bütün bu konuşulan, sınır dışı edilenlerle ilgili, değil mi?” dedi. Ben, “evet” dedim. “Çok acı” dedi. Ben “çok acı evet” dedim... Oldukça alçak bir sesle devam etti, “bence soykırımdı, ama devlet değil diyor” Biraz afallamıştım. Diğerleri bana güvensizlikle bakıyordu ama genelde çok naziktiler. Bir başka enteresan adam beni çay içmeye davet etti ve “sizler de Fransız’larla 52

işbirliği yaptınız” dedi. Ben de “evet, ama 1915 – 1916 techirinden sonra ne olmasını beklerdiniz?”dedim.

Sonunda hepsini baklava yemek için davet etmeye karar verdim, Adalberstrasse deki Kılıçoğlu fırınına gidip baklava aldım ve hepsine ikram ettim... Eşyalarımı toplayıp herkesle vedalaştım. Charlottenburg’a arabayla dönerken bir anda ağlama krizine yakalandım, geçtiğimiz yaz Avusturya ‘da bir kayalığa tırmanırken hayatımın korkusunu yaşayıp, ağlayarak kurtulmuştum...

ISTANBUL PERÁ, 2009- pag 22 Filmmore Festival’i için çalışan yirmili yaşlardaki iki kızla dansa gittim. İngiliz iş arkadaşım Karen ve beni sahiplenmeleri hoşuma gitti ve Arjantin’li olduğum için bize hoş davranıyorlar diye düşünürken Ermeni olduğumu tahmin ettiklerini anladım. Bir önceki ay İran ve Erivan’ a gitmişler. Neden oralara gittiklerini sorduğumda, kızlardan birisi ‘Türkiye de muhafazakarlar her iki yer içinde kötü şeyler söylüyor ve biz kendimiz görmek istedik’ dedi. Bu iki kız çok sağduyuluydu! Ve ancak yirmi yaşlarındaydılar. Dansa gittiğimiz yer harikaydı; yerli bir rock gurubu canlı müzik yapıyordu. Çok tatmin edici bir deneyimdi ve gerçekten o iki kızla dans etmek eğlenceliydi. Grup bir ara Ermeni’ce sözlü “neden gittin, küçük balım, neden gittin ve unuttun beni” şarkıyı söyledi.

BERLIN, HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY, 2009- pag 24 Bugün D. İle konuştum, bir Türk öğrenci, yıllardır süregelen üniversite eğitmenliğimdeki ilk Türk talebem.

Kendisine Türk- Ermeni toplantılarımıza katılmayı ister mi diye sordum. Almanya’da doğmuş ama ailesi Afyon’luymuş, teyzem Anita’nın ailesi gibi. Ona, büyükanne ve büyükbabamın soykırımdan kurtulanlardan olduğunu söyledim. Biraz gerilmiş olarak bana; “Hiçbirimiz soykırım oldu mu olmadı mı bilemiyoruz” dedi…

Bir fotoğrafını çekmek istediğimi söyledim, istemedi ama başka şeylerde bana yardımcı olabileceğini ilave etti.

Ağlamak istedim. Bu talebem bana karşı kibar ve yakın olduğu gibi son zamanlardaki deneyimlerimiz olumluydu. Özellikle, bana “soykırım oldu mu, olmadı mı bilemiyoruz” dediğinde kırılmıştım, ama aynı zamanda bana “yardımcı olup, olamayacağını” sorarak şaşırtmıştı. Bütün yaşamımın, varoluşumun tek bir işaretini, tanımını hiç bilmediğini söyleyen bu gencecik, sıcakkanlı kızla ne yapmalı?

BERLIN, SOLMSTRASSE 2009-pag 26 Büyükbabam Avedis kanun çalarmış. Çok kültürlü bir şahsiyetti, fotoğraf çeken, resim yapan bir meslek okulu öğretmeniydi. Oğlum Avedis müzikle ilgili. Düşündüm ki: Ermenistan dışında, Almanya’da yaşadığımızdan oğlumun Ermeni kültürünü tanıma şansı yok, ama büyükbabamın çaldığı kanun bir yol olabilir. Önceleri onu, Arap müzisyenlerin ders verdiği bir kursa göndermeyi düşünmüştüm. Ama bu sene barış yapmak kararımdan aldığım güçle, Türk müziği dersleri veren bir okul bulabileceğimi düşündüm. Buldum da, Avedis ile birlikte Kreuzberg’e gittik. Öğretmen mükemmeldi, herhalde böyle bir müzik aletini çalmayı neden oğluma öğretmek istediğimi merak etti. Ailemin Ermeni olduğunu ve büyükbabamın çok güzel kanun çaldığını söyledim. Elini kalbine götürdü ve Ermeni müzisyenlerine hayran olduğunu, doğu müziğinde çok önemli Ermeni bestecilerin var olduğunu söyledi.

Kanunu seçerken Arap olanı değil, Türk olanı seçmemizi önerdi, daha iyiymiş. Avedis haftada bir özel, haftada iki grup derslere katılabilirdi (doğu müzik aletlerinden oluşan bir orkestra ile). Avedis’in doğu müziğini öğreneceği, benim yaşayamadıklarımı yaşayabileceği hoşuma gitti. Öğretmene çocukların hangi lisanda konuştuklarını sordum. Öğretmen şöyle bir sorun olduğunu söyledi; çocuklar aralarında Almanca konuşuyordu ki korkmam gereksiz, Avedis için sorun değil. Arjantin’de Ermeni okulunda aynı sorunların yaşandığını, İspanyolca konuşan çocukların Ermenice konuşmadıklarını öğretmene söyledim.

Bir anda aklıma eğer Avedis hakkında konuşmak isterlerse Türkçe konuşacaklar ve o hiç bir şey anlamayacak, daha da kötüsü Türkçe öğrenecek; Ermenice değil... Bu benim için çok fazlaydı... Bazen müthiş fikirlerle yola çıkıyorum ama duygularım onları takip edemiyor. Avedis’i müzik derslerine, Arap usulü kanun çalmayı öğrensin diye göndereceğim.

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BIOGRAPHY

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian born 1967 in Buenos Aires, Argentina lives and works in Berlin www.silvina-der-meguerditchian.de www.underconstructionhome.net

Silvina Der-Meguerditchian is the granddaughter of Armenian immigrants to Argentina and was born in Buenos Aires in 1967. She grew up in Argentina and since 1988 lives in Berlin. A recurrent theme of her artistic work is the remembrance of the ethnic dislocation of the Armenian people. Silvina Der-Meguerditchian ties a net. She connects the disparate, builds bridges between separate worlds and seeks a dialogue with the unknown. Her main focus is always on the actual process of joining and dissolving, constructing and deconstructing identity. Der-Meguerditchian’s work represents a type of mnemonics, namely the individual and collective art of commemoration. She is initiator of the platform for armenian artists “undeconstruction”,(www.underconstructionhome.net) curator of “Under Construction” - Talking about identities in the Armenian Transnation, the first “off” Armenian Diaspora representation at the 52. Venice Biennial and curator of the exhibition “Voulu/obligé, Outskirts of a small contradiction” part of the official Programm in the 53rd Venice Biennial. <SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS> <2008> Gallery K9 Aktuelle Kunst, Hannover, Germany <2006> Siempreviva, Klosterruine, Berlin <2005> RECONOCER, Galerie ELSI del RIO, Buenos Aires <2004> The dream collection, Lab. Berlin, Instituto Cervantes, Berlin <2003> Galerie Raskolnikow, Dresden, A.L.M.A Museum, Watertown, U.S.A <2002> The texture of the identity, C. Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires <2001> Subjektive Eindrücke, C.C. Borges, Buenos Aires <1999> Migraciones urbanas, Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires <SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS> <2009, Thisplaced, Tallinn City Gallery, Filmmor Film Festival Istanbul, Voulou/Obligé at Krossing, Collateral Event in the 53rd Venice Biennial> <2008, “Obscurum per obscurious”, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia, Biennial Teheran, Istanbul><Tehran roaming biennale, Istanbul><New Berlin Festival, Berlin><Kahvehane, Theaterproject Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, Berlin> <2007, Visual Dialog: Under_construction, Mekhitarist Monastery, Venice, „Reality crossings”, 2.

International Photo Festival, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg> <2006, Artfair ARTEBA 06 with Gallery Elsi del Rio, Buenos Aires, 9. Biennale Gyumri,Armenia/ Zona de Trânsito, Cervantes Institut, São Paulo, Zona efímera> <2005, Las lloronas del arte, Performance/Film with lab Berlin, Prima Center Gallery, Berlin, ARTEBA05, Buenos Aires, “The free will”, Bunker in the Arena, Berlin, Urban realities: Focus Istanbul, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, “Hei-

mat: Inbetween” Hamburg,“Corrosión”, Uberlandia, Brazil,“Always visible”, Sao Paulo> <2004, Evita: un Escudo, Senate from Buenos Aires, “Ciclo” with Imaginary Line, C.C.Sao Paulo, Brazil, Print Triennial, InExile, Center for Contemporary arts, Tallinn, Eastland, Paradies Projekt, Kunstsalon, Berlin, Armenian linking, Prima Center Gallery, Berlin> <2003, A.L.M.A Museum, Boston, U.S.A., Presentation evening, “Getting closer” IFA Galerie, Berlin, Escape Point Project with “Imaginary Line”, Galeria Marta Traba, Memorial de America Latina, Sao Paulo, PARADISE, Bunker am Alexander Platz, Berlin > <2002, ARVEST, Blue Whale Building, Los Angeles, Significans, NGBK, Berlin > <2001- Argentinian artist on the mirror, coop. project between the Goethe Institut/Argentinian Embassy, Berlin> <RESIDENCIES> 2003- Armenian Center for contemporary/experimental art, Yerevan, Armenia <CURATED EXHIBITIONS> 2007 Visual Dialog: Under_construction, Mekhitarist Monastery, Venice 2008 “aRmar armenia”, Group Video Exhibition, Centro Cultural Armenio, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2009 Thisplaced, real, virtual, In between, Tallinn City Gallery, Voulu/Obligé - Krossing, Collateral Event at the 53rd Venice Biennial <GRANTS & AWARDS> 2002- 2. Place, It’s all about a dream? Wilhelm-Fabry-Museum, Hilden 2007 Award von EFC, European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam, Holland 2008 Grant Toufenkian Foundation, Exploring the Ground in Berg Karabag 2009 The Soros Foundation Grant, Heinrich Böll Foundation Grant <EVENTS> 2008- <Participation in a Face to face Meeting in Amsterdam, organized by Ong Keng Sen and the European Cultural Foundation> <Presentation in the conference “Speaking Beyond Living Room Walls: The Armenian Diaspora and its Discontents” at the Columbia University, New York><Organization of the Face to face meeting in Berlin for the project “Underconstruction Tallinn connection”> <Presentation in the conference Hackfemeast in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin> <SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS> City of Buenos Aires, Collection of the U.S. American Embassy in Armenia, Collection of the museum for contemporary art, Armenia.

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Imprint Edition Underconstruction e. V. Leonhardtstr. 15 D-14057 Berlin Tel. 0049 30 32702400 Silvina_der@t-online.de www.silvina-der-meguerditchian.de The copyrights for the images and texts belong to the artists & authors Design: Silvina Der-Meguerditchian / Florencia Young Coverdesign: Jose Luis Rubio-Tamayo Photo editing: Olga Golikova Print: PrintCenter, manolya sokak no:3,4 levent 34416 istanbul Coordination, presswork: Binnaz Tukin, Nilüfer Suluner, Beral Madra Production assistants: Olga Golikova, Jose Luis Rubio-Tamayo Texts: Beral Madra, Barbara Höffer, S. Der-Meguerditchian Fotos: S. Der-Meguerditchian, Chus López Vidal, Jose Luis Rubio-Tamayo Translations: J.M. Goshgarian, Julia Brooks, Binnaz Tukin, Nilüfer Suluner Editors: Gabriele Schäfer and S. Der-Meguerditchian Editorial support: Jose Rubio-Tamayo and Olga Golikova I would like to thank all those who have helped make this project possible: Oliver and Avedis Neehus, Elena and Juan Der-Meguerditchian, Thea Farhadian, Héctor González, Ahmet Öktem, Alice von Biberstein and many others Supported by: UNDERCONSTRUCTION e. V. OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUT THE SOROS FOUNDATION