Here are our statements in response to the Serendipity City Challenge: the result of (we estimate conservatively!) over 24 hours of discussion in and amongst the streets of Istanbul since my arrival on Monday. It was very hard to land on just three statements and our final selection is the result of much debate. The statements we have chosen encapsulate the scope of our discussions.
Rachael – and Nafiz
Serendipity City Challenge – Istanbul Statements
This is the outcome of our workshop in the city of Istanbul responding to the Serendipity City Challenge (GloNet Edition) devised by FutureEverything.
Our workshop took place on Wednesday 12th May and the people taking part were:
Cigdem Koseoglu (Tusba Architecture), Gokcen Demirkir (Tusba Architecture), Deniz Malli (Independent Architect), Nafiz Aksehirlioglu (Consultant and Editor, Amber Arts and Technology Platform), Ekmel Ertan (Artistic Director/ Lecturer, Amber Arts and Technology Platform/Sabancı University), Funda Oral (Urban Activist/Merchant, Sulukule platform: Sulukule is a Roma neighborhood in Istanbul in danger of gentrification), Tarkan Okcuoglu (Assistant Professor of Art History, Istanbul University) plus the GloNet champion Rachael Turner (Freelance Journalist and Documentary Producer from Manchester, England).
We set out to create three statements answering the challenge, and in response to the situation in our city.
Our statements are:
To address serendipity in the city satisfactorily, we must view it in terms of the political sphere, of the politics under which our cities are being made and remade #futr
Serendipity can’t meet any standard of consistency with itself unless backed by solid and virtuous creativity that’s good for all – rather than good for the few #futr
But by using the tools available to us – technological (or otherwise) we can utilise serendipity as a tool for subversion of existing structures and hierarchies #futr
A full account of the workshop and the wider GloNet event will follow on this blog soon.
Tags: GloNet, Istanbul, Serendipity City Challenge