Open Shop is an invitation to engage with a process of open discourse, exchange and research to make visible a very specific emotive relationship with the architecture of the home and the reasons that lead to a decision to migrate. The residency will explore a cross section of personal experience of contemporary human migration in Istanbul.
Drawing on her own encounter of moving from Lebanon to England, Helene Kazan’s practice uses developed film making techniques that investigate spatialised experience. ‘Masking Tape / Light Intervention: Lebanon 1989’, is generated from an archive photograph taken of her family kitchen in Lebanon before their migration to England. Involving a combination of model making, oral history and stop motion animation, the work presents the viewer with an emotive relationship with the architecture of the home. Defined by a conversation between her parents outlining the specific situation leading to migration.
The animation will be exhibited at The Architectural Research Studio Mars, near the ‘Open Shop’ in Cihangir, as part of Architectural Research Exhibitions Series 1: Crystal City. Opening on the of 18th September during the opening weekend of the 12th Istanbul Biennial. The film enables a theoretical framework and point of reference for the research undertaken during the residency.
The ‘Open Shop’ will function in two ways:
Firstly it is an open informal space, where visitors are invited to drop in to share and discuss stories or archive photographs of a departed home. Evoking a discourse and exchange with local and international communities in Istanbul.
Secondly using two purpose built screens in the large windows that create the ‘Open Shop’ space, it will function as an informal exhibition and public screening platform relaying the visual and oral research that will be collected throughout the residency.
Parts of the accumulated research will eventually have the same process applied as was cultivated for ‘Masking Tape / Light Intervention: Lebanon 1989’, to recreate and describe other homes and personal histories.
This residency is a collaboration with openvizor, a non-profit international arts and cultural platform and organization that brings together different people and skills from around the world to combine practical knowledge and research.
www.openvizor.com www.helenekazan.co.uk
Architectural Research Studio MARS. Architectural Research Exhibitions Series 1: Crystal City
Opening: 18.09.2011 18.00-20.30 Dates: 18.09.2011 - 18.11.2011 Tues - Sat 11.00-19.00
Address: No:10 Bostanbasi Cad. Galatasaray-Taksim.
