It’s raining in Istanbul today, so I thought I would write to you all in the UK, before I get back to my own work.

I am keeping busy, besides thinking about my own work, there is so much going on….I went to see the Hisar Short Film Selection, the ten best Turkish short films of the year, as part of the Istanbul Film Festival on 18 April, which was a good opportunity to see the films with English subtitles, (outside the Film Festival it’s not so easy to see Turkish cinema with English subtitles). Visited a great market on 19 April, with vast amounts of good, fresh food, before sitting by the Bosphorous to enjoy the good weather and Turkish tea with some of the other residents. There was an exhibition opening on 20 April, of work by Gamze Özer, curated by Manzara Perspectives, (Anna Heidenhain & Kristina Kramer), in a newly renovated apartment with views of Golden Horn and the Bosphorous. (It was also Heidenhain & Kramer who curated a show last week in an old recording studio). All the residents and interns had a lunch on Wednesday here at Platform – a good opportunity to meet those I hadn’t already met. (There are links on the Platform website for those interested in the other artists here). It was public holiday here in Turkey on Thursday, Children’s Day, so Turkish flags in abundance. On Saturday I went on a tour to see the diversity of urban patterns of neighbourhoods along the European side of the Mamara coast, through Yenikapı, a place of global migration out west towards Yeşilköy, Istanbul’s upper class suburbia, with a range of neighbourhoods and historical sites in between.
I am feeling quite settled here now, and am falling in love with Istanbul and the pace of life here. It’s taking some time to get used to a new, very empty looking studio, but I’m reading lots, which all filters in.

It’s good to see images of Tom & Simon Bloor’s As Long as it Lasts on Wysing Flickr site!

It’s Thursday late afternoon here in Istanbul, and the sun is still beaming into my studio, (as per the photo, taken just moments ago). I went to see ‘(Very) Small Distortions in the Order’ yesterday, which was screening as part of the Istanbul Film Festival, a programme of short videos by artists from Turkey,  Was really struck by Kisa Devre, (Short Circuit) by Ahmet Öğüt, who’s also representing Turkey at this year’s Venice Biennale, alongside Banu Cennetoğlu. There’s an interesting exhibition opening and concert tonight, (‘Relative Positions and Conclusions’) in a really beautiful space, which will at some point in the near future be renovated into a hotel. I visited Istanbul Modern at the weekend, and hope to explore Sultanahmet, and the coast along the Sea of Marmara in the next few days. It’s still quite surreal to be walking ten minutes from my apartment to the studio along Istiklal Caddesi each morning! The image below is the view outside the studio window at Platform Garanti this morning, which is just off Istiklal Caddesi. 

I send my best wishes from Istanbul,Katherine 

http://www.platformgaranti.blogspot.com 

 

Det Andet Rum (The Other Room)

Artist’s Video Program at NLH Space, Copenhagen  - 10, 11 & 29 December 2008

 My apologies that I will not be able to attend the Wysing Chritsmas Party this year, despite having suggested we all go in fancy dress! I am showing a new work, Untitled (Curtain) as part of the video programme, Det andet rum, alongside Untitled (Morning Light) 2007, which will be screened on a monitor in NLH Space.

For further information please see:

http://www.nlhspace.dk 

Live Art Falmouth 

6-8 June 2008

Wellington Terrace, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 3Bn 

This annual festival features an innovative program of live/performance art, interactive video installations, cutting edge technology, video screenings and sound art. With more than 70 international, national and regional artists, including Matthew Appleby, Evangelia Basdekis, Tine Bech, Claire Blundell Jones, Stephen Cornford, Vana Gacina, gilbertandgrape, Rachel Gomme, Alex Hetherington, Katherine Hymers, Misha Horacek, Richard Layzell, Tom Marshman, Rachel Parry, People in Pieces, Kathy Rose, Ken Turner, Nathan Walker, Jane Whitakerand Rupert White. 

For further information please see:  www.liveartfalmouth.com/site/EVENT

There are a couple of reviews of work shown as part of the National Review of Live Art in Glasgow last week, including You and Me and Nothing by Katherine Hymers in the Scotsman Newspaper: http://www.scotsman.com/visual-arts/Out-of-bounds.3757830.jp Also a couple published as part of We Need to Talk About Live Art, which I’ve posted on my blog  http://www.katherinehymers.blogspot.com  

National Review of Live Art

6 February 2008 

You and Me and Nothing continues Katherine’s use of the body and its shift in position between object and subject, challenging the idea of the gaze and questioning who is watching and who is being watched. 

www.newmoves.co.uk