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!