IRMAK CANEVI

EYE TO EYE ON BÜYÜKADA

Deniz Kırkalı - Irmak Canevi


We talk about the Eye To Eye project set to carry on into 2022 with its artist residency program, and a series of events on Büyükada under the Odds And Ends banner.

In October, a series of events entitled Odds and Ends was held at the Princes Islands Cultural Association on Büyükada. Bringing together the working practices of Irmak Canevi, Katy Kirbach, Kaitlin McDonough, Nir Segal and Tamar Tal Anati, the events marked the 10th anniversary of Eye to Eye, an artists residency program held in 2011 that was also envisioned as a precursor to Eye to Eye II, slated for July 2022. It brought together materials, maps and guides the artists have utilized, their exercises, rituals and routines, people and practices, creating a starting point and a collective inventory for the coming summer’s program. Participants were invited to activate their materials and works, establish a critical relationship with the material, intervene in current narratives and transform the space into a workshop, an alternative event space, and a kitchen. The upshot of all this will be reworked by five artists during the upcoming residency program, encouraging the construction of fresh narratives. We talked to Irmak Canevi and Deniz Kırkalı about the ongoing project.

Deniz Kırkalı: Let’s start by talking a bit about Odds and Ends. Irmak, you came up with the name, what is Odds and Ends?

Irmak Canevi: After last year’s monthly online meetings and our agreeing to postpone our great reunion until this summer, we took time off to take stock. And we started thinking about how to make the best of this break, right in the middle of our journey towards the summer of 2022. We wanted firstly to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Eye to Eye. And we began dreaming about dreaming about what might transpire next summer. We each compiled a list based on the projects we wanted to bring to life. The list could consist of pretty well anything that came to mind, including our vital materials; the pictures, collages and films we wanted to make; and any books or articles relating to our work practices. Things chosen by artists unable to attend the planned events would be thrown into the mix. We also wanted this multitudinous inventory (odds and ends, that is) to give us clues about what might emerge next year.

So we might think of Odds and Ends as a semicolon. I mean a brief pause between our deepening friendship in the virtual environment to the next phase focused on realizing the second Eye to Eye. Or it might be seen as a tasting menu giving guests an inkling of the actual feast to come. As well as the hotchpotch of stuff it describes, the Turkish word for odds and ends contains a concept of ebb and flow between differently spaced points, a word that best represents the ongoing dialogue between Istanbul and the various cities where the other four artists live.

D. K.: So could you talk a bit about what you are planning for next summer? When will Eye to Eye 2022 take place and what output do you envision?

I. C.: Our aim is to make the best use of the time we have, maximizing the opportunities that Eye to Eye offers us when we get together. Beyond working, producing, exploring, and a lot of eating, drinking and chatting, we have already begun to taste the thrill of ideas, cooperation and synergies, which we regard as inevitable offshoots. Bringing five different artists side by side, Eye to Eye aims to open a secure and agreeable playground where materials and ideas are routinely shared and where collective work and the exchange of ideas rather than solitary production are encouraged. Together we want to question what the necessary conditions for cross-pollination between artists and a free and productive creativity really are. Based on an openness to new people, places, thoughts and practices, this reunion aims to spread out across the island. Expanded and reinvigorated on the foundations of the first series of events launched in 2011, Eye to Eye wants to involve island residents in the process with workshop visits and works, artist talks, “pop-up” exhibitions, and projects designed for public spaces.

D. K.: We have been organizing a summer research program called Garp Sessions in Babakale with Ayşe İdil since 2019. Far from the centers of action, we explore alternative methods of thought, thinking and getting together. We invite a small group to meet up in Babakale around a certain theme every year, usually around readings and collective meals. I think there are significant similarities and associations between these methods. Creating the opportunity to think about co-production and cooperation by getting away from corporate or institutional spaces and professional forms of interaction is a key part of my modus operandi; I believe it is a nurturing and necessary method, especially for the contemporary art scene in Turkey. So the idea of establishing a long-term dialogue between these two programs really excites me. As Garp Sessions, we would love to visit you on the island this summer.

I. C.: Expanding these networks of production and thought is really thrilling.

D. K.: Let’s talk about your collage workshop, especially the one you organized for primary school kids in the Association backyard. What kind of experience was that for you?

I. C.: While we were preparing for our Odds and Ends collage workshop, we heard from the Director of the island’s Secondary School, asking if students could join our workshop. We set up two large tables in the garden and waited for our young guests, who we were very happy to invite along. Everyone started with a blank white page. We painted one edge of the paper with crayons we chose ourselves. We cut out the painted part and pasted some of it onto the rest of the white sheet and gave it to the kid sitting on our left. Then we chose a felt-tip pen. We made drawings on the white side of our page. We gave our felt-tip pens to the person on our left. We continued to draw with our new colors. Then we chose colors and pictures we liked by tearing magazines apart. We pasted them on the paper as well. We also cut out and shared a couple of stickers we found and added them to our collage. Then wads of colored paper appeared, which we also cut up and used. We carried on using the paints we had to hand. After a feverish 45-minute session we had colorful collages, each rivaling the other in their beauty. The amazing energy, interest, curiosity and, above all, creativity of the children really brought the workshop to life.

D. K.: Yes, the hosting of the events by the Islands Cultural Association also helped you to make great strides in this direction. The Association organizes exhibitions, book launches, yoga classes, concerts and films so island residents really know about it, they spend a lot of time there. Could you tell us a bit about the relationship between Odds and Ends and Eye to Eye and their settings?

I. C.: Both the association and the house that hosted Eye to Eye – my family’s island house – are living places that are always full of life. If you’re asking about the Gözlü Ev, it came to life with the arrival of visitors during the time of our first exhibition. We also tried to transform Odds and Ends’s setting (both the interior and the back garden) into a welcoming space which our islands guests could experience and interact with. You might say we managed to infiltrate into every nook and cranny of the place. For example, there were variously formatted QR codes around the place. One of them directed people to a reading list recommended by Katy and closely related to her modus operandi. Another led to a Spotify songlist we enjoyed listening to while working. We imagined that you’d synch with us listening to the same music as us.

D. K.: There was a huge inflatable cat’s head in the kitchen. What’s the story of cats and Odds and Ends?

I. C.: One of the rituals we had as the three artists involved in the first Eye to Eye in 2011 was to get up early every morning and swim, throughout that July we spent on Büyükada. While preparing Odds and Ends, I looked for an inflatable pool mattress to recall that Eye to Eye also constitutes a comfort zone for its artists where pleasure, vacation and physical exercise meet. We came across a huge inflatable cat’s head and loved it. While Odds and Ends was under preparation, we met Pamuk, the Association’s cat. Then we got to know his friend Osman. There were others. When Odds and Ends opened, a multitude of cats came in and out of the rooms. We had cats that roamed, climbed shelves and settled around the place. One of them even climbed onto the inflatable cat’s head. A bit of humor helps us in underlining that cats are an important part of Büyükada's ecosystem.