1914 – 2014: Battlefield of Memories

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9-18 April 2014

“Open Spaces” Exhibition and Documentary Theater “Suppressed and Forgotten”

Documentary Theater: 13-15 April 2014
Place: Tarabya Alman Büyükelçiliği Yazlık Rezidansı, Askeri Mezarlık
Yeniköy Cad. No:88 Tarabya
Information: http://www.goethe.de/ins/tr/ist/ver/tr12402226v.html

Together with local partners, the director Hans-Werner Kroesinger and the filmmaker Regine Dura have investigated places and history related to the theme of World War I and found connections with the current situation in Turkey. This research process generates documentary theater presentations that reveal national perspectives on history and form a bridge between 1914 and 2014. This is a backward look toward the future, which aims to stimulate intercultural dialogue against the background of the two nations’ shared history, question stereotypes and breakdown prejudices.

The starting point of this intense research is the military cemetery on the grounds of the historic summer residence of the German ambassador, now the Tarabya Cultural Academy, in Istanbul. German soldiers who fell in World War I are buried here. In talks, interviews and explorations of this site, various points of view are brought together. On the basis of this material, a performance is developed that presents these various perspectives and descriptions. The narratives that emerge in the performance influence, complement, contradict, or even compete with one another. Sovereign rights over interpretations dissolve, and the observer is confronted with different national narratives.

The research process leading to the performances will be presented in the exhibition “Open Spaces” at DEPO between April 9 and 18, 2014. Here visitors will have the opportunity to discover the possibility of various perspectives regarding history and to ask critical questions themselves. The materials that were processed together with the students will be integrated into “Open Spaces”. With their own interests as the starting point, they will address various aspects of the history of World War I in seminars and workshops, discover stories that have not yet been told, and receive professional support as they find appropriate ways of presenting these stories. In this way they will generate a multi-perspective space for exhibitions and research, which in turn will serve as the starting point for new discussions and workshops.

The performances will take place on 13, 14 and 15 April at 11:00 and 14:00.
For information please contact cigdem.ikiisik@istanbul.goethe.org until 10 April.
Please indicate the date and the performance language you prefer (German, English and Turkish).

The project is realized by Goethe-Institut Athens and Goethe-Institut Istanbul and supported by Stiftung Mercator.

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