Press Information

Press Information 29.02.2016
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Press release for exhibition, panel discussions, workshops and book launch of:

“MIGRATING SPACES”
Architecture and Identity in the Context of Turkish Remigration
An art and research project by Stefanie Bürkle.
From 18th-20th March in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin.

There are houses in Turkey that are somehow ‘German’, but ‘Turkish’ too. Their stories tell of working lives in Germany, of hopes and dreams of returning to the old and new home country, Turkey. In them a successful German export is visible: the German family house. With “Migrating Spaces”, Stefanie Bürkle shifts our perspective and expands current discourse on migration and integration with an artist’s eye. The portraits of houses built in Turkey by former migrant workers show how transnational biographies influence the construction of identity and the architectural environment, but also how a constructed utopia can become a home: “We’re foreigners here, we’re Germans, and we’re foreigners in Germany too. We have no country we belong to. Our country is here – around this house.” Suat Demir, Dikkili

Gabled roofs, apricot-coloured rough plastering and apple trees in the garden – if there wasn’t such humidity hanging in the air, if the surrounding area wasn’t so scrubby and overdeveloped, one might think one was on the edge of a medium-sized German city. Over the decades, the ‘Almanc?’, returned Turkish former guest workers, have become part of German culture. Back in Turkey, they use all their knowledge and savings to realise their dream of their own home, based on a German model, which they often built with their own hands and without an architect.

Over three years, Stefanie Bürkle and an interdisciplinary team sought out and studied 132 of these unique buildings. The houses and their urban environments were documented using artistic and scientific methods. In 37 interviews, the house owners told them stories about how they built their houses, their living rooms, garages and hobby basements. In this process, typical ‘German or Turkish’ architectural elements are not opposed to each other, but rather precisely the combination of cultural influences creates a new typology of house construction.

The exhibition is a walk-in spatial installation of videos, mappings, images and collages, and provides diverse and surprising insights into the lives of and spaces created by returnees in Turkey. The publication to accompany the art and research project is being published by Vice Versa Berlin (450 pages, written texts, 800 colour photographs, maps and mappings). Two panel discussions with experts will explore the project’s themes around Architecture, Remigration and Identity and also Art,
Space and Research in more depth. In the Workshops following these panel discussions, these questions will be investigated more practically.

Stefanie Bürkle’s work has artistically explored migration and space for many years. How these new
urban spaces define our cities is shown in many of her previous works such as: “VENEZIA ICE-CREAM
PARLOUR” and “PLACEMAKING, MIGRATION AND THE FALL OF THE WALL”. She has been head of the
Visual Art Department at the TU Berlin since 2009. Erol Yildiz researches and teaches on migration,
urbanity and diversity at the Faculty of Educational Studies at the University of Innsbruck.

Schedule and opening times:

Fri 18th March from 8:00 pm: Opening with book launch, film screenings and opening party.

Sat and Sun 19th-20th March: on each day, 11:00 am -7:00 pm exhibition, 1.00 - 3.00 pm panel discussion, 3.00 – 6.00 pm workshop, 4.00 pm guided tour through the exhibition.

On behalf of:
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bürkle
Visual Art Department
Institute for Architecture
Technische Universität Berlin
+49 30 314 21916
Sekr. A 5
Straße des 17. Juni 152
D-10623 Berlin