Audiovisual
Audiovisual media and academics
At the beginning of 2007, based on various internal and external requests and ideas, a basis was laid for an intense relationship between NIHA and the audiovisual media. The power of image, especially in a multi-lingual environment has made the relationship between NIHA and the audiovisual media an organic one.
The KozaVisual project (
www.kozavisual.org), one of the first large projects initiated by NIHA, has become an independent project in which scientists of Social Sciences, documentary makers and video artists work together since its origin. Their goal is to enrich each other’s fields and possibilities by sharing methods and techniques and to cooperate within various projects.
In 2007 NIHA has financed 2 part-time free-lance staff members and provided them with on-site workplaces. Between the periods of 28 April 2007 -1 February 2008, the following activities have been realised:
- 31 lectures and 10 workshops (mostly with a duration of more than 1 day) by scientists and/or professionals of Bilgi University and Koç University from Istanbul, the Turkish Academy of Scientists, Karahaber, the TRT, VIDEA, ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS, New School for Social Research-New York, Gazi, Hacettepe, METU, Bilkent, Başkent and Ankara Universities, University of Leiden, University of Amsterdam, Montevideo, SAVAN, ArteZ, DAI-Enschede and the Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg. A part of these activities were open to public and a partlimited to an exclusive group of about 25 participants (mainly master-students from METU).
- 11 film showings with discussion sessions involving the works of AO Johan van der Keuken and Mieke Bal.
- A major part of the lectures and film showings took place within the NIHA-building. A small number of events took place at other locations in Ankara or Istanbul.
- Participants of the KozaVisual project have shot several short films, such as ‘Lunar Landscape’ concerning the (waste) water problem in Cappadocia and ‘The first year of NIHA’ with a compilation of activities.
- KozaVisual has built up an international network and has a mail group with over 300 members.
- Various films shot by members of KozaVisual have found their way to AO International City and Architecture Film Festival in İstanbul, the Ankara Film Festival and India Poetry Film Festival.
- KozaVisual is also involved in the project ‘Towards a Deeper Understanding of Rural Europe’ (see below) and a migration-film project involving the towns of Haarlem and Emirdağ.
- KozaVisual is also supporting PASOFEST (Student Film and Digital Media Festival) which is arranged by Bilkent University Communication Design Department.
By means of KozaVisual, NIHA has direct access to a large group of people with a wide range of diverse qualities in the audio-visual sector. The making of one or more audiovisual products has become an almost essential part of all NIHA project plans.
Towards a deeper understanding of rural Europe
Based on the 3 starting points (Europe is mainly a project of the cities and the elite; knowledge of each other’s past is crucial for good relations; and art opens doors which would otherwise remain closed) NIHA, together with Bilkent University, University of Leiden, DAI-Enschede and the Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, has applied for a Civil Society Dialogue Fund (Universities Grant). In this project, the lives and history of 6 villages (2 in the Netherlands, 2 in Turkey and 2 in France), told by the inhabitants of the villages will be captured (in the form of both documentary as well as video art). The results per village or country will be recorded on a DVD and shown in the other villages/countries involved within the project. These showings, and the reactions of the participants, will also be recorded. Subsequently, a small group of representatives from each village will come to Ankara to discuss the films, each other and their desires and fears of Europe. The end result will be a DVD in all EU languages and Turkish that will find its way towards rural Europe.
Various activities of KozaVisual can be considered as concrete project start-ups.
