A Book of Songs and Places

During the workshops different musicians will lead songwriting sessions for artists, architects, sociologists, students and others who are interested. The collaborative workshops will look at several geographical areas in the peripheries of Istanbul where rural life intersects urban developments that are changing the face of Istanbul and that uncover dominating and latent power dynamics. The project will look into the representation of landscape and challenge the conventions of landscape art by exploring different methods of representation that employ visual and aural tactics. A Book of Songs and Places is a project by Maxime Hourani, a Lebanese artist and architect engaged in a cross-disciplinary practice. Often taking the form of performative actions that relate to a specific place or space, his projects conceptually engage in explorations that excavate and interweave layers of histories, forms and relations.

The project is hosted and co-organized by 5533, an experimental non-profit art space that was opened in 2008 by two artists, Nancy Atakan and Volkan Aslan. As part of their yearly director invitation program, Filiz Avunduk has been the 2013 Programs Director. 5533’s aims are to host international projects and interactive events involving exhibitions, artist talks, workshops and round table discussions; to conduct art related research, materialize projects, and share these with IMC neighbors, the art community, as well as general interest. Workshop participation is open to students and practitioners. .