The Galata Greek Primary School, Antrepo 7, and its surroundings, temporarily occupied through the Istanbul Design Biennial, are also adjacent to a craft district situated in the background. This craft network, which has permeated the city, operates like a single large organism offering multiple options and flexible production possibilities. The relationships in the Craft District are woven not only through economic ties but also through social and cultural networks. While the spaces of large industry are highly visible and distinct, such small craft districts are, with their integrated existence within the current building stock, almost in a state of urban camouflage. The way to understand this system is through establishing relationships and remaining in search. Like tracking down a chandelier part.

Urban craft neighborhoods and the semi-finished goods shops that feed them were for a long time pushed into the background, since they were considered to correspond to an outdated technology in the age of industry and mass production; yet today, when the Third Industrial Revolution is being discussed, the consumer society has begun to be criticized, and different possibilities are being sought, they still continue to contain important potentials for the future.

Current urban transformation policies that advocate removing urban production from the center have destroyed existing craft networks and have also led to the loss of a future possibility without it ever being tested or discussed. During the biennial and afterwards, Informal Academy opened up for research and discussion, through shared participation platforms and different media, the possibilities of a future that perhaps may not exist tomorrow.

The Informal Academy program was carried out under three main headings.

Program:

Near and Far: Temporary Museum for Craft Cultures

Talk & Discussion - 07/11/2014, 18.00 - Galata Private Greek Primary School - Nicoline Dorsman | Design Academy Eindhoven & Onur Karaoğlu | Museum of Innocence & Aslı Kıyak İngin | Made in Şişhane

Walk & Workshop - 08/11/2014, 11.00 - Galata Square - Nicoline Dorsman & Aslı Kıyak İngin

Workshop - 08/12/2014-12/12/2014 - Design Academy Eindhoven & Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Industrial Product Design & Made in Şişhane

Walk & Presentation - 13/12/2014, 11.00 - Galata Private Greek Primary School - Nicoline Dorsman & Aslı Kıyak İngin

Craft & Labour & Education

Talk & Discussion - “The Labour of the Next Day” - 13/11/2014, 18.00 - Artin Master’s Workshop - Artin Aharon | Craftsman-Galata, Pelin Tan | MAU Faculty of Architecture, Aslı Kıyak İngin | Made in Şişhane

Talk & Discussion - “Craftsman: From Knowledge and Experience to Sharing” - 27/11/2014, 16.00 - Antrepo 7 - Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Industrial Product Design ID 202 Instructors, Students and Craft Workshops

Talk & Discussion - 04/12/2014, 18.00 - Turgay Master’s Workshop - “The Passion to Put on the Apron and Work” - Turgay Ebcim | Craftsman-Şişhane, Sevgi Ortaç | Artist, Aslı Kıyak İngin | Made in Şişhane

Design Guide for Tourists

Workshop - 13/11/2014 - 18/11/2014 - Sabine Voggenreiter | Büro Sabine Voggenreiter, Pierre Kracht | Fremdform, Aslı Kıyak İngin | Made in Şişhane

22/11/2014, 10.00

Walk & Presentation - Galata Square

Publication:

Labor: in.formal academy no.4 – Education. Aslı Kıyak İngin, Sevgi Ortaç. In.formal Academy, 2015, prepared within the scope of Adhocracy Athens: From Making to Making the Commons.

Drawing on the Şişhane experience, the publication discusses labor, educational relations, and collaborative production in the fields of craft and design. By bringing together two meetings held in the workshops of Artin Aharon and Turgay Ebcim at the end of 2014, it aims to reconsider the current potentials of the craft district. Prepared in the context of the Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, the publication focuses on developing a new understanding of the future of craft and design culture.

Informal Academy Exhibition - Antrepo 7:

Photos: Aslı Kıyak İngin