The Cultural Image of Turkey has been globally emphasized recently
by two important events.
The first Cultural acclaim came from Europe. Kultur Forum Europa
announced that the 2003 Kultur Preis Europe has been presented to
the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts "for helping in
the past 30 years to build understanding tolerance and trust between
the East and the West,lslam and Christianity, through works of culture
and the arts".
The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts will receive the 2003
European Culture Award at the opening ceremony of the 8th international
Istanbul Biennial on September 19th. Our cover story is on this
issue and the Biennial. The curator of Biennial is Don Cameron and
the theme "Poetic Justice".
In our Meet at Culture Section, we have the second important issue.
The "C" magazine is published by Stora Enso North America.
This magazine focuses on the Visual identity of Culture. What makes
one country's' art and image different from other countries? The
Design of Culture "C" magazine Vol. 2 Number one of the
Stora Enso inspiration series is, on Turkey.
Cherly Heller,Alice Rose George,lngrid Caruso came to Turkey to
absorb this image. They have done a beautiful job, I have enjoyed
seeing Turkey from their eyes.
Meet at Art section has Pina Bauch with the inspiring Istanbul Project
that she staged at the end of May 2003.1 could not see it myself
as I was overseas at that period.
However, Dikmen Guriin heading the Theatre Division of the Istanbul
Foundation for Culture and Arts shared her views with me and made
me feel sorry that. I could not see this magnificent performance
on Istanbul. Gunnur Ozalp, of Eurasia Tourism, wrote about her recent
trip to Gordion Museum and Afyon, the ancient Frigian land at the
Meet at Archeology section.
We have a new section as of this issue; Meet a project. Turkey has
a lot of new projects and Anatolia is awakening at a great speed
with the application of these projects. One of the remarkable projects
is that I have seen on the spot is the Kelkit Valley Platform. Cekul
Foundation supports this project and the 16 Municipalities of the
Kelkit River area united to develop the sustainability principles
that will encourage ecotourism and ecological agriculture. We have
all the good reasons and the seasons to make an incentive of coming
Turkey. Especially the Biennial just at the corner from end September
to November 2003 will be delightful visit,enjoy,stroll through the
most intriguing locations at Istanbul.
