Dispositive Workshop

Part 1: Oda Projesi

The Room Revisited

June 5 – August 31, 2003

The Oda Projesi group has been working in Galata - a neighbourhood in Istanbul - since 1997, in a flat where they organise art exhibitions, workshops with children, and other activities with people living in the area. All these activities deal with the idea of how to create different environments by the use and occupation of space (Oda means "room" in Turkish). The group is interested in art as a means to create new ways of living and dynamic relations among a wide range of uses of private and public spaces, bridging the gap between artists, non-artists and communities.

Oda Projesi’s project in Munich consists of two parts. In the first part they worked for a period of one month (March-April 2003) in Messestadt Riem, a new residential area east of Munich, invited by kunstprojekte_riem, an art organisation devoted to art in public space in the area. Oda Projesi were living there during this period and disposed of a project space where they developed different kinds of activities with the people from the neighbourhood, for example, having meals, a hair cut event, or a Tupperware party. The space functioned as a centre, connecting up with the activities they were doing in the public spaces in Messestadt Riem, like the "guided tours" (the artists were guided by the local people around the area), the video recordings and presentations of videos in the local supermarket, or the event in the Galeriahaus, a residential building with a large common space often used as a venue for art exhibitions.

The exhibition at the Kunstverein München, The Room revisited, reflects different projects Oda Projesi has developed, but focuses on the one they did in Messestadt Riem. The 15 photographs in the middle of the staircase show rooms related to Oda Projesi projects in various cities and/or neigh- bourhoods, in private and public spaces. Inside the room, a video recorded in Messestadt Riem, Riem rooms (13 min.) is presented. There is also the Notebook of space to be taken away: a notebook designed by the artists with both photos they took when they were in Messestadt Riem and images from an official guide the artists had from the place.

In the lobby of the Kunstverein München the artists left picnic rugs that people can borrow to use outside, following the idea of Apolonija Šušteršič’s deck chairs (also available in the lobby).