“On Salt and Speculative Archiving” by Deniz Ova and Fatma Çolakoğlu

Lecture by Deniz Ova and Fatma Çolakoğlu

Invited by Elburuz Fidan
In collaboration with the Binational Artistic PhD Program of the University of the Arts Bremen

In this presentation, Deniz Ova and Fatma Çolakoğlu will talk about  Salt, its cultural and archival practices through the institution’s current and upcoming programming, as well as focus on alternative and speculative examples of archiving that give space to new stories and other actors, which are missing from existing institutional archives.

Salt and Kadir Has University launched a long-term archive and research project to develop joint programs based on mutual learning. Following the four-year project, the printed volumes of historian and novelist Reşad Ekrem Koçu’s (1905-1975) unfinished Istanbul Encyclopedia and thousands of related documents have been digitized and will be publicly accessible this year. The Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive is a kind of “media archaeology laboratory” considering the insight it provides into Koçu’s working methods and the production of a multi-volume and multi-authored publication with limited means in the second half of the 20th century. Within this project's scope, the presentation will touch base on how heritage institutions can respond to these community archives' urgencies of custodianship. Also, forms of collaboration between archive creators, custodians, and users will be discussed, which (thanks in part to digitization) enable new archival interpretations and bring to light stories hitherto overlooked by cultural institutions.

About Salt

Founded by Garanti BBVA in 2011, Salt is a cultural institution that develops innovative programs to create an accessible and free platform for encounters, research, and expression for its users and visitors. Salt’s programs comprise exhibitions, publications, digital projects, talks, conferences, film screenings, performances, and workshops. Salt explores intersections and interactions between various disciplines and focuses on art, design, and society. The institution supports knowledge production by fostering the dialogue between the past and the present while addressing contemporary culture through new approaches and interpretations. Salt’s expanding archive and library brings together resources focusing on Turkey and the geographies of East Mediterranean and East Europe from the late 19th century to the present. The institution’s research projects offer a platform for co-learning and peer discussion.

Salt’s activities take place in its two buildings in Istanbul and online. Salt Beyoğlu on Istiklal Street comprises exhibition spaces, a Walk-in Cinema, a Kitchen, a Winter Garden, and Robinson Crusoe 389 bookstore. Salt Galata on Bankalar Street in Karaköy houses Salt Research, a specialized library, the Salt Research Ferit F. Şahenk Hall for registered researchers, an Auditorium, exhibition and event spaces, as well as the Ottoman Bank Museum, Robinson Crusoe 389 bookstore, café and Neolokal.

Entrance to Salt and access to its programs are free of charge. Since 2013, Salt is the only member of the European Museum Confederation. L’Internationale from Turkey.

Deniz Ova
Salt, Executive Director 

Deniz Ova has been the Executive Director of Salt since 2022. Previously, she was the Director of the Istanbul Design Biennial at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) between 2013-2022. Ova started working at İKSV in 2007 as the project leader for the International Projects department, where she served as the director between 2010-2013, developing and organizing festivals and events in various European cities. She has also coordinated the Pavilion of Turkey at the International Art Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia, the artist residency studio “Turquie” at Cité Internationale des Arts, and Turkey's participation in the London Design Biennial in 2016. Between 2014 and 2022, she was an advisor to the Pavilion of Turkey at the International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia. She has been a guest lecturer on event management at Istanbul Kültür University Faculty of Art and Design, Yeditepe University Faculty of Fine Arts, and currently teaching art and design culture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Department of Graphic Design. Before her posts at İKSV, Ova worked as assistant director in several theatre productions at the Staatstheater Stuttgart and Württembergische Landesbühne and managed festival events in Stuttgart. Ova holds an MA in Political Science and Linguistics from the University of Stuttgart and is a fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar and Stiftung Mercator “Turkey Europe Future Forum.”

Fatma Çolakoğlu
Salt, Director of Research and Programs

Fatma Çolakoğlu has curated exhibitions and film and video art for over fifteen years. In 2005, she established the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art film department. Subsequently, between 2008 and 2018, she was responsible for the film and video programs of Pera Film and headed the communications department of the Pera Museum in Istanbul. Following her associate director role at Salt, she has taken on the position of director of research and programs. In recent years, she has been part of the International Short Film Jury of Berlinale Shorts 2020 and Istanbul Experimental and has also participated in festivals such as Proyector 13. Festival de Videoarte and Videonale Bonn. She is interested in the critical relationship between the moving image and social studies and is fascinated by the intersection of art, science, and technology and how they transform the world. In particular, her research field concerns image-making, language use, networks, mediation theories, the political and cultural dimensions of media landscapes, and contemporary art practices. Çolakoğlu holds a BA in Film and Media Art from Emerson College, Boston, US, and an MA in Theater Directing from Goldsmiths, University of London.