Dr.Yalcin Ayasli, Founder and Chairman of the Turkish Cultural Foundation, was interviewed by Voice Of America.  The interview can be watched here.

A TCF grant to the Arts and Science Council, a Charlotte, NC based organization, underwrites a talk by Refik Anadol about his work ‘Interconnected,’ an art installation that was inaugurated at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in July.

One of the largest digital public artworks in the world, ‘Interconnected’ is an installation of abstract form color and simulated texture that uses custom-designed software, more than 2,000 square feet of LED media walls and 850 linear feet of programmable LED lights embedded in the concourse façade to transform the hidden troves of airport operations data into a dramatically choreographed panorama of moving lights. The installation is visible both inside and outside the terminal.

Refik Anadol (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2013) is a media artist and director born in Istanbul, Turkey and currently residing in Los Angeles. He is a lecturer and visiting researcher in UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts. Anadol’s site-specific public artworks explore the space among digital and physical entities by creating a hybrid relationship between architecture and media arts. His work suggests that all spaces and facades have potentials to be utilized as the media artists’ canvases. Anadol’s site-specific audio/visual installations have been seen across the world, including Athens, Greece, Beijing, China, Los Angeles, Montreal, Canada and Sydney, Australia.

Anadol will discuss his new artwork, his transcendent career and how data and technology are shaping the future of art and architecture at “The Poetics of Data: A Conversation with Refik Anadol,” from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Monday, October. 29 at UNC Charlotte Center City (320 E. 9th St.). The event is open to the public.

TCF awarded its Cultural Exchange Fellowship to Huseyin Eryurt (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014), Program Manager of the Culture Routes Society, a Turkish NGO. Mr.Eryurt was awarded the TCF Fellowship to participate in the International World Trails Conference in Santiago de Compostella, Spain on Sep 26-29, 2018. The conference is organized by the World Trails Network (WTN) in partnership with the regional government of Galicia.

Mr.Eryurt will give a presentation on ‘Empowering village women on the Lycian Way’, which summarizes a project to develop the Lycian trail in Turkey. The overall aim of the project was to create community development through a cultural tourism product. The presentation and the paper, which will also be published in the WTN online magazine, highlights several training courses for local village women who produce handicrafts and food for the visitors of the Lycian Way, Turkey’s most famous cultural route. Mr.Eryurt will also moderate the conference session on ‘Trails and Cultural Heritage.’

Oud virtuoso Mehmet Polat (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2016) held ten concerts as “Mehmet Polat Trio CCAS tour” in Saint Lary Soulan, Luz Saint Sauveur, Tarnos, Seignosse, Vieux Boucau Les Bains, Capbreton, Ondres, Saint Pee Sur Niyelle, France in August.

Cellist, composer, improviser, and photographer Anıl Eraslan (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) held a concert with Todd Capp, Hannes Buder and Andrew Lafkas in Berlin, Germany.

James Thurman’s works (TCF Cultural Exchange Fellow-2014) were on display at “Contemporary Enamel,” an international exhibition held at College of Albermale in Collaboration with Pocosin Arts in Manteo, NC-USA on August 1 - September 1.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Berna Kurt (Cultural Exchange Fellow-2012), Head of the Arts Management Department and member of the Fine Arts Faculty at Istanbul Aydın University, participated in a choreographic residency project titled “We’R’Dansöz” from July 14 - August 10 in Bonn, Germany.