Making Photography Without Taking Pictures
[A Workshop on Making Photography Without Taking Pictures]

Participants: Başak Altın, Pelin Aytemiz, Öykü Canlı, Ayşe Nur Çakır, İpek Çınar, Buse Dalgakıran, Kayahan Kaya, Naz Önen, Evren Özesen, Seda Usubütün, Cansu Yıldıran, Kemal Yıldız

Dates: 27-28 May, 17-18 June 2018

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'Making Photography Without Taking Pictures', one of the discussion- and production-based photography programmes organised in collaboration between GAPO and SALT, explored how the concept of the archive—the central theme of the 'Out of the Archive' presentations at SALT Ulus—could be examined from different perspectives in photographic production. The six-session workshop was coordinated by GAPO and conducted with the guidance of invited artists and visual researchers.

Since the final quarter of the 20th century, an increasing number of artists have been working with various found and pre-existing materials, including family albums, anonymous found photographs, studio archives, public and institutional archives, advertising photographs, and online images. The workshop opened with a presentation by Ege Berensel, who examined subjects such as the ontology of the found image, strategies of visual and artistic research, and theories of the autonomous archive. The first day continued with presentations open to the public by Ege Kanar, Zeynep Kayan, and Metehan Özcan, all of whom work with a range of found and pre-existing materials.

During an idea-development session led by GAPO and the guest tutors, participants discussed the projects they planned to produce. Following a three-week production period, the works developed during the workshop were presented in a mini-exhibition at SALT Ulus.