Description of Video:

‘Thirteen Points, Expanded’ is a 14 minute HD Video that was filmed over 18 months in Belfast, systematically visiting each of the thirteen urban clusters of Interfaces that divide Nationalist and Unionist communities. Contemporary HD Video footage is overlayed with historical archival footage and sound to render a layered representation of the various ‘Interface Areas’ of the city. Composited text presents a commentary on the implementation and resilient longevity of the ‘Peacewalls’, from a number of different points of view – British, Northern Irish and Irish, both Catholic and Protestant, ranging widely from historical to contemporary accounts. Rather than looking at specific walls or clusters of urban barriers, the work positions the interface as a vast urban system that includes walls, derelict spaces, urban infrastructure, telecommunications, historical events, surveillance, policing and policy documents as all part of the same resilient organism.

Curators of the Istanbul Design Biennial, who had invited graphic designers, architects, artists, film producers, associations, and NGO’s from around the world to submit 2 minute videos that address the theme “Are We Human?” posed by the biennial. Thirteen Points, Expanded was submitted and selected for exhibition by an international and interdisciplinary jury consisting of curators Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, Director of Istanbul Film Festival Kerem Ayan, Director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture Eva Franch i Gilabert, artist and film producer Amie Siegel and curator Iván López Munuera. The jury evaluated more than 200 videos from 68 cities in 36 countries and the selected videos were exhibited in a dedicated section within the main exhibition and online on the biennial website. This event hosted over 120.000 visitors.

Description of Event:

Are We Human
The 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial,
organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts
22 October - 20 November, 2016

With the aim of underlining the importance of design for production, economy, cultural interaction and quality of life, the Istanbul Design Biennial is open to all disciplines of the creative industries in major fields such as urban design, architecture, interior, industrial, graphic, new media and fashion design, as well as their subfields. The biennial aims to explore the products, creative ideas and discourses of the relevant fields and generate interactive relations within the society.

Turkey’s growing role as an economic, political and cultural center has highlighted the importance of innovation and design and encouraged the development of creative industries, particularly in the multicultural metropolis of Istanbul. One of the biennial’s primary objectives, therefore, is to celebrate this creative potential and share it with the international audience in the belief that diverse perspectives and the distinctive design discourse of Istanbul will enrich the global design culture.

The Istanbul Design Biennial primarily aims to raise public awareness with regards to “design” issues, to create a platform that supports the development of design and innovation policies and to support the constitution of a design archive on national and international scale. The biennial exhibitions aim to tackle global design problems by displaying various solutions and reveal the creative potential inherent in this area.

By displaying important examples both from Turkey and abroad, the Istanbul Design Biennial aims to discuss the notion of design and introduce different tendencies, movements and progressive thoughts to the audience. The biennial does not only intend to be an event that brings together a variety of activities lasting for two months, but also seeks to ensure long-term developments in social and cultural fields and to create an ongoing process with its yearlong activities.

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/24996