Tercüme Eden / Translated By: Charles Arsène-Henry, Shumon Basar and Suna Kafadar

Istanbul Contemporary Art Space and Research center SALT Galata is currently hosting “Tercüme Eden.” The third iteration of “Translated By,” curated by Charles Arsène-Henry and Shumon Basar, the exhibition began life in London before later visiting Japan. Arsène-Henry and Basar were joined at the exhibition’s opening on April 6 by their co-curator for the Turkish edition, Suna Kafadar. The two original curators spoke about the origins of “Translated By,” explaining how it was born from a wish to explore the connection between fiction, books and voice, and how these in turn relate to space. The show’s name relates to the sense in which an author is a translator of place for the reader. As the original curators note in the book that accompanies the exhibition: “Writing not only takes place, in the sense of being situated somewhere: it also captures place, and thus, in a way, comes to possess it. […] We are calling this process, whereby the writer situates a story in a place by capturing it with words, ‘translation.’ It’s a sideways manoeuvre. Part interpretation, part alchemy. Equally faithful and unfaithful to what is there, is not there, and could be there.” In its simplest form the exhibition is an audio guide comprising short (5-10 minutes) recordings of works originally produced in the written form. The first exhibition, held at London’s Architectural Association gallery in early 2011, featured 11 texts, recorded in English and accompanied by a seat and image selected by the extract’s author. Each piece dealt with a specific place, and by sitting as directed by the writer and looking at the image of their choosing, visitors were invited to immerse themselves in the place; to have the author translate it for them.

English; Chinese; Turkish