Eyes Hearts Hands Urban Revolution
We continue our work for the “Eyes, Hearts, Hands” European Union Horizon Project that we applied and have been admitted to with 27 partner across 7 countries. This project with a 36-months duration and a budget of 5 Million Euros has completed its 12th month.
The scope of the project comprises of sustainable design studies performed for the historical properties located in “Kemeralti and Its Environs”. Our ongoing process at the UNESCO World Heritage is going to be positively impacted by this project.
The aim of the “Eyes, Hearts, Hands, Urban Revolution” project that has won 5 Million Euros is to tackle such pressing issues as social discrimination, energy insufficiency, population decline in historic city centers, socio-economic and cultural struggles in the EU and 7 associated countries.
Project Website: eyesheartshands.eu
Atlas of Art and Craft
Izmir University of Economics Creative Economy Research & Application Center have come together with Spectacled Tales, Izmir Historical Kemeralti Tradesmen Association, The Historical Port City of Izmir Site Management Office and Historic Kemeraltı Construction Investment and Commerce Inc. in an attempt to bring forth the artists and craftsmen of Kemeraltı in a new project.
Kemeraltı Atlas of Art & Craft project aims to render visible close to 2500 years of history of arts and crafts and artists and craftsmen whose past is almost entirely forgotten today.
The Kemeraltı Atlas of Art and Craft aims at investigating the properties and values of artists and craftsmen in the region, as well as at showing their relationships with the regional culture and at increasing their visibility.
As part of this research project, 30 artists and craftsmen were reached in Kemeraltı. Detailed interviews with 10 artists and craftsmen were turned into short films. In addition, 1 project documentary was fictionalized. The Kemeraltı Art and Craft Atlas Book has been produced as a print source about the process. A map was also created along with the book.
Finally, zanaatlasi.com website has been prepared and a digital archive prepared for the artists and craftsmen in the region.
Project Website: zanaatatlasi.com
IMECE
IMECE: is an Art and Craft Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project backed by the “The Future is the Youth” Culture Industries Support program of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate for Copyright. Presented by Izmir Bilimpark Inc., the other partners on the project are Izmir University of Economics Creative Economy Research & Application Center and TARKEM Inc., along with Izmir Historical Kemeralti Tradesmen Association.
IMECE’s purpose is to contribute to the transfer of art and craft to the future generations through creative and innovative means. The goal of the project is to increase the visibility of the cultural riches the 2500 years-old Kemeraltı Marketplace boasts in the realm of arts and crafts, help make high quality products, to strengthen local and international sales networks, to cultivate an environment and develop a business model that allows younger generations to learn from the traditional artists and craftsmen in the area.
Through CraftHub, 20 young creatives with experience or training in the field of creative industries and 20 artists and craftsmen will find the opportunity to collaborate and interact. At the same time, this hub will host an acceleration program that matches a different craft with a new theme every year under the leadership of IMECE.
İMECE CraftHub will act as a continuous learning center with research and development and application so that researchers, designers and younger generations who want to work in these fields can see traditional production methods for themselves and as a result, the hub will also raise the level of awareness and ownership of Kemeraltı and its cultural legacy. CraftHub will exist to provide sustainability in the production, design, study and experience of arts and crafts.
Furthermore, the Hub aims at;
•Creating opportunities for business collaborations between artists, craftsmen and designers
•Establishing a collective use for the various knowledge and skills artists, craftsmen and designers possess
•Bringing together the traditional techniques of artists and craftsmen with the know-how and new technologies that designers have
•Transfer of arts and crafts disappearing with time to the newer generations
•Preserving our culture in times of changing commercial, economic, technological and cultural conditions by bringing together the representatives of traditional arts and crafts with designers and innovative methods.
Project Website: crafthub35.com