Ex oriente lux? Insights into the German-Turkish Cultural Mosaic

According to the news magazine Der Spiegel Istanbul is »Turkey’s New York – the Orient’s outpost in the Occident«. The city on the Bosporus has always been a outlet between East and West and thus in historical, political and cultural terms a place of contrasts, in which exemplary modes of coexistence have recently been torpedoed by fundamentalist terrorist groups.

During the European Cultural Festival 2004 on the theme of Istanbul the ZAK | Center for Cultural and General Studies are being joined by the ZKM and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in staging a symposium from 23 to 25 April under the heading »Ex Oriente Lux? – Insights into the German-Turkish Cultural Mosaic« chaired by Dr. Caroline Robertson-von Trotha [ZAK], Prof. Peter Weibel [ZKM] and Achim Thorwald [Badisches Staatstheater].

This German-Turkish symposium will address three key topics: Istanbul – City of Contrasts and Simultaneities; The Policy of Recognition; and Art, Consumption, Popular Culture – A Modern Bridge? The lectures will be accompanied by two panel discussions, a film and a cabaret show.

Everyday discrimination, the formation of possible parallel societies and the approaches adopted by radicalisation movements and those that oppose them provide points of departure for questions about alternative courses of action and scenarios for the future. In what ways can the precept of religious freedom and the possible abuse of the traditional European concept of tolerance be interpreted and discussed?

In taking up these issues the German-Turkish symposium will focus on and call into question the special symbolic significance of the metropolitan city of Istanbul as a bridge between Orient and Occident.

Program

Fri 23 April 2004

Opening
ZKM_Media Theater

7 pm
Welcoming Addresses
Prof. Peter Weibel [Director of ZKM]
Ullrich Eidenmüller [Cultural Mayor of Karlsruhe]
Dr. Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha [Direktor of ZAK, Karlsruhe University]

Living spaces in Istanbul
Ceremonial Address
Yekta Kara [director, Istanbul]

8 pm
Political participation as an opportunity for integration?
Panel
Bülent Arslan [CDU]
Mehmet Daimagüler [FDP]
Dilek Kolat [SPD]
Cem Özdemir [Bündnis90/Die Grünen]
Moderator: Dr. Michael Lüders [Author, Political Counselor, Berlin]

10 pm
The moustache[Biyik], Turkey 2004, short film
D: L. Nalbantoglu
Elephants and Grass [Filler ve Cimen], Turkey 2000, feature film
D: Dervis Zaim
Turkish original with German subtitles

Sat, 24. April 2004

Symposium
ZKM_Media Theater 10 am
Istanbul - City of contrasts and simultaneities
Welcoming Address
Susanne Laugwitz [Festival Coordinator, Cultural Affairs Department, Karlsruhe]
Prof. Peter Weibel [Director of ZKM]
Dr. Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha [Dr. Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha [Director of ZAK, Karlsruhe University]

The Republic will educate Byzantium
Halil Gülbeyaz [Film Maker and Publicist, NDR]

Sometimes the Bosporus is glinting
Michael Matting [Former ARD-Correspondent in Instanbul]

Under the red halfmoon. Attempts of the German-speaking Modernity at the »Golden Horn«
Prof. Dr. Bernd Nicolai [Art Historian, Trier University]

Discussion
Association of Turkish Academics

Lunch Break

2:30 pm
Policy of recognition
Social Integration and participation
»A Turk does not go the opera.« What Germans know about Turks
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim [Sociologist, University Erlangen-Nürnberg]

»Politics and economic participation." Migrants in Companies
Hayrettin Aydin [Head of the Department for Scientific Projects, Foundation Center for Turkish Studies, Essen]

Turkish identities. Between integration and exclusion
Cigdem Akkaya [Deputy Director, Foundation Center for Turkish Studies, Essen]

Discussion

Podium: Headscarf debate
Statements by
Barbara John [former Representative for Immigrants at the Berlin Senate]
Collin Schubert [Terre des Femmes, Tübingen]
Dr. Ursula Knapp [Judicial Editor, Frankfurter Rundschau, Karlsruhe]

4:30 pm
Podium with
Meral Akkent [Sociologist, Erlangen]
Evrim Baba [PDS, House of Representatives, Berlin]
Serap Cileli [Author, Erbach]
Barbara John [former Representative for Immigrants at the Berlin Senate]
Moderator: Dr. Ursula Knapp [Judicial Editor, Frankfurter Rundschau, Karlsruhe]

7:30 pm
Concert Where, by the prophet’s beard, is Europe?

Sun 25. April 2004

Kleines Haus Badisches Staatstheater

11 am
Modern Bridge? – Encounters in Art, Theatre and Popular Culture
Opening Address
Achim Thorwald [Director of the Badisches Staatstheaters Karlsruhe]
Lecture
Themes from everyday live in Istanbul's contemporary cinema and theater
Yekta Kara [director, Istanbul]

11:45 am
Scenic Reading »Kanak Sprak« by Feridun Zaimoglu

12:15 pm
Cabaret with Muhsin Omurca

2 pm
Discussion

End: ca 3 pm