When I went to Istanbul Biennial last September, I arrived at Ataturk Airport, went up to the visa counter, paid 10 euro’s and voila, there was my visa. Now I am compiling a set of documents for a Schengen visa for Halil Altindere and Azra Tuzunoglu.
Halil is one of our participating artists. Halil is also a curator and a publisher of magazines and books on contemporary Turkish art. I admire him immensely: his career took off like a rocket, exhibiting at the Istanbul Biennial (1997), the Sao Paolo Biennial (1998), Gwangju Bienniale (2002) and Manifesta 4 (2002). Then he decided to stay in Istanbul and set up an underground art scene as a reaction to the commercialisation of art in Turkey the last couple of years. He now chooses his foreign adventures very carefully, like Documenta 12 (see video still above). You can imagine how pleased I am he will create a work for us.
Azra is an art critic writing for Radikal, a Turkish daily. She is Halil’s girlfriend and comes along as a translator since Halil’s English is not that good and my understanding of Turkish in zero.
Halil, luckily, has a long-term multi-entry Schengen visa. Azra does not. The Netherlands does not provide cultural visas, so we have to apply for a business visa. I checked the website of the Dutch Consulate General in Istanbul and it lists 12 documents that should be handed in. And it can take up to 2 months to process the application. Humph. The red tape and the lack of hospitability of the Netherlands is an embarrassment to me and our organisation.
Halil is one of our participating artists. Halil is also a curator and a publisher of magazines and books on contemporary Turkish art. I admire him immensely: his career took off like a rocket, exhibiting at the Istanbul Biennial (1997), the Sao Paolo Biennial (1998), Gwangju Bienniale (2002) and Manifesta 4 (2002). Then he decided to stay in Istanbul and set up an underground art scene as a reaction to the commercialisation of art in Turkey the last couple of years. He now chooses his foreign adventures very carefully, like Documenta 12 (see video still above). You can imagine how pleased I am he will create a work for us.
Azra is an art critic writing for Radikal, a Turkish daily. She is Halil’s girlfriend and comes along as a translator since Halil’s English is not that good and my understanding of Turkish in zero.
Halil, luckily, has a long-term multi-entry Schengen visa. Azra does not. The Netherlands does not provide cultural visas, so we have to apply for a business visa. I checked the website of the Dutch Consulate General in Istanbul and it lists 12 documents that should be handed in. And it can take up to 2 months to process the application. Humph. The red tape and the lack of hospitability of the Netherlands is an embarrassment to me and our organisation.
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