City, Art and Participation moderated by Mahir Namur

The purpose of this panel is to discuss how and at what level art practices and cultural events could contribute to the city’s transformation, by taking Sinop and Sinopale as a case study. The characteristic of the Sinop International Biennial, Sinopale is that it is a civil society activity aimed at creating change rather than organizing a big show. Independent from, but still in close cooperation with public institutions, efforts are being made to encourage the contribution of society to collective thought production within the context of a sustainable development strategy developed together with universities and NGOs. At this panel, the pushing power of arts and culture for the transformation the public space will be explored, glanced from different perspectives of artists, curators, city planners, NGO representatives, academics and Sinop’s locals who are a part of the process.

Mahir Namur is born in 1967 in Ankara, grown up in Kuwait, Turkey Malta and Libya. Studied BA in Civil Engineering in Istanbul Technical University, and MA in Construction Management and Economy in Vienna University of Technology. After working in the construction sector for several years he turned his carrier path towards cultural communication, cooperation and development and later also to personal development, coaching and psychological counseling. Between 1994-97 he worked in Strabag Austria, for the development and implementation of international construction projects (Turkey, Ghana, Malawi). In 1999 he established Istanbul based Chameleon PM and Design, a project management company in arts and culture. He developed and managed several international cultural, educational and communication projects for private companies, cities and NGOs. He was the founder president and is now the general secretary of European Cultural Association, founded in 2003 in Istanbul, which was engaged in fostering cultural cooperation between Europe and Turkey in its first years and later in the empowerment of the civil society and culture oriented development at local national and international levels in Europe. He developed and coordinated several European cooperation projects such as Europist, City and Art, Collecting the Future, Social Entrepreneurship and Design for Sustainable Urban Development in cooperation with European universities, NGOs and cities and organized several conferences and Fora. Since its establishment in 2005, he is one of the key figures in Sinopale, International Sinop Biennial, HAL Center for Creativity, Social Entrepreneurship Sustainable Development Project as well as Sinop Sustainable Development Association. He is a member of Brussels based European House for Culture and a Strategy Group Member of “A Soul for Europe” Initiative. Since 2005 he teaches project development, cultural management, communication, efficiency management and coaching courses in Yeditepe University and cultural management and project development course Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and gives seminars and workshops internationally in univerities and NGOs. He is recently co-developing a masters programme in field of participatory art practices as a partner of Erasmus+ project “European Academy of Participation”. Beside his work in cultural and educational fields, since 2010 he coaches and trains individuals and organizations. He completed several courses in Coaching and Psychological Counseling courses. He developed two training programs: “Relationship Management” and “Meaning Oriented Strategic Planning” combining his strategic planning, management and coaching experiences and now offering trainings in universities and NGOs Europe wide. 

Bahar Aksel Enşici is an academic researcher and lecturer, currently working as an assistant professor at Mimar Sinan University focusing on urban design, urban space communication, behavioral environments, spatial analysis and image and branding. She graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban and Regional Planning and received a Master’s degree in Urban Design from Mimar Sinan University and completed her PhD at the same university.

Alpay Tırıl was born in 1973 in İzmir. He graduated from Ege University Landscape Architecture Department. He had Master Degrees from Ege University in Landscape Architecture, from Dokuz Eylül University in History and Phd degree from Ankara University in Social Ecology. He worked for Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Cultural and Natural Protection Section in İzmir. He has living in Sinop since 2006. He has teaching the natural, cultural and social contexts of tourism in Sinop University, School of Tourism and Hotel Management. Nature and culture are his main interest area both in historical and actual contexts.