The international festival series, organised by Ä°stanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts since 2004 to strengthen the understanding, dialogue, and interaction between East and West, continued in Vienna in 2008.
"Turkey at one Glance. Excerpts from Life and Culture" took place from November 4, 2008-February 1, 2008 in Vienna. The idea of the festival was based on a culture that derives from the daily life of a young and considerably critical generation and, thus, the festival dealt with issues of social change and transformation.
The programme included various events from film to music, dance, caricature, fashion photography, visual arts and literature. The exhibition "Index. Traces from Daily Life" that took place November 4-25, 2008 in Kunstraum Palais Porcia featured contemporary artists Selim Birsel, Nermin Er, İnci Eviner, Extramücadele, Murat Morova, Ceren Oykut, Murat Şahinler and Nalan Yırtmaç. Other exhibitions organised in the scope of the festival were Ahmet Polat's "The Mirror Between Us" photo exhibition, "The Sultan's Nose" Turkish caricature exhibition and "Forms & Landscapes" presenting fashion photography by Barış Aktınmaz, Ayten Alpun, Sedef Delen and Emre Ünal.
Kolektif İstanbul, Ayşe Tütüncü Trio and Baba Zula presented both traditional and contemporary music at three different venues on November 4, 5 and 6, 2008. The festival program also included a series of film screenings at the Filmhaus Kino Spittelberg from November 5 - 9, 2008. Among the films were Çağan Irmak's The Messenger, Semih Kaplanoğlu's Egg, Seyfi Teoman's Summer Book, Derviş Zaim's Waiting for Heaven and Sırrı Süreyya Önder & Muharrem Gülmez's The International.
Helmut Wittman, Mehmet Dalkılıç and Franz Bernegger presented Nasreddin Hoca stories at the reading called "Akıllı Deli" (Smart Madman), November 6, 2008. The festival also hosted two dance performances: "Saturdance" on November 3, 2008 and "Taldans-Dolap" on November 8, 2008.
Organised by the Ministry of Education, Art and Culture of Austria in cooperation with Ä°stanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and the Embassy of Turkey in Austria, the festival was supported by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The festival was curated by Daniela Gregori and Deniz Ova.
