Pins on the map Urban mappings in European-Turkish contemporary art

In reflecting on how maps and mapping can serve as sources and inspiration for contemporary art, this dissertation examines a group of European-Turkish/Turkish-European artists from a range of aesthetic and cultural perspectives. It locates how these artists, who work in a variety of media, have engaged maps and other forms of cartographic practice. Sometimes consciously and sometimes not, these practitioners have approached mapping as a flexible and fertile realm for contemporary artistic practice, especially in urban settings. The artists, and the cities on which their work focuses, are Servet Koçyiğit (b. 1971, Kaman, Turkey), who works in and on Amsterdam; Nasan Tur (b. 1974, Offenbach, Germany) and Nevin Aladağ (b. 1972, Van, Turkey) discussed together because both artists’ works are set in Istanbul; and lastly Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977, Istanbul, Turkey), who works in and on Vienna. The reflections presented are shaped by these artists’ multiple belongings, their creative mappings of the city, and their attempts to develop a new map that revolves around the hyphen in European-Turkishness/Turkish-Europeanness.