The Other Stories Project was carried out through the collaboration of institutions working on migration, art, and social cohesion at both national and international levels. The project’s main lead, the Migration Research Center at Istanbul Bilgi University (BİLGİ-Göç), provided the academic framework and coordinated the whole process. The initiative was further strengthened by the Association for Migration Research (GAR), whose field-based expertise and community engagement experience played a central role in shaping the project’s social dimension. The artistic components were developed under the curation of Denizhan Özer, together with the contributions of participating artists. This partnership brought together academia and art, research and fieldwork, local knowledge and international perspectives—creating the comprehensive and multidimensional structure that defines the project.

“The Other Stories” is a multifaceted project centered on the themes of art and migration. It was developed in the context of Turkey becoming the country hosting the largest refugee population in the world, with more than 3.7 million Syrian refugees and a growing number of Afghan refugees. This situation has brought various concerns regarding living together with difference to the forefront.

The project aims to highlight the underemphasized connection between art, culture, and social cohesion. Art offers migrants and local communities opportunities to actively participate in the socio-cultural and political spheres at the local level, to have a voice, and to engage with host societies. “The Other Stories” seeks to fill this gap by using artistic tools in the design and sustainability of social cohesion programs.

The project approaches migration as a phenomenon present throughout history—driven by wars, climate crises, economic hardship, and political forces. Through artistic expression, it examines themes such as separation, abandonment, death, othering, exclusion, identity, displacement, homelessness, freedom, and hope.

Project Outputs

This collaborative art initiative consists of four main components:

• Exhibition
• Exhibition book
• Exhibition website
• A podcast series on art and migration

The Other Stories Exhibition

The first outcome of the project, The Other Stories Exhibition, was organized under the coordination of the Istanbul Bilgi University Migration Research Center (BİLGİ-Göç). The exhibition was coordinated by Gülay Uğur Göksel and Gizem Kulekçioğlu and curated by Denizhan Özer, and was open to visitors at the Energy Museum of Istanbul Bilgi University’s santralistanbul Campus between 16 December 2021 and 7 February 2022.

The exhibition featured works by 50 artists from 12 countries, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, installations, videos, and performance art. It brought together contributions from both migrant and local artists, highlighting the multidimensional nature of stories surrounding human mobility.

The aim of the exhibition was to shift the focus away from binary identity frameworks toward an understanding grounded in democratic plurality and the fragile entanglement of stories. Through aesthetic interpretations, it sought to provoke reflection on migration and raise awareness among viewers.

The Exhibition Book

Another major output of the project is The Other Stories exhibition book, which brings together art and academia around the subject of migration. Edited by Gülay Uğur Göksel and prepared for publication by Gizem Kulekçioğlu and translated by Eda Sevinin, the book includes reflections and analyses by 30 scholars, each focusing on one or more works featured in the exhibition or on the exhibition as a whole.

The texts and artworks in the book are grouped under five thematic headings:

• Other Paths
• Other Faces
• Other Spaces
• Other Children
• Other Workers
  

Contributions of GAR Members

1. Gülay Uğur Göksel

• Introduction — pp. xxi–xxv
• Sounds in the Exhibition, Black Holes, and a Critique of Stasis — pp. 121–126

2. Deniz Sert

• The Elephant in the Room (Young Traveller) — pp. 153–155

3. Didem Danış

• A Brief Walk Through a World of Fragilities and Promises Accompanied by Ghosts — pp. 117–120

4. Polat Alpman

• The Other Stories: The Possibility of a Third State — pp. 69–71

5. Besim Can Zırh 

• Windows Opening to the In-Betweenness of Migration Timescape — pp. 103–106

6. Sedef Turper Alışık

• The “Indivisible Flow” of Intergroup Relations — pp. 107–109

7. Neva Övünç Öztürk

• An Overview of the Responsibility for International Protection in the Other Stories — pp. 156–158

Digital Access

You can access the exhibition website, the open-access digital version of the book, and the Other Stories Podcast Series through the links provided below.

Linkler:

Öteki Hikayeler: Göç, Sanat ve Birlikte Yaşam Podcast: Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/2oJRgMtROLUbQbEbeiDhad?si=02ed60e0784a40b2

https://open.spotify.com/show/1tmweyb3mp9ZUbSEaT5Mjj?si=552d48911ed64873

Exhibition Book:-Free Access: https://goc.bilgi.edu.tr/media/pdf/oteki_hikayeler.pdf

Exhibition Website: https://respondmigration.com/the-other-stories-exhibition

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OtekiHikayeler-TheOtherStories

The Other Stories Exhibition Tour Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ounz1cJko

Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/the_other_stories_book/