British Academy Showcase 2022

Yaşar University Faculty of Architecture was part of the British Academy Showcase 2022, which took place on June 16-18 in London. Our exhibition, running simultaneously in London and Izmir (TIAFI center), aimed at helping to promote understanding of global displacement. With a live video link, the exhibition created an environment of interaction between the participants at the British Academy exhibition hall in London and the TIAFI community center in Izmir. In both locations, participants asked, “What is home for you?” and contributed to the design elements to be integrated into the spaces at the TIAFI community center with the paintings they created within the framework of the theme. Creating a material and social connection between London and Izmir, the exhibition was visited with great interest by school-age children and young people on the first day, researchers on the second day, and general audiences on the third day.

An innovative exhibition at the British Academy Summer Showcase

The exhibit at the Summer Showcase. Credit: Sangram Shikre.

We hosted an innovative exhibition at the British Academy Summer Showcase 2022, running simultaneously in the UK and Turkey, helping to promote understanding of global displacement challenges, and forge new solidarities between exhibition visitors in London and İzmir.

Visitors had an opportunity to connect with the community at the Turkish NGO, Team International Assistance for Integration (TIAFI), in digital, material and symbolic ways. The interactions and activities in London were happening simultaneously at TIAFI. People from both countries connected over the digital space with each other, speaking about what ‘home’ means to them and sharing the images they had drawn.

A group of people connect with the children at the TIFAI Community Centre via the live link. Credit: Sangram Shirke.

“It was wonderful to see the spontaneous interactions that schoolchildren from the UK had with the kids at TIAFI simply by comparing their drawings on the theme of ‘home’.”
Dolf te Lintelo, Principal Investigator on the WHIT Project and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies.

Just one of the many images drawn of ‘home’, drawn by a child from the TIAFI Community Centre.

“The drawings often underlined people’s common notion of, and aspirations for what a home should be, across cities, despite their very different situations”
Dolf te Lintelo

Additionally, a community wellbeing space is being constructed on TIAFI’s rooftop, led by a group of student architects. A prototype from this build was brought to the exhibit for people to use as a community space. Attendees at the event were invited to create materials that will be used on rooftop build at the TIAFI Community Centre, creating a direct and long-lasting connection between people in London and İzmir. This building activity is embedded within the larger WHIT research and action project supported by the British Academy.

Visit and follow our Instagram account to see all of the images and designs created by the TIAFI community and those who attended the BA Summer Showcase.

The exhibit team. From left to right: Amalia Katopodis (Umeå University), Fanny Chaiyarach (Umeå University), Meltem Gürel (Yaşar University), Benjamin Roobol (Umeå University), Dolf te Lintelo (Institute of Development Studies), Robert Mull (Univesity of Brighton, Umeå University), and Sangram Shirke (Umeå University).