Project
Beyond the unique educational opportunities it offers in mathematics, art, and philosophy, Nesin Villages has become a turning point with the culture of commons it has brought to the communities. Activities of any level and range can take place simultaneously in the village. Nesin Villages includes many voices and takes intersectional, more-than-human, and local perspectives. It is only through commitment to engagement beyond age, socioeconomic classes, ethnicities, political views, and religious beliefs that education platforms can transcend their boundaries and be sustainably relevant to real people and communities in an ever-changing world. Unpretentious spatial structures, such as the residential houses made out of rock, straw, and clay, as well as the kitchen and cafeterias, gardens, carpentry shops, and ceramic atelier, can accommodate more than 400 people, and more capacity is a constant need. Şirince, where Nesin Village is located, is a small district of İzmir, on the Aegean side of Turkey, and known for its indigenous foods such as olives, figs, and olive oil. The valley where Nesin Villages has been located for fifteen years became an alternative educational district when fellows like Arkhe and Stoa were established.
The Station: Nesin Villages Association(The Station) was founded by its volunteers to develop projects that would meet the other needs of the village and carried out projects focused on artistic production and ecology in this direction. The Station, is a hybrid community driven by the past and former participants of the Nesin Villages. As students, coordinators, volunteers, and instructors; we are organizing programs, creating modules, and designing collective experiences with different groups and concepts.
This project aims to provide a holistic approach as well as a new narrative about sustainability in the local community of Şirince, where Nesin Villages is located. Considering the influx of thousands of young people into the valley each year, a program that takes an ecological restoration perspective is imperative since it sets a precedent for future actions. In this aspect, volunteers of Nesin Villages often discuss issues such as reducing consumption, recycling waste, and consuming what can be recycled in their village. Water, energy, and waste cycle problems are becoming increasingly problematic as the village's population increases every year.
The proposed project will be taking place in Nesin Villages a notable location to attract the younger generation and the spaces around that have the potential to engage with holistic approaches which take into account the significance of recognition of global warming. While carrying out the project, it is aimed that experts, artists and initiatives in this field come together to strengthen the project and support its sustainability.
Artistic Approaches on Ecological Repair
ACTIVITY 03
Artist Residency on Climate Change
An artist will be invited to engage with the village's activities, mentored by a curator and writer, to create climate change-inspired art. The residency aims to highlight ecological efforts through art, culminating in an exhibition and social media engagement to widen the conversation.
ACTIVITY 04
Dinner Table Conversations on Civic Empowerment
This gathering around a dinner table uses the social aspect of food to foster belonging and public dialogue. It seeks to provoke thought on production, consumption, and the climate crisis, fostering collaborative solutions between civic groups and individuals. This activity draws parallels with weaving, symbolizing the creation of new communal bonds.
ACTIVITY 01
Creating an Upcycling System at Nesin Villages
This project, integrating ecological repair and sustainable production, involves community engagement through walks, interviews, and storytelling at Nesin Station and Nesin Art Village. It aims to treat waste as a resource, involving a professional to develop accessible solutions. The focus is on understanding and improving the village's waste cycles through collaborative initiatives, leading to practical, spatial, and organizational outputs.
ACTIVITY 02
Permaculture Garden to Support Upcycling
A permaculture garden will be established, exploring how Nesin Villages can learn from nature-aligned gardening. Partnering with IyiEkim, the project delves into permaculture ethics, promoting eco-friendly, resilient systems. This activity offers education in sustainable living and permaculture principles, combining theory, practical application, and team-building.
Project Activities
Climate Cultures Call
The Climate Cultures Call was a special call responding to urgent challenges at the interface of climate protection and social justice. We received a large number of inspiring project proposals from all over Europe and the Mediterranean that seek to build new alliances and inspire cultural change. The ten projects that stood out to us all contribute to a future shaped by a sustainable and equitable climate cultures. The project proposals will be realized over the course of the year. For more information about the call visit the Climate Cultures Call Website. In order to be able to effectively counteract climate change, we need to change our mindset. What is needed are holistic approaches that take into account the connection between global warming and social climate – and from this obtain incentives for the urgently needed transformation of our cultural practices and paradigms. Along with the ecological aspects, consequences of the climate crisis such as social upheaval, displacement and migration, and growing nationalism must also be considered.
Grantees // İstasyon: Nesin Köyleri Derneği
Nesin Villages has been making a difference and contributing to Turkey's future for over 15 years. Hundreds of students from different cultures and socio-economic conditions benefit from the programs and gain valuable experiences and knowledge of living together in a multicultural environment. Nesin Villages, under which we are united, is committed to facilitating and supporting the fulfillment of this mission as a community that cares about the sustainability of such places and the continuation of production. Our project is a valuable fit for international collaborations, especially in a place such as this one where productivity is valued over consumption. It has thousands of visitors throughout the year, and hundreds of students with changing perspectives. In the 15 years that Nesin Villages has been working non-stop, it has grown in visibility and influence every year and will have a significant impact on making ecological concerns visible with such a project. This means that we can motivate the younger generation against global warming. In Ecological repair, care-centric work areas, social justice, and gender policies will be at the center of our work in the next three years. Ecological reparation and food justice were our first subjects in the Interdisciplinary Collective Studies for Social Change program held in 2021, which we saw as important and a common concern. A Sustainability Support grant was granted to us by the SAHA Association so we could realize the project we prepared in this area. The project is designed to address concerns in the social, artistic, and ecological fields and to evaluate the unique infrastructure of Nesin Art Village. In this regard, our aims are: The objective of this project is to make visible and sustainable the dialogues emerging from the encounter between culture-arts professionals through an online open-source publication called Ecological Repair. To accomplish this, we invited the culture and art professionals who had come to the Village for training to take part in this project. In 2021, The Station: Nesin Association was supported by Spaces of Culture and the Swedish Consulate.