As the fourth event of Hospitable Sea project, Alparslan Baloğlu will present a new work that is taking its based on his previous work produced in Sinopale 1 “Where Are The Hacıkadın Chickens”.
Sinopale, since its start in 2006, has produced invaluable information and works for the sustainable development of the city; with the projects carried out both during and in-between biennials has created a cultural accumulation.
Sinopale 8 aims to archive these works and open them to common access so that they can continue to contribute to the cultural development of the city. The Biennial wishes to evaluate and interpret a selection of works in the light of today’s conditions, within the framework of the concept of “Upcycling” chosen as the theme.
In maritime history, cities ashore are attractive; ships and cargo bring people and goods; they are the end and the beginning of this journey. It is the distribution point of cultures and ideas.
Beral Madra
SINOPALE 1 ŞEY / THING 2006
Alparslan Baloğlu,
WHERE ARE HACIKADIN CHICKENS?
Being one of the rare pure breeds in the world and endemic to Sinop and to the surrounding geography, Hacıkadin Chickens produce a maximum of 96 eggs in a year. They are in danger of extinction, of course, due to their lack of economic return. Gerze Roosters too.
Therefore, Hacıkadin Chickens and Gerze Roosters are almost forgotten, stuck between four walls in the socio-cultural memory of the local people living in Sinop, one of the important port cities of the Black Sea, and its nearby geography.
The wards of the Old Sinop Prison, which was built as a shipyard in the Hellenistic period and later turned into a prison, were allocated for the invited artists to perform and exhibit their works during SINOPALE 1 THING, the first edition of the International Sinop biennial.
In Sinopale 1, where I was invited, I placed 450 pictures of Hacikadin Chickens and Gerze Roosters in a ward given to me elevating both them and the evacuated Sinop Prison to the socio-cultural and historical memory of the people of the city.
As a reminder to public, 42,500 small postcards were distributed throughout the biennial, with pictures of Hacikadin Chickens and Gerze Roosters on one side, and a short informational text about this rare pure breed, which belongs to the region and is in danger of extinction, on the other side.
A picture of a Hacikadin Chicken and a Gerze Rooster was placed in a coop without a door and presented to the Sinop Ethnography Museum.
You can see Alparslan Baloğlu’s produced in Sinopale 1 titled “Where Are The Hacikadin Chickens?” in our archive. Click here for “Where Are The Hacikadin Chickens? ,2006”.
SINOPALE 8 UPCYCLING 2021
Alparslan Baloğlu,
WITH LOVE FROM HACIKADIN CHICKENS AND GERZE COCKERELS
Beral Madra, one of the curators of SINOPALE 8, said, “Cities by the sea are attractive in maritime history; ships and cargo bring people and goods; they are the end and the beginning of this journey. Based on the determination “It is the distribution point of cultures and ideas”, I present my work below as a proposition for SINOPALE 8, where I am invited.
Sinop, an important port and residential area of the Black Sea, throughout its historical past, and all the port cities on the Black Sea coast and their citizens have been engaged in commercial, cultural and social relations and exchanges with each other. Sea lanes and sailors are undoubtedly the two most important elements of this relationship. Sinop, an important residential area of the Western Black Sea Region, was also an important port and food supply center for seafarers. Among the various foodstuffs that the sailors bought from the local people, there was one product they could never give up. Eggs, but only eggs of Hacıkadin chickens. Compared to the number of laying hens of today, why were the eggs of Hacikadin Hens, which can lay a maximum of 96 eggs in a year, preferred by seafarers against their numerical scarcity, and Sinop Port became an indispensable egg supply center for seafarers? The answer to this question was hidden in the shell of the egg. The eggs of Hacikadin Chickens were quite thick compared to the eggs of other chickens, and thanks to these thick shells, they did not break and did not go stale easily even if they bumped into each other in the turbulence of strong waves.
Due to these unrivaled characteristics, these eggs supplied by the sailors of the Black Sea from the port of Sinop have reached to many of the settlements on the Black Sea coast and became famous among the peoples living in this geography.
Eight small postcards that I placed in a box, containing visual and textual information about “Hacıkadin Chicken Eggs”, Gerze Roosters and Hacıkadin Chickens, a yellow colored quarantine flag that provides communication between sea vessels and ports as a reminder of the Corona 19 Pandemic period the whole world has gone through during the realization of this work and this letter were realized as a “Common Memory Object”. This object is to be exhibited in the ethnography and art museums of the countries bordering the Black Sea, and were sent to the relevant institutions and individuals.
Note: In the time flowing from SINOPALE 1 2006 to SINOPALE 8 2021, the production works of this endangered pure breed were started by a group of local entrepreneurs.
Based on extensive production realized during the 7 Sinopale by local and international artists, curators and academicians, as well as local NGO’s and the public, this version of Sinopale can focus on the main historical, geographical, political and cultural world phenomenon of Black Sea, which is in the hearth of Europe and Eurasia.
Apart from all political, economic, environmental disasters the world is facing now, the future of WATER will be more fundamental.