The first event of the Secret City took place as an online round table gathering. In this event, Emre Zeytinoğlu held interviews with guest artists Aylin Çakıner, İpek Hamzaoğlu, T. Melih Görgün and Yusuf Emre Yalçın.
*English subtitles for the video will be added soon.
This project refers to Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” and is called “The Secret City”.
In Calvino’s book, Marco Polo speaks to Genghis Khan for night after night about the cities he visited. Genghis Khan, on the other hand, enjoyed the great cities he conquered, whilst listening to the stories of these cities. Because Marco Polo’s cities didn’t gain their meanings through great wars, heroism, etc.. Instead, they were made up of personal memories, stories, and emotions. In other words, Marco Polo was talking about the soul of the cities, not their outward appearances. There was one city that had never been told to Genghis Khan by Marco Polo. This city was Venice. When Genghis Khan asked Marco Polo to describe this city on their last night, Marco Polo’s response to him was very interesting: