In 2010, Istanbul will celebrate its selection as a European Capital of Culture. To mark the important event, a new initiative, My City, is being launched as part of the European Commission’s Cultural Bridges Programme. The programme’s aim is to establish partnerships between cultural actors in Turkey and Europe and to reciprocally raise cultural awareness.

My City will bring five prominent artists from Europe to Turkey to experience for themselves the cultural richness and diversity of the country in the 21st century. At the same time, several leading artists from Turkey will be given the opportunity to show their newest works at some of Europe’s leading cultural venues. The creative exchange facilitated by My City will be a chance to forge a deeper cultural understanding between Turkey and Europe.

Starting in 2009, five artists from Europe were invited to Turkey to develop a unique work of public art for a specific city in Turkey. The selected cities are Canakkale, Istanbul, Konya, Mardin and Trabzon. Each city has unique story to tell and this project will give the artists the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of both the city and Turkey as a whole. The different contexts and the range of artists participating will ensure that the results in each city will be both unique and spectacular. The artists will develop a unique work of art to be unveiled in 2010.

It is often said that young people are the future, but this is especially true for Turkey where half the country’s population is below 30. My City will have a large educational component which will focus on young people in the five cities, providing a forum for them to discuss and debate the design of their cities. My City is not only about the creation of spectacular new works of art, it also engages a wider programme that involves the public and specialist communities from each city in diverse themes, including: public consultation; heritage, memory and history; the built environment; parks and public space; and social communication.

My City has been conceived by British Council together with local partners Anadolu Kultur and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Centre. The project is funded by the European Commission and British Council and led by a dedicated team at the British Council in Istanbul.

Artists from Europe have been nominated for My City by a panel of acclaimed international curators; Andrea Schlieker (UK), curatorial adviser for My City and Curator of Folkestone Triennial, Brigitte Franzen (DE), Director, Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen, Mika Hannula (FI), University of Gothenburg/ freelance curator, Sebastian Cichocki (PL) Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw and Silvia Eiblmayr (AT) Co-curator Austrian Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2009 and selected together with British Council and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center.