#OccupyGezi: The art of the Turkish protests

Two street stencils on walls in Istanbul

The Occupy Gezi movement started in Istanbul with the aim of preserving one of the very few green areas left in the city and turned into a group of massive, nation-wide anti-government protests. This has ignited a flurry of creative production which has resulted in a variety of posters, banners and street art...

This post was originally published on the V&A Museum's Posters blog. Our thanks to curator Caroline Flood and Yaman Kayabali for permission to repost it here.

The protests that started with the Occupy movement in Istanbul have since spread to other Turkish cities such as the capital Ankara and Turkey's third largest city, Izmir.

Twitter was officially labeled as a "troublemaker" by the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan after the start of the protests as it was instrumental in distributing information for the protestors in a time when the traditional media practiced self-censorship.

The Twitter bird wearing a gas mask is displayed in a stencil along with the most famous hashtag of the Gezi protests, #occupygezi (shown, above left). The gas mask, which has now become an everyday object for the Turkish protestors, is a reference to the enormous amount of teargas used by the police.

On the other hand, the stencil of a defiant penguin who also wears a gas mask (above right) symbolises the media corruption in Turkey. Penguins are now associated with the self-censorship of the mainstream Turkish media after CNN Turk, a major news channel, broadcast a documentary on penguins while the civil protests and police violence were at their peak – instead of covering what was happening on the streets.

Digital poster depicting a protester throwing a tear gas canister. The text reads 'Mr Officer You Dropped Something'

Turkish police have been harshly criticized by the protestors due to the use of an unprecedented amount of tear gas, as well as the police violence witnessed during the protests.

Yet, among the images that are circulated in the social media which support the protestors and criticise the government or the police, humour dominates. The text in the digital poster above reads 'Mr. Officer You Dropped Something' – it is written on a blurred photo in which an activist is throwing back an active tear gas canister back at the riot police.

Two posters featuring portraits of the Turkish Prime Minister

The street art shown, above left, plays with the image of Sex Pistols' iconic album cover by inserting the portrait of the Turkish Prime Minister in place of the Queen's.

The word 'Queen' is changed to 'Sultan', a reference to the absolute monarchs of the Ottoman Empire, the ruling state of Turkey before the modern Republic. It is also a testament of the international legacy of punk and its relevance today in the midst of public rebellion.

The digital poster shown, above right, uses Prime Minister Erdogan's portait by the photographer Platon in the background and displays the phrase 'Keep Calm And Be Capulcu'. The Prime Minister had used the word "capulcu" – which means looter – to describe the activists after the protests grew in magnitude on May 31.

The word capulcu was quickly adopted by the protestors who started to define themselves as such. This has a humorous irony because the protestors did not see themselves as looters, since the dominant majority of them were well-educated urban middle class people who abstained from looting and other acts of vandalism.

The images above are also reflective of globalism today, since they refer to international icons to convey their messages.

As the Gezi protests developed, artists, designers and other creatives quickly responded to the photographs circulating on social media. Some of these images now enjoy an iconic status since they have been used over and over in different media.

A woman in red being sprayed with pepper spray in Gezi Park and a street stencil reproducing the image

The image of a policeman blowing pepper spray on a woman in a red dress (above left), rapidly became the most recognised symbol of the protests and was transposed to the city walls, streets and roads with stencils.

The girl in red in the stencil image (above right) is considerably larger than the policeman – symbolising the growth of the resistance as the police violence got rougher.

A whirling dervish wearing a gas mask while performing in Gezi Park and a street stencil reproducing the image and the phrase 'Come along!'

The image of a whirling dervish with a gas mask (above), who performed in the occupied Gezi Park was also taken up by street artists.

The phrase 'Come along!' was added in the stencil. 'Come along' is a reference to a poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi, whose followers had founded the Order of the Whirling Dervishes. The poem was written in the 13th century and it still makes a very powerful and moving statement in the context of the Occupy Gezi movement:

Come, come, whoever you are, come again. / Whether heathen, zoroastrian or idolatrous, come again, / Ours is not a caravan of despair, / Come again, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times.

A girl in Istanbul being hit by a water cannon

Another image which rose to prominence during the protests was the girl who stood in front of a police water cannon opening her arms, exposing her torso (above).

Her image became a symbol of non-violent resistance against police force and is displayed on a variety of printed or digital posters about the protests.

Below are two digital posters created to be used in the social media. The phrase written as a hashtag in the posters – 'Diren Gezi Parki' – means 'Gezi Park Resist' and this has become one of the favourite hashtags of the Occupy Gezi movement.

Two posters depicting the iconic image of a girl hit by a water cannon

The colourful yet simple graphic design below, which states the demands of the protestors, reflects the youthful energy of the activists.

The design is clean – each demand is symbolised by a single visual, with distinct background colours. The specific words of each demand are also emphasised by an increase in font size of certain words. This helps to convey the message clearly by avoiding a wall of text.

Graphic listing the Taksim Square demands

Considering that these images, which are only a handful among many, are a result of the past 15 days (since the protests began), there is going to be a lot more as the protests and the occupy movement continue.

Whatever the outcome of these events, it is certain that the artists, designers and activists have responded rapidly, with a highly creative and humorous body of works to the Occupy Gezi movement. It will definitely have a rich visual legacy for future generations.

Yaman Kayabali is a postgraduate student in the Art History and Museum Curating program of the University of Sussex. Prior to his studies at Sussex, he worked as a project coordinator in an exhibition design company in Istanbul. His area of interest is the relationship between art and politics. He is currently researching on the effects of political ideology on the early republican architecture in the new capital of modern Turkey with a comparative perspective of Turkey's Western European counterparts. Yaman is currently an intern in the Research Department at the V&A.

This post was originally published on the V&A Museum's Posters blog, here. It is reproduced with permission.

Pink Floyd fans may recognise the cover of our June issue. It's the original marked-up artwork for Dark Side of the Moon: one of a number of treasures from the archive of design studio Hipgnosis featured in the issue, along with an interview with Aubrey Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis with the late, great Storm Thorgerson. Elsewhere in the issue we take a first look at The Purple Book: Symbolism and Sensuality in Contemporary Illustration, hear from the curators of a fascinating new V&A show conceived as a 'walk-in book' plus we have all the regular debate and analysis on the world of visual communications.

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month.

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app updates with new content throughout each month. Get it here.

Found creates engaging mixed-media campaign film

Motion studio Found has collaborated with film director Richard Curtis to create a striking film for grassroots advocacy organisation ONE, charting the history of popular music and protest in a visually arresting mixed-media collage.

Part art installation, part documentary, it combines a range of media including music, speech, video, animation and motion graphics to recall some of the most potent quotes, speeches and individuals from protest movements of the past century - from Civil Rights, Apartheid and Occupy to the current urgent issue of extreme poverty.

Aimed to grab the attention of a younger demographic and get them involved at One.org, the film was launched at a live music event on London's Southbank last weekend, on the eve of the G8 summit. The 30-minute film (see below) was projected onto the Tate Modern following performances by music artists such as Tinie Tempah, Jessie J and KT Tunstall.

agit8 - From Protest to Progress from Meagan Bond on Vimeo.

The final version, agit8: Protest = Progress, recalls speeches by Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Dwight D Eisenhower, among others, as well as well known protest songs, such as Marlene Dietrich's rendition of Where Have All the Flowers Gone? and Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit, all set to a combination of archive images and original graphics and illustration.

Found had six weeks to turn the project around, investing a lot of time researching video footage and audio, with the help of Curtis and ONE. "Four of those weeks were spent with Excel Spreadsheets and YouTube writing things down," says Mike Sharpe, creative director of Found. "We knew that we would deal with a whole bunch of mixed media, and there was a lot of research to be done to find out which ones to pick. We watched over 30 hours of footage and had archivists working around the clock in the UK and the US sourcing obscure footage."

Around 15 minutes of footage were spliced together, with hundreds of tracks whittled down to just over 50, for the final piece.

Mixing up the graphic and illustration styles was vital, says Sharpe. "To keep the attention of the viewer [when projecting] on the side of the building you need to have a variety of looks up your sleeve rather than just one look. That's what we realised at the beginning when I did the original design."

Above: artwork of the Strange Fruit segment of From Protest to Progress, by Sweet Crude

Artwork by Found for the Apartheid section of the Tate Modern projection of agit8: Protest=Progress

Above and below: Two stills from Sweet Crude's interpretation of an Eisenhower quote from 1953

Illustration by Ian Wright to accompany Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech

The visuals were created in-house at Found with additional contributions from Sweet Crude, Ian Wright and Olive Johnson who illustrated Dietrich's song (see below).

Securing the rights to - as well as the necessary quality of - material was the biggest production challenge. For example, the audio of Mandela's speech at the Rivonia trial was of such poor quality, that the team transcribed it and used it performed by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Above: artwork for Sweet Crude's interpretation of Mandela's Rivonia trial speech

The film is part of the wider agit8 campaign, a call to action to end extreme poverty. On the agit8 website visitors can support the campaign, and performers - from high profile musicians to buskers - can add their own protest songs.

For those who missed the live performance, the film will also be shown during the summer at various festivals, and will continue to support the campaign online - and it is definitely worth catching up with. As Sharpe concludes, "Every now and then a job comes along that you just can't turn down and this was one of those occasions..."

Credits:
Global Creative Director, ONE Campaign: Roxane Philson
Writer and Executive Producer: Richard Curtis
Production Company: FOUND
Creative Director: Mike Sharpe
Producer: Sue Dhaliwal
Art Director: Ben Collier-Marsh
Associate Producer: Hannah Cameron
Animators: Christopher Shone, Tom Langton, Jonathan May
Editor: Mike Prior
Sound Design: Ade Pressly
Projection Consultant/Producer: Sam Pattinson
Music Consultant: Toby Slade-Baker
Contributors: Ian Wright, Sweet Crude (Fraser Davidson, Simon Tibbs and Dina Makanji), Olive Johnson

Pink Floyd fans may recognise the cover of our June issue. It's the original marked-up artwork for Dark Side of the Moon: one of a number of treasures from the archive of design studio Hipgnosis featured in the issue, along with an interview with Aubrey Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis with the late, great Storm Thorgerson. Elsewhere in the issue we take a first look at The Purple Book: Symbolism and Sensuality in Contemporary Illustration, hear from the curators of a fascinating new V&A show conceived as a 'walk-in book' plus we have all the regular debate and analysis on the world of visual communications.

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month.

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app updates with new content throughout each month. Get it here.

T’ga za Jug

The Story:
The wine T'ga za Jug (Longing for the South) is named after an old poem (wriiten by Konstantin Miladinov) and is one of the most famous Macedonian red wines. What’s interesting is that poets named this wine in 1973 since it was the official wine for the Poetry Evenings Festival in Struga, Macedonia.

The Task:
The task was to redesign the old wine label by following the new strategy developed by McCann Belgrade's strategic team.  Also, the developed concept should be flexible enough in order to introduce a whole range of T'ga za Jug wines.

The Solution:
The new label is an evolution of the old design. It is composed of two contrasting elements:

1. Black matte surface that holds the brand name as a central focus point
2. Diagonally placed foil-blocked surface which contains bits of the poem

The contrast of the black and the red surface creates an illusion as if a piece of the poem is placed behind the black label.

The lyrics are offset-printed over the red foil which creates an additional tactile quality.

The other concept proposal:
As opposed to the first solution which was accepted, this concept does not have anything in common with the design of the old wine label.

The main element is the drop created with a custom die-cut. It symbolizes teardrop, blood and wine at the same time.

In order to create an additional experience,  a hidden verse is placed at the peel-off foil which is revealed when someone opens the wine.

Samson

We completed a big project for Samson company. One of the largest meat processing plants in the North-west needed an image renovation as a part of rebranding. The trade mark wanted to get rid of the “Soviet” enterprise shade and emphasize state-of-the-art technology without losing awareness and consumer confidence. An additional task was to draw attention to the fact that Samson, as opposed to the competitors, delivers carcass meat from Leningrad region only and thus guarantees its quality and freshness.

The first changes applied to the logo. It was critical to keep awareness but make the trade mark more up-to-date in accordance with Samson’s current positioning. We made logo lifting following “take everything extra away” principle: made color range more reserved, kept only the central, key image in the sign, chose more readable font.

Bob’s Tasty Habaneros

These two labels were created for a hot sauce maker in Western Massachusetts. Bob grows his own organic habaneros to make his sauce and jelly, which are produced in small batches.

The design was created as a rubber stamp, so Bob doesn't need a computer to produce his labels every year (just paper, ink, wheat-paste and he's ready to go).

Canadian Mist Flavors

Canadian Mist invites whisky consumers to re-discover the product’s light, clean taste by extending the brand to flavors. New packaging incorporates many of the brand’s signature elements, including a blue diamond pattern and horse icon, and re-imagines them for this refined new expression. Color on the label and necker highlights the flavors of Vanilla, Cinnamon, Maple, and Peach liqueur blended with Canadian Mist.

The Glenlivet Packaging 30 Years (Redesigned)

The design of this special edition redesign the shapes of the original bottle by play up some lines. The bottle is smaller and larger, it incorporates the codes of the cognac with a special cap made in precious wood and metals.

The graphic design play on the letters roman XXX, which refers to the 30 years of age of the whisky, these elements are found on the outer packaging with extrusions on the wood, so the age of the bottle is immediately known as the letters XO for the cognac.

24 hours in Berlin – Germany

Each month Qatar’s inflight magazine Oryx features a 24 hours in… article accompanied by a lovely illustration that represents the city. In the June 2013 issue the focus is on a comprehencive 24 hours in Berlin guide. So what would you do if you had 24 hours in the German capital? 

“Berlin is much more than the wall that divided it 40 hers ago.”

As you can see in Patrick Hruby’s illustration there is a ton of things to do and see. One of the best ways I feel to see the city is by bike. Not only do you exercise but you also get a better sense of direction absorb the culture, history and you will feel like a local. Sights you shouldn’t miss out are the Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz, Oberbaum bridge, all the lovely museums and of course the Berlin Wall.

If you do visit, don’t forget to eat a curry wurst. Also check out the 24 hours in Munich illustration

24 hours in Berlin – Germany is a post from: Art and design inspiration from around the world - CreativeRoots

Related posts:

1. Berlin city poster illustration
2. 24 hours in Beijing
3. 24 hours in Chicago

The post 24 hours in Berlin – Germany appeared first on Art and design inspiration from around the world - CreativeRoots.

GLOWBOX

GLOWBOX - the (monthly) beauty sneak-peek!

Glowbox is a start-up cosmetics subscription service, tailored towards young and professional women, based in Athens, Greece.

Glowbox brings a beauty box full of beauty & lifestyle products directly to your door, every month.

The symbol of the logo is inspired by the actual name of the brand and can be seen in various ways (as a glowing box, a diamond, a toy, a kite...), expressing the "fun" and "unexpected" aspect of the brand.

It is is a matter of perception.

Get More Done: Spend Half Your Day Alone

Getting into the zone takes time. Every interruption takes its toll; research has shown that on average people take 23 minutes to regain the level of focus they had prior to an interruption.

You can minimize the amount of time spent regaining focus by implementing a rule where you spend half your day alone. Naturally, you can host meetings or chat with co-workers and collaborators during the other half. Collaboration software company 37Signals (authors of the bestselling nonfiction book, Rework) write:

Set up a rule at work: Make half the day alone time. From 10am-2pm, no one can talk to one another (except during lunch). Or make the first or the last half of the day the alone time period. Just make sure this period is contiguous in order to avoid productivity-killing interruptions.

This type of practise isn’t necessarily restricted to the workplace; rather, this is even easier to implement (and perhaps more effective) for freelancers. By spending less time regaining focus, and you’ll have more time to build awesome things.