DEPO is a cultural and critical debate center in Istanbul, opened in January 2009 to serve as a venue and platform for artists, artist collectives, civic and cultural organizations. It host events involving artists from Turkey, the South Caucasus, the Middle East, and the Balkans. DEPO’s objective is to facilitate artistic collaboration and cultural exchange, and to stimulate reflection on social and political issues relevant for the region. It is not a commercial gallery and it does not have a collection.

DEPO was established as an initiative of Anadolu Ku_ltu_r, a not-for-profit organization working in the field of culture. Since its establishment, Anadolu Ku_ltu_r has been a driving force in facilitating cross-cultural collaborations and circulating art through Anatolia.

DEPO is located in a former tobacco warehouse, Tu_tu_n Deposu, close to Istanbul’s city center. Since the 9th International Istanbul Biennial in 2005, the building has occasionally been used as an exhibition and project space. In 2008 the building was renovated with minimum intervention to its original features.

The artistic program includes exhibitions and documentary and video screenings organized in collaboration with regional and local partners. Substantive collaboration is a key goal, therefore priority is given to projects that help to encourage, build and sustain long-term relationships. The space therefore hosts projects initiated by the DEPO team in collaboration with local, and international partners, as well as proposed projects or touring activities in line with its artistic program. Art projects address socio-political implications of art practices in the region.

DEPO releases the online e-journal ÔRed ThreadÕ (www.red-thread.org), envisioned as an active network and platform for exchange of knowledge and collaboration of artists, curators, academicians, social scientists, theorists and cultural operators from the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus and North Africa. It aims to create and disseminate new knowledge about paradigmatic socially engaged art practices in a wide geopolitical context, thus challenging the predominance of Western narratives in official art histories and exhibition making. All texts published in ÔRed ThreadÕ are available in English and Turkish, as well as in the original language in which they were written. It has a regional editorial board which guarantees a variety of perspectives.

Most outstanding projects in recent years:

“When Ideas Become Crime” 1 September–10 October 2010.

“Open City Istanbul” 12 March–9 May 2010.

“Indefinite Destinations” 15 January–21 February 2010.

“Saturdox” 9 January–3 July, 2010 (screening program and discussions).

“Sweet 60s” 26–29 June 2009 (workshop).

“No More Reality, Crowd and Performance” 31 January–5 March 2009.

Conferences, panel discussion, workshops and artist talks addressing issues concerning contemporary art practices and socially and politically relevant themes are organized with partners from the region. In addition to these, artists, curators and other groups and individuals participating in DEPO projects are invited to present their work and discuss the general theme of their projects.

DEPO organizes a series of international panel discussions related to the themes of the issues of the journal “Red Thread”.

DEPO is located on three floors of a Tobacco Warehouse building and a three-floor annex building. The ground floor of the main building is used by the international art gallery Rodeo. The top floor of the main building is used as an office and occasionally for meetings and workshops. The two floors in the main building which are used for the exhibitions are 250 square meters each with a ceiling height of 3 meters. The floors of the annex building are 50 square meters each. The entrance floor of the annex building is used as a screening room. The floors of the main building are wooden and there are columns which divide the space into imaginary squares.