Cappadox 2016

Pozitif is pleased to announce the second year of Cappadox, the definitive Cappadocia experience, a progressive multi-disciplinary cultural festival that brings a host of international and local contemporary art, music, nature and outdoor programmes together. Set in the dramatic landscape of Cappadocia in Central Anatolia, Cappadox 2016 will take place between May 19 and 22, and offer guests unrivalled access to live music, contemporary art, gastronomy and outdoors activities.

Cappadox 2016 sets out with the theme “Let us cultivate our garden” through which diverse fields of the festival will intersect with each other.

The art programme of Cappadox will continue until June 12, and will be curated by Fulya Erdemci and Kevser Güler (Associate Curator) with the participation of 15 artists and collaborators including Asunción Molinos Gordo (Cairo, Muscat and Guzmán), Ayşe Erkmen (Berlin and Istanbul), Christoph Schaefer (Hamburg), Hera Büyüktaşçıyan (Istanbul), John Körmeling (Eindhoven), Maider Lopez (San Sebastian), Marilá Dardot (São Paulo), Murat Germen (Istanbul), Murat Şahinler (Istanbul) and Nilbar Güreş (Vienna and Istanbul). Taking a closer look at Cappadocia; which has been going through a shift from an agrarian livelihood to an economy more reliant on tourism, the artists will focus on farming, “fast” tourism and the relations of production under transformation. Furthermore, with site-specific and context responsive interventions, they will bring to the forefront the area’s living culture, inhabitants, voices, textures and even blossoming flowers.

"Let us cultivate our garden" is a quote from the last sentence of Voltaire’s classic novel Candide. This sentence summarizes the worldview of an old farmer who Candide meets in Istanbul (Constantinople), after traveling the whole world in pursuit of happiness. It also holds a proposal against contemporary lifestyles, which primarily generate heat and speed.

The imperative “let us” in the title anticipates acting together, while “garden” and “cultivate” lead to metaphorical conceptions: “garden” implies our immediate environment, our life and relationships. Likewise, the word “cultivate” involves the acts of humbly developing, shaping and transforming, even preparing a Future which is in harmony with nature.

This theme also leads to further connotations; such as the human-caused planetary changes—climate change, deforestation, loss of farmland, water and air pollution and loss of biodiversity. The Cappadox art programme will consider resources of all living beings—such as water, seed and food—through political and cultural lenses. It will take soil as the value parameter and reflect on alternative living practices, which are not necessarily centered on human beings.

The diverse and independently programmed activities of Cappadox related to art, music, gastronomy, and the outdoors (including nature walks and sunrise concerts) will be brought together through different scopes and intensities under the festival’s theme. They will be held in spaces that range from agricultural fields to historic sites, from touristic structures to local settlements.

For press information contact nigel.rubenstein@flint-pr.com or funda.kucukyilmaz@flint-pr.com
Or call T + 90 (0) 212 0214 / +90 (0) 507 477 8121


Launched in 2015 (May 16–18), Cappadox offered an extraordinary experience of Cappadocia to global culture hunters. The festival hosted 24 concerts from both local and international artists, 10 contemporary art performances and installations, 10 gastronomy events, 21 outdoor expeditions and a multitude of select well-being sessions spread across three days.

Cappadox is organised by Pozitif. Pozitif is dedicated to connecting and transforming communities around best-in-class global creative curations around music, arts, culture and entertainment experiences. For more information please visit pozitiflive.com.

Fulya Erdemci is a curator and writer based in Istanbul. Erdemci was the curator of the 13th Istanbul Biennial in 2013 and was the curator of the 2011 Pavilion of Turkey at the 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale. She was the Director of SKOR (Stichting Kunst en Openbare Ruimte) Foundation for Art and Public Domain in Amsterdam between June 2008 and September 2012. Erdemci was among the first directors of the Istanbul Biennial (1994–2000). She served as the director of Proje 4L in Istanbul (2003–04) and worked as temporary exhibitions curator at Istanbul Modern (2004–05). She curated the "Istanbul" section of the 25th Biennale of São Paulo in 2002, and joined the curatorial team of the 2nd Moscow Contemporary Art Biennial (2007). Erdemci initiated the Istanbul Pedestrian Exhibitions in 2002, the first urban public space exhibition in Turkey and co-curated the second edition in 2005 with Emre Baykal. In 2008, Erdemci co-curated SCAPE, the 5th Biennial of Art in Public Space in Christchurch, New Zealand with Danae Mossman. Erdemci has served on international advisory and selection committees, including MAXXI – the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, 2014–16; the SAHA, Istanbul, 2012–13; The International Award for Excellence in Public Art initiated by the Public Art (China) and Public Art Review (United States), Shanghai, May 2012; the 12th International Cairo Biennial, 2011; and de Appel Curatorial Programme, Amsterdam, 2009–11. Erdemci has taught at Bilkent University (1994–95), Marmara University (1999–00) and at Istanbul Bilgi University's MA Programme in Visual Communication Design (2001–07).

Kevser Güler studied engineering and philosophy in Bogazici and Galatasaray Universities. She worked in Istanbul Biennial between 2007–14. She was the exhibition manager and the curatorial assistant to Fulya Erdemci during the 13th Istanbul Biennial. Güler worked as the assistant curator for the Agoraphobia exhibition in Berlin which was curated by Fulya Erdemci and Bige Orer (May 2013). Within the frame of Online Biennial (July 2013), a section of which was curated by Fulya Erdemci, she contributed as the curatorial assistant. Güler participated to curatorial workshops and seminars organized by Independent Curators International (Inhotim, Brazil, 2012), Salzburg Summer Academy (2014), Gwangju Biennial (2014) and The Curatorial Program for Research, CPR (Helsinki and Tallinn 2015). Since October 2014, she has been working as a researcher for the contemporary art museum project of the Vehbi Koç Foundation. Güler has conducted studies focusing on contemporary art’s dialogue with philosophy and critical theory.