PUBLICATIONS

DEMELER
EGE BERENSEL

1998-1999 / 2020

This book, compiled for the 90th birthday of pioneer poet Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, is a collection of 30 variations on her poems, mostly written between 1998 and 1999 using a Remington Rand typewriter.

Deme is an archaic word that was once introduced as a substitute for the word poetry, but it did not catch on, according to word-collection (derleme) dictionaries. It stands for one of the verse types of folk poetry and Sufi poetry, poems sung with the bağlama during cem. Additionally, word-collection dictionaries include other meanings such as word, phrase, subject, ballad, elegy, lament, stuttering (in the Bolvadin dialect), mute and pulse (in the Ermenek dialect). An interjection denoting incredulity or surprise… It also takes such forms as demece and dimece.Philosophers once used the word “deme” for the word “concept” to promote the purification of Turkish language during the Reform period.

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Winter 2023 ✩ Translation: Başak Altın ✩ Graphic design: Sinan Kılıç, ALEF Editorial Design ✩ Publisher: BAS – İstanbul Sanat Araştırmaları Derneği ✩ Printing & Binding: Ofset Filmcilik ve Matbaacılık Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ ✩ ISBN: 978-605-0025-00-2

HA’LAR
EGE BERENSEL

1990-2000 / 2020

60 process poems, written in the period from 1990 to 2000, all but a few of which were typed on Oliver Courier and Remington Rand typewriters, which constantly reference the tradition of concrete poetry and are made up of variations of processed poems by pioneering poets like Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, Claus Bremer, Yüksel Pazarkaya and Ernst Jandl.

Ha… In Turkish, this word is an interjection that has multiple meanings and may express astonishment, warning, endeavour, affirmation or inquiry… Then, there is also the ‘ha’ in the word ‘hayır’… Hayır, in fact, stems from the Arabic word xayr (hay’r), meaning goodness, or better, hayır was used in 17^th century Ottoman along with the negatory word yok [absent] as a euphemism, a rhetorical device, in the form, ‘yok hayır‘ or ‘yo hayır‘… to mean, ‘my answer is negative, may the best come of this’… In time, ‘yo‘, or ‘yok‘ were dropped and ‘hayır‘ remained… ha’yır also means ‘ha poetry’… ‘yır‘ meaning poetry or eloquent expression in old Turkish… Besides, there is Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca’s book of poems ‘Hoo’lar’ -the plural of Hoo-, reminiscent of ha’lar, the plural of ha… Ha is ah written backwards, too…

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Summer 2021 ✩ Graphic design: Amir Jamshidi, Studio Pul ✩ Publisher: BAS – İstanbul Sanat Araştırmaları Derneği ✩ Printing: Ofset Filmcilik ve Matbaacılık Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ ✩ 232 pages / 16cm x 23cm ✩ Editions: 500 ✩ ISBN: 978-9944-5030-8-2

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
ANITA DI BIANCO

Anita Di Bianco’s work mimics the familiar format of the daily newspaper and yet leaves out the original journalistic material. This idiosyncratic newspaper features corrections of typographical or factual mistakes and statements intended to clear up misunderstandings published in daily newspapers.

The Turkish edition of Anita Di Bianco’s work from 2014 can be found at BAS as well as editions in other languages. This edition, the 16th in the series, covers Turkish-language newspapers from 2012 to 2014 and was printed in Istanbul with 2,000 copies and distributed gratis.

September 2014 ✩ Research: Göksu Kunak, Özge Ersoy, Hazal Rüzgar, Banu Cennetoğlu ✩ Graphic design: Okay Karadayılar ✩ Publisher: BAS, collectorspace ✩ Printing: Dünya Süper Veb A.Ş. ✩ Editions: 2000

ARTIST BOOK
DANIEL KNORR

Sanatçı Kitabı (Artist Book) is the 8th edition in a series of artist books begun in 2007 in Romania. Artist Daniel Knorr inserts found objects collected in public spaces between the pages of the book and presses them with more than 30 tons. Each edition is made in a different country and is the same size and the same edition number of 200 unique copies. The book includes a DVD on the last page with a film documenting the process of the making of the book. A global encyclopedia of books from as many countries as possible is the aim of the project. Thus far, editions have been made in Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Istanbul, Los Angeles and Berlin are the first “city books”. This edition is realized in Istanbul (2012-2013) in collaboration with BAS.

Thanks to: Nevin Aladağ, Deha Boduroğlu, Ali Cindoruk, Merve Kılıçer, Cana Sakaoğlu, Psycho

AN INTERRUPTED HISTORY OF PUNK AND UNDERGROUND RESOURCES IN TURKEY
1978-1999 

This book researches the development of the Punk and underground movement in Turkey. With interviews with local bands and witnesses of the period, over a hundred visuals and the complementary CD, it is the first of its kind and is a fascinating source on Punk and its place in Turkey’s recent cultural history.

November 2007 ✩ Editors: Sezgin Boynik, Tolga Güldallı ✩ Publisher: BAS ✩ 576 pages + CD / 16cm x 22cm / b&w / offset printing ✩ Editions: 1000 ✩ ISBN: 978-605-0025-00-2

BENT 001:
PAVEMENT MYTH–THE LIFE OF THE PAVEMENT WOLF
MASİST GÜL

Masist Gül (1947-2003) was an artist of Armenian origin, who was born and lived in Istanbul. Although he made his living as an actor playing minor roles in over 300 movies, he produced a large amount of collages, drawings and poetry. None of the work was published or exhibited during his life. During the 80’s he conceived and made by hand a series of 6 books with the title “Kaldırım Destanı–Kaldırımlar Kurdunun Hayatı” (Pavement Myth–The Life of the Pavement Wolf) using a periodical comic book format. Bent 001 is the existing reproductions of these originals.

May – October 2006 ✩ 52 pages / 17cm x 24cm / color / offset printing ✩ Editions: 1000 ✩ ISBN: 9944-5030-0-2 / 9944-5030-1-0 / 9944-5030-2-9 / 9944-5030-3-7 / 9944-5030-4-5 / 9944-5030-5-3

BENT 002
TAKİPPOURSUITE
ASLI ÇAVUŞOĞLU

TakipPoursuite is a crime story by Aslı Çavuşoğlu. It was constructed entirely with (parts of) sentences from Turkish-French and Turkish-Japanese language phrase books.

June 2006 ✩ 78 pages / 9.5cm x 15cm / b&w / offset printing ✩ Editions: 1000 ✩ ISBN: 9944-5030-6-1

BENT 003
EMRE HÜNER

Emre Hüner creates an archive of tempera drawings depicting various objects and natural elements. He then combines digital reproductions of these drawings to compose dystopian scenes of laboratories, mines and ice lands where human industry and invention are fringed by decay and decomposition.

February 2007 ✩ 48 pages / 20cm x 27cm / color / offset printing ✩ Editions: 500 ✩ ISBN: 978-9944-5030-7-5

BENT 004:
SHORE SCENE SOUNDTRACK
CEVDET EREK

SSS can be seen as an attempt to share a discovery. It explains in detail to the reader how one can mimic the sea, how this can be done simply for oneself or formally as a performance. The required state of mind for making the imitation is treated with the same precision as technique and necessary equipment. Humorously but without irony, Erek constructs a subjective guide by passing from a contemplation on the imitation of nature, through a step-by-step manual to a form of written music.

February 2008 ✩ 64 pages / 13,5 x 19cm / b&w / offset printing ✩ Editions: 1000 ✩ ISBN: 978-605-0025-01-9

BENT 005:
KILAVUZ
ATILKUNST

Kılavuz is a guide to the standardized tests taken by all students in Turkey at different stages of their school careers. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced, confronting themes and suppositions that permeate them. Kılavuz was compiled by Atılkunst art collective (Yasemin Nur, Gözde İlkin, Gülçin Aksoy) and published by BAS, as part of the Bent series.

May 2009 ✩ 560 pages / 13cm x 19 cm / b&w / offset printing ✩ Editions: 750 ✩ ISBN : 978-605-4019-00-7