26 MAY 2021 · In this episode, designer Martí Guixé joins Mariana Pestana, curator of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial, and Nur Horsanalı, part of Young Curators Group. The conversation expands on the story behind Guixé’s Solar Kitchen and how the project is evolving in Istanbul as part of the New Civic Rituals program. The discussion also touches upon the relationship between design and food, as Guixé is widely recognized for a significant body of work related to food design.

12 MAY 2021 · This episode brings together Francisca Sottomayor, part of the design team of the Germinator, and Haro Cümbüşyan, founding director of EK BİÇ YE İÇ—one of the local partners of the project. The conversation expands on this collaboration established within the scope of the biennial’s New Civic Rituals program and discusses how the germination of seeds can symbolize a new beginning for people to interact with their environment, grow and source their food in urban settings. Germinator is designed by SKREI with Francisca Sottomayor and Sofia Magalhães. This episode is supported by Câmara Municipal do Porto.

5 MAY 2021 · In this episode, Nur Horsanalı, part of Young Curators Group, is in conversation with Carlotta Novella from public works who contributed to the biennial’s New Civic Rituals program with the project Desiccate with Care in collaboration with Freddie Wiltshire and Billy Adams. The conversation focuses on the project which takes food preservation as a collective civic practice, different methods and rituals of food preservation from around the world, and the local partnerships behind Desiccate with Care.

28 APR 2021 · This episode features the talk held between the Istanbul Design Biennial director Deniz Ova and Christina Serifi and Juan Chacón, the founders of TiriLab, an initiative that explores cultural heritage and rural communities. The conversation primarily stresses the duo’s research project titled Sattelite Kitchens they have participated the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial with. The project evolves around the outdoor kitchens, constructed and organised mostly by women in the Thesprotia region in Greece and which are used as a space of assembly, resistance, empowerment and care.

14 APR 2021 · This episode features the talk held between the biennial curator Mariana Pestana and artist and filmmaker Calum Bowden, the creator of the film Dark Origins, screened during the biennial within the scope of the Empathy Sessions. Dark Origins is a VR journey to the edge of knowledge, inviting people to experience the contested origins of life deep inside the Earth. The talk primarily stresses Bowden’s attempt to unravel the scientific mysteries of extremophiles – creatures that thrive without any sunlight in extreme temperatures and pressures while informing us about Bowden’s pioneering works and wide knowledge of the digital field.

6 APR 2021 · This episode features the talk held between Mariana Pestana and Paula Gaetano Adi, on her film A Robocaliptic Manifesto: techno-politics for liberation, screened during the biennial within the scope of the Empathy Sessions. The film is a visual manifesto asserting the importance of unlearning the imperialisms performed by modern robotic and AI technologies that reinforce the racial and colonial logic.

30 MAR 2021 · This episode features the talk held between Mariana Pestana and Emmy Bacharach, the creator of the film Stream of Consciousness: The Caves of Hasankeyf, screened during the biennial within the scope of the Empathy Sessions. The film offers an immersive experience, exploring the threat to Hasankeyf, an ancient city submerged after the building of a dam, in south-eastern Turkey. It also explores the potential of virtual reality to create empathy across different societies, geographies and life forms.

23 MAR 2021 · This episode features the talk held between Mariana Pestana and Alice dos Reis, the creator of the film Undercurrent, screened during the biennial within the scope of the Empathy Sessions. Undercurrent is a science-fiction about the relationship between a marine biologist and a krill swarm in the deepest spots of the North Atlantic Ocean. As the end of her project approaches, the biologist is faced with ethical questions regarding her relationship to the non-human and the systems that mediate their contact with humans. Undercurrent is supported by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Istanbul.

16 MAR 2021 · This episode features the recording of the live talk held between Mariana Pestana, the curator of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial and Ben Thorp Brown, the creator of the film Cura, screened during the biennial within the scope of the Empathy Sessions. The talk focuses on the film which uses a tortoise embodying the ancient goddess of care, Cura, as its main protagonist and which brings to life the principles developed by the Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra, who saw architecture as a therapeutic tool.

8 MAR 2021 · In this episode, the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial’s curator Mariana Pestana talks with Ibiye Camp, the creator of Behind Shirley, the film which has met the biennial audience within the scope of the Empathy Sessions, about how human biases result in an algorithmic bias in digital-imaging technology. The film Behind Shirley, deconstructs and rethinks the colonial narratives in the development of facial recognition systems exploring how darker skin was not taken into account in film chemistry.