The 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory invites you to attend a series of commemorative events. Throughout the week of April 21-27, which also marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of the memory site, we will host various events based on Hrant Dink's article "23.5 April." Hrant Dink’s article "23.5 April", which was published in Agos on April 23rd, 1996 is a pendulum between pain and hope, a pledge between the past and future and an invitation to a paradigm shift. 

During this week there will be workshops and events led by Selen Hayal, Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, Nesim Ovadya İzrail, and Lusine Hovhannisyan.

During the week, Easter bread will be served on the occasion of Easter, and helva, a sweet made of semolina which is served during times of mourning as a symbol of togetherness, will be prepared. 
 
Together, let us create a space for remembrance, reflection, and dialogue.
By participating, you will contribute to a collective voice for truth and a future built on understanding.
We look forward to your presence.
Event 1: Memory Board

Throughout the week we will designate a board dedicated to the Armenian lives lost in 1915. We will initiate the board for you by placing the pictures of the intellectuals detained on the eve of April 24th. The rest of the board will be available for you to share your thoughts and feelings and to include the names and photos of your lost ones.
  • Share your thoughts and feelings: You may contribute with a message on an empty card to be placed on the board, expressing your feelings and reflections on the significance of April 24th. 
  • Bring photos you want to share: You can add the names or the photos of the people that you may want to commemorate.
  • Date: The memory board will be open for visitors' contributions between Monday, April 21 and Sunday, April 27.
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Materials: Cards will be provided, or you may bring your own photo. 
Event 2: Leave Your Mark on Hope

We invite children of all ages to leave their mark together using rainbow colors for artist Sarkis' second permanent work in the space, titled Children's Call for Rain with Rainbow Colors at 23.5.
These colorful fingerprints are intended to represent the unique mark children leave on our world and a hopeful future.
  • Date: April 21-27, 2025 
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Materials: All materials for your contribution to the installation will be provided.
Event 3: 'A Bundle - Home in My Pocket' by artist Selen Hayal  

This workshop will be an improvised production process based on sewing, collage applications of different materials, and the articulation of materials brought by participants. In this workshop, which will last approximately 2-3 hours, we will think together with the participants, create a common design, and then produce it together.

Participants can join the workshop with any ephemera, old fabrics, or meaningful pieces they wish. This could be an old handkerchief, a torn piece of clothing, a fabric remnant from the past, or a photograph... The idea of upcycling will always be in our pocket.

At the end of the workshop, we will have produced pieces that can be hung on the wall if desired or folded and stored like a bundle.

  • Date: Tuesday, April 22 2025, 16:00
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Registration: Please fill out the form to register.
  • The workshop is limited to 12 participants.
  • The workshop duration is 2 hours.
  • Materials: All necessary materials will be provided.
  • The workshop will be held in Turkish.
Event 4: 23.5 Guided Tour  

The guided tour of the 23.5 Site of Memory focuses on the life and struggle of Hrant Dink and offers a dialogue on the recent history of Turkey in the context of minority rights, human rights and democratization.
  • Dates:

Monday, April 21 2025, 15:00
Tuesday, April 22 2025, 13:00
Wednesday, April 23 2025, 18:30
Friday, April 25 2025, 15:00

Event 6: 'Portrait of the Preceding Day' by artist Hera Büyüktaşçıyan

The workshop, which will be conducted by artist Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, is an internal conversation about witnessing traces accumulated throughout our lives and the objects that keep a record of time, revealing what they remind us of.

If objects that have accumulated the corpus of hundreds of time periods without our awareness could speak, what would they say? If we were to listen to the words of an object that has been inherited or which has accompanied us since our childhood - or what remains of a lost object in our memories and hearts - what would it reveal to us about the days gone by and our present? As silent witnesses to our lives and recorders of even the moments we have forgotten, with a touch, smell or sound objects have the power to remind us of that which is forgotten and keep us aliver.

At this event, Büyüktaşcıyan invites the participants to establish a connection with an object that has spiritual value for them, either inherited from their family or from their childhood, and to make a portrait of these objects or a moment, person or place they remind them of, and to give them a voice and make them speak. Various images, papers, fabrics, text and poetry will be used in the creation of these portraits in the form of collages. Participants will be able to bring along  an image or material that they specifically want to use. All of these portraits will come together at the end of the workshop and their stories will be shared. 
  • Date: Wednesday, April 23 2025, 16:00
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Registration: Please fill out the form to register.
  • The workshop is limited to 15 participants.
  • The workshop duration is 2 hours.
  • Materials: All necessary materials will be provided.
  • The workshop will be held in Turkish.
Event 6: In the Footsteps of April 24 with Nesim Ovadya İzrail 

In the Pangaltı memory walk guided by Nesim Ovadya İzrail, we will discuss excerpts from the oral and written archives he shared in his book “April 24, 1915: Istanbul, Çankırı, Ayaş, Ankara”. While this event will shed light on personal stories from oral and written excerpts, it will also be an opportunity to share the stories of those who experienced April 24. 
  • Date: Thursday, April 24 2025, 15:30
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Registration: Please fill out the form to register.
  • The number of participants is limited to 20 people.
  • The memory walk duration is 1 hour. 
  • It will be held in Turkish.
Event 7: Lusine Hovhannisyan Music Recital 

You are invited to a music recital where pianist Lusine Hovhannisyan will perform valuable works by Gomidas Vartabed accompanied by the harmonium located in the Atlantis Civilization Room at 23,5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory.

Participants will be able to experience and explore Armenian folk songs such as Krunk, Garun a, Chinar es, Hov Areq, Yerkinqn Ampel e, Dle Yaman, Der Voghormia, Sareri Hovin Mernem, and Qani Vur Janim while discovering the exhibition and rooms of the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory during this special recital that extends throughout the space.
  • Date: Thursday, April 24 2025, 18:00
  • Location: 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory
  • Registration: Please fill out the form to register.
  • The number of participants is limited to 30 people.
  • The music recital duration is 30 minutes.
  

Hera Büyüktaşçıyan
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (b.1984 Istanbul) is an artist whose multidisciplinary practice derives from the notion of absence within poetics of space & time in by diving into the depths of narratives that derive from architectural memory and the ruptures in socio-political histories. Büyüktaşcıyan participated in several local and international exhibitions such as:  CIAP Vassiviere (2023); Tate St.Ives(2023); 14th Gwangju Biennale(2023), Tate Modern(2022); New Museum Triennale (2021); 3rd Autostrada Biennale (2021); The British Museum(2020), 2nd Lahore Biennale(2020); 1st Inaugural Toronto Biennale(2019); ifa-Galerie Berlin (2019); Dhaka Art Summit, (2018); EVA International Ireland’s Biennale (2016); 56th Venice Biennale – Armenian Pavilion(2015); SALT Beyoğlu(2015); The Jerusalem Show VII(2014); ARTER(2013).

Selen Hayal
Born in Istanbul in 1984, Selen Hayal graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Advertising in 2007. Hayal continues her production in the field of visual arts while also working as an art director. She participated in a group exhibition at ArtSümer in 2018. In 2020, she received the "Best Art Director" award at UIFF. In 2025, she held her solo exhibition at Schneidertempel Art Center.

Nesim Ovadya İzrail 
Born in Jerusalem in 1952, he returned to Istanbul with his family at the age of one. After graduating from Atatürk High School, in 1973 he earned his degree in Civil Engineering  from Istanbul Technical University. He completed his graduate studies at the same institution. He started his engineering and construction career in 1978 and continued until 2008. Since then, he has focused on researching recent history, which has long been an area of interest for him, and has written books and articles. He is currently continuing his research on Ottoman and Turkish Armenian theater history. He is a member and secretary of the Executive Committee of the Vedat Günyol Essay Prize.

Lusine Hovhannisyan
Lusine Hovhannisyan is an Armenian pianist who has dedicated many years to teaching piano, with a mission to preserve Armenian culture and promote its rich musical heritage.