Kaş Culture House

Dilek Diker

Dilek Diker recently met with Ayşe Dağıstanlı about her work with the Kaş Culture House. This month instead of a Kaş artist or artisan, we chatted with someone who dedicates her efforts toward art and culture; Dilek Diker, the manager of Kaş Culture Hours (Kültür Evi or KKE). She says that she always had art and culture as part of her life. Dilek is originally from Ankara and she is a graduate of the METU, Chemistry Faculty.

After school she worked in Lever, in the sales department (TASKİ). Later as “big city” life started to push them out, she and her husband made a major change and moved to Kaş. She has been a Kaş resident for 13 years. She worked in some neighbouring villages for four years as a chemistry teacher, and she started her present post in February of 2010, at the opening of KKE.

You can see more Kaş Culture House Photos on the Facebook Photo Album.

We asked Dilek to evaluate after 13 years, their decision to move. She believes it was a good decision. She thinks so, considering her child was given the chance to live in a more natural and more relaxed environment and more important, that she had the chance to express herself more freely. It was a very appropriate choice for the whole family overall. As for herself, she thinks teaching was suitable to her nature, but since she didn’t have the formal pedagogical education she could not pursue it further. Perhaps for this reason, she gets excited about projects involving children.

Kaş Culture House Exhibit

We talked with Dilek, about KKE and their projects. KKE was initially formed by the Kaş Belediyesi and ÇEKÜL. (A non profit, non-governmental organization, aiming to preserve natural and cultural heritage of the country.) One of the major ambitions of KKE is they believe that they are the foundations of a future museum. The operations are run by the Manager of KKE with one representative from the Belediye and ÇEKÜL each. Ms. Kadriye Hacımusaoğlu from ÇEKÜL, was in the project from the beginning, and they are supported by a group of volunteers. The volunteers form committees and commissions to carry out the work.

Kaş area village objects

Last year, about eight people from The Ethnographic and City Archive committee, visited the neighbouring villages for a period six months and with the support of the Muhtars (village leaders or mayors), they collected different objects depicting village life. Photos were taken and the objects were catalogued and archived. The gallery for the Ethnographic activities was designed, the shelves and cabinets were made, and objects bringing light to recent past village life were put on exhibition. Old tools, kitchenware, cups, copper plates, guns, harvesting tools, embroidery and other objects are now on the shelves for visitors to see.

Art Exhibitions

One of the other committees is the Art and Exhibitions committee. They are now planning the disciplines for the next year, they will research for the artists, make the connections and organize the exhibitions. They think last year’s short experience will help them better in their planning.

Last year six individual and two mixed exhibitions took place. They were:

İbrahim Güleryüz – Painting (His drawings were exhibited.)
Eda Şahan –Tezhip (The art of ornamenting something written by hand with gilded and painted designs)
İbrahim Zaman – Photography
Paulina Gerge (German) – Painting
Alexandrous Zgroris (From Meis) – Sculpture

(Paulina Gerge and Alexandrous Zgroris, exhibited together during the Kaş Festival)

Sefer Öztürk – Painting on Felt
Nevzat Tuna – Metal Work
Wieslaw Zaremba (From Poland) – Photography
Mixed Exhibition of Artists from Kaş.

The Art Workshop, has hosted a photography course given by Tunç Üvendire, the Kaş photography artist, on a totally voluntary basis. The participants were taken on photo trips, including one to Elmalı. Their works were exhibited during Kaş Festival.

Cinema Salon Entrance

The cinema salon has been used for conferences and for the screening of a short documentary film. The film was made by Pınar and Cumhur Ayan couple,and it depicted a Yörük wedding from Teke Region showing the local cultural customs.

According to Dilek, they have a lot of plans and projects. They plan a photoshop course in December. One important project that Dilek is very enthusiastic about is the Kaş Short Film project or Kaş Cinema Workshop. It aims to bring together students from the neighbouring high schools into the making of all aspects of a short film, from scriptwriting to shooting and final production of the film. Hopefully when it is finished, it will provide an opportunity to discover new young talent in the art of movie making.

Entrance to Kaş Culture House

Dilek is very enthusiastic about the work they carry and they plan to organize many different projects in the future. Not even a year old, or as Dilek Diker commented once: “Kaş Culture House is living its babyhood”, and they are not financially strong yet. Therefore the volunteers’ work and donations are vital for them. We wish them good luck in their future endeavours and in their hopes of becoming the foundations of a future museum.
The Kaş Culture House is open every day except Monday from 10:00 – 12:00 and from 13:30 until 18:00.
Address: Hospital Cad. No. 14,
07580 Kaş Antalya, Turkey
Phone: +90 242 836 37 51
Fax: +90 242 836 10 30
E-Mail: kaskulturevi@yahoo.com
Use the form below to contact Bougainville Travel for more information about other adventure activities or booking.

BOUGAINVILLE TRAVEL