Reappropriation of Public Space: Autonomous Space Making from Istanbul’s Alternative Theatre Scene to the Gezi Movement

Abstract

I analyse Istanbul’s Gezi movement in 2013 to explore the intertwined relationship between public square movements and theatre. An alternative theatre movement in Turkey emerged in the 2000s in Istanbul that can be traced back to the 1990s, when theatre companies started to construct their own spaces by converting unexpected places into theatres and, thereby, enabling new ways of practicing theatre. The essay presents empirical fieldwork using semi-structured interviews and participative observations with independent theatres since the 1990s. Alternative theatre practices in Istanbul offer an alternative history of autonomous space making in the city before the Gezi Movement. In the aftermath of Gezi, alternative theatres gained momentum by extending political resistance and transforming their relationship to urban space and, hence, to politics.