Translated By

Tuesday-Saturday 12:00-18:00
Wednesday 12:00-20:00

Sevim Burak, Evliya Cheleby, Ted Chiang, Douglas Coupland, Rana Dasgupta, Narmin Kamal, Sophia Al Maria, Guy Mannes-Abbott, Vahram Martirosyan, Tom McCarthy, David Peace, Adania Shibli, Neal Stephenson, Murat Uyurkulak

By Charles Arsène-Henry, Shumon Basar, Suna Kafadar.

You’ve entered the building. Climbed the stairs. On your right you see vinyl text set on marble veins. An album track list — except there are writer’s names instead of bands.

Someone hands you a black pamphlet and a pair of heavy headphones attached to an electronic device.

Below the track list is a dark poster, framed. It reads: ‘Play Track Zero’.

You strap on the headphones, press the button and my voice rises in your ears. I’ll give you minimal guidance. It will be about fiction. It will be about mindscreens.

Have you ever wondered what is the voice you hear in your head when you read?

I’ll tell you there are fourteen tracks distributed over several floors. Fourteen dark posters and chairs. I’ll tell you to play the same track on your device as the one displayed on each poster. To sit. And listen. But there is no script, just the possibility of one. Something you can skip. Shuffle. Repeat.

In Doha, you follow a little girl lost in the Sheraton Hotel. In Diyarbakir, a crippled prophet walks up to the city walls. In the Metaverse, Hiro is approaching the Street. In the Ardennes Forest, a war bunker pretends to be a house.

You realize you’ve entered a mix-tape of space and time. Tokyo, Ramallah, Qalandia Checkpoint, Yerevan. A compilation of places, that’s you. Sofia, Brixton, Baghdad. Few minutes more. Baku, İstanbul, the Self. Until West Vancouver. Where the world is ending.


Translated By was originally commissioned by the AA School, London, and shown January 15 –February 9, 2011, accompanied by a book published by Bedford Press. It then went to ¬¬¬¬CCA, Kitakyushu December 12, 2011 – January 20, 2012. SALT is publishing a new edition of the book, also designed by Zak Group, to coincide with the exhibition, which includes texts in Turkish, English and Japanese.

Contributing translators: Cem Akaş, Zeynep Akkuş, İsmet Birkan, Sevan Değirmenciyan, Burç İdem Dinçel, Beril Eyüboğlu, Kaya Genç, Sabri Gürses, Nigar Hacızade, Victoria Holbrook, Sooyong Kim, Dost Körpe, Selma Öğünç, Arzu Taşçıoğlu

Translated By at SALT Galata and the new edition of the Translated By publication are realized in collaboration with the British Council.