Forum:
Water Assemblies
Wetlands as Pedagogical Spaces
Merve Anıl
Salt Beyoğlu
Mapping the reeds in the Gediz Delta, İzmir, 2013
Photo: Caterina Scaramelli
Photo: Caterina Scaramelli
As part of Water Assemblies, architect and researcher Merve Anıl will be leading a reading group centered on the question, “What can the wetland teach us?”
A confluence of animals, plants, microbes, soil, water, and sediments, wetlands are habitats continually in flux, unstable by their very nature. A wetland is both found—as a place, geological formation, and environment—and made—as a political, economic, and social assemblage. As vibrant ecosystems, wetlands are critical to mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis. They act as migratory bird stopovers, filtering zones, carbon sinks, and buffers against flooding, and our resilience against climate change is intertwined with their well-being. They are, however, rapidly being lost; half of the world’s (and Turkey’s) wetlands have been irreparably damaged over the past century. Wetlands have been drained for centuries to “improve” land for farming and real estate while displacing people or to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases. Swamps, lagoons, marshes, and deltas have been drained, parceled, and extracted for profit and control. They have been devalued to eliminate what was seen as undesirable: useless space, nonconformist humans, feral animals, wild plants, untamed bacteria, and uncontrollable disease.
While Turkey’s wetland ecosystems are incredibly diverse—encompassing the salt marshes of the Gediz Delta, the alluvial forests of İğneada, the flooded mines of Istanbul, and the volcanic lakes of Mount Nemrut—they are rapidly facing extinction, along with the cosmologies and bodies of knowledge embodied within them. Yet the wetland has much to teach us.
Through a collective immersion in watery texts, images, and audio, the reading group will explore wetness as an alternative ground for habitation and imagination. This study will function as a fluid experiment to investigate the role of wetlands within the climate crisis. Participants will build a collective lexicon of wetland terminology, drawing from readings, conversations, popular culture, and traditional knowledge.
This reading group is open to individuals from all backgrounds interested in the arts, critical theory, and ecology. The majority of texts and reference materials will be in English. The program will be held in English and is limited to 16 participants. The group will convene on March 4, 6, and 20 at Salt Beyoğlu, as part of the launch of Water Assemblies. After these sessions, participants will meet twice a month until August 2025. The schedule for these meetings will be arranged in consultation with participants, considering their availability. Participants are expected to engage in the 6-month process. Please submit your application via this form by Monday, February 24 at 18.00. Selected participants will be notified on Wednesday, February 26.
PROGRAM
March 4, 16.00-17.00
March 6, 17.00-19.00
March 20, 17.00-19.00*
*The final session will be held with the participation of artist and researcher Ifor Duncan.
Merve Anıl is a Research Associate for CLIMAVORE x Jameel at the Royal College of Art (RCA), working on the Istanbul-based “Water Buffalo Commons” project. Prior to joining RCA, she taught at the Architectural Association from 2018 to 2023. Anıl is trained as an architect with a background in urban policy and has previously developed urban and sustainability policies for the public sector in London as a Public Practice Associate. She has also worked at AHMM Architects in London and OMA in Rotterdam.
Ifor Duncan is a writer, artist, and postdoctoral researcher on the European Research Council project “EcoViolence” at Utrecht University. His research focuses on political violence against communities in the context of degrading watery spaces, processes, and materialities, including river borders, mega-dam projects, and rivers as dynamic archives of genocide. He encounters these concerns through visual cultures, cultural memory, and a fieldwork practice that involves submerged audio-visual methods. Duncan holds a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he was a lecturer from 2022 to 2024. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the New Institute Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) at Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia between 2020-2022, and taught in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.
A confluence of animals, plants, microbes, soil, water, and sediments, wetlands are habitats continually in flux, unstable by their very nature. A wetland is both found—as a place, geological formation, and environment—and made—as a political, economic, and social assemblage. As vibrant ecosystems, wetlands are critical to mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis. They act as migratory bird stopovers, filtering zones, carbon sinks, and buffers against flooding, and our resilience against climate change is intertwined with their well-being. They are, however, rapidly being lost; half of the world’s (and Turkey’s) wetlands have been irreparably damaged over the past century. Wetlands have been drained for centuries to “improve” land for farming and real estate while displacing people or to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases. Swamps, lagoons, marshes, and deltas have been drained, parceled, and extracted for profit and control. They have been devalued to eliminate what was seen as undesirable: useless space, nonconformist humans, feral animals, wild plants, untamed bacteria, and uncontrollable disease.
While Turkey’s wetland ecosystems are incredibly diverse—encompassing the salt marshes of the Gediz Delta, the alluvial forests of İğneada, the flooded mines of Istanbul, and the volcanic lakes of Mount Nemrut—they are rapidly facing extinction, along with the cosmologies and bodies of knowledge embodied within them. Yet the wetland has much to teach us.
Through a collective immersion in watery texts, images, and audio, the reading group will explore wetness as an alternative ground for habitation and imagination. This study will function as a fluid experiment to investigate the role of wetlands within the climate crisis. Participants will build a collective lexicon of wetland terminology, drawing from readings, conversations, popular culture, and traditional knowledge.
This reading group is open to individuals from all backgrounds interested in the arts, critical theory, and ecology. The majority of texts and reference materials will be in English. The program will be held in English and is limited to 16 participants. The group will convene on March 4, 6, and 20 at Salt Beyoğlu, as part of the launch of Water Assemblies. After these sessions, participants will meet twice a month until August 2025. The schedule for these meetings will be arranged in consultation with participants, considering their availability. Participants are expected to engage in the 6-month process. Please submit your application via this form by Monday, February 24 at 18.00. Selected participants will be notified on Wednesday, February 26.
PROGRAM
March 4, 16.00-17.00
March 6, 17.00-19.00
March 20, 17.00-19.00*
*The final session will be held with the participation of artist and researcher Ifor Duncan.
Merve Anıl is a Research Associate for CLIMAVORE x Jameel at the Royal College of Art (RCA), working on the Istanbul-based “Water Buffalo Commons” project. Prior to joining RCA, she taught at the Architectural Association from 2018 to 2023. Anıl is trained as an architect with a background in urban policy and has previously developed urban and sustainability policies for the public sector in London as a Public Practice Associate. She has also worked at AHMM Architects in London and OMA in Rotterdam.
Ifor Duncan is a writer, artist, and postdoctoral researcher on the European Research Council project “EcoViolence” at Utrecht University. His research focuses on political violence against communities in the context of degrading watery spaces, processes, and materialities, including river borders, mega-dam projects, and rivers as dynamic archives of genocide. He encounters these concerns through visual cultures, cultural memory, and a fieldwork practice that involves submerged audio-visual methods. Duncan holds a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he was a lecturer from 2022 to 2024. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the New Institute Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) at Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia between 2020-2022, and taught in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.
