urban explorer

Now back in barcelona and on the home stretch of this mammoth competition that has absorbed me for the past month and a half (hence the lack of posts), i have a couple moments to enlighten you on the adventures of the past few days, which i would have to say have contained some of the most amazing experiences of my life. To start with i jsut returned from Istanbul where i handed in the competition panels i was working on in barcelona……… i flew there on tuesday without the submission as it was not finished even after 3 allnighters on the end of a month of little or no sleep….. (did some quick sight seeing). On the first morning i organised a printer in Taskim and attempted to take over the shop (in english) and await the files via email, still being worked on until 1 hour before the deadline. it was a nightmare, i hooked up my laptop to the network, the printing place was incredible, only one man spoke a little english, i had to commandeer two of their plotters, it took me 7 hours to get the 6 A0’s printed and mounted, i also had to burn a cd and print a 55 page booklet, just as i was finishing the guys in barcelona sent through an amended panel etc etc we missed the deadline by two hours but ada from the barcelona office called the competition people and we were allowed to leave the submission with the security after hours.

It took me three quarters of an hour in a taxi to find the submission venue; an amazing building nestling amongst a series of palaces and villas set in an area like the botanical gardens patrolled by men with machine guns… i heard shots too. I handed in the submission to a lovely, gentle little turkish man who took me into this incredible place and sat down with me while i tried to communicate why i was there, differences in language can be wonderful fun.

I then got a taxi back across istanbul to my beautiful hotel in Sultanahmet where i spent the next two hours relaxing in their wonderful restaurant on the roof terrace, fantastic food, wine and turkish coffee, views over the bosporus and the blue mosque. I think it was the best solo dinner i have ever had. Life is so wonderful. The next day i organised a new flight back to Barcelona, having missed my one the previous evening due to the late arrival of the panels, but not before some speedy visits to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar.

i cant wait to come back to istanbul and really explore it, so gritty/beautiful/antipodean.

an internal of the Hagia Sophia, an incredible space, the scaffolding in the centre is actually quite amazing too.