How Do You See Me?

The evening opens with a screening of How Do You See Me?, an experimental short film by Üzüm Derin Solak, which premiered at SALT Galata in 2025. Weaving together the rhythm of the streets, sound collages, and the reality of urban transformation, the film asks what it means to be seen, and to be rendered invisible, under a dominant gaze. At its center stand the testimonies of trans and queer people erased from official histories. 

A conversation with the artist follows, moderated by Yelta Köm. The discussion turns to concrete questions: How can a queer counter-archive be built against urban destruction and systematic anti-queer policies? How do experimental forms resist the sterile molds of mainstream cinema? And where does queer visibility in cultural institutions tip into tokenism? 

At a time when cities and political climates are shifting rapidly, the evening explores how artistic practice can defend queer memory and queer spaces. In breaking with conventional cinematic language and narrative hierarchies, it makes room for memory-making from below: a living, community-driven space for exchange, independent of institutional frameworks. 

The event is open to anyone drawn to alternative spaces of resistance in today's climate of censorship and oppression.