Büyükada Songlines is a floating garden populated by plants, soil, insects and birds traveling across the Marmara sea, as a floating embassy of the Prince’s Islands archipelago. Both a design project and a journey, the garden hosts people and other animals, events and conversations, becoming a nomadic pavilion populated by the life and the stories of the archipelago.

Conceived as a mediterranean garden representative of the archipelago’s ecology and of its multicultural vocation, it is inhabited by three installations: an earthly platform, representative of the soils of the islands; a marine - terrazzo table, made with shells and rocks gathered in Büyükada; and a grid of perches and bird feeders, for migratory birds and gulls to rest upon. At the completion of the journey, together with the plants of the garden, the triptych of sculptural elements was donated to the archipelago, and permanently installed in Büyükada.

Part of a tradition of pavilions and rituals which binds water cities across Europe and Asia, Büyükada Songlines is an investigation of our complex relationships with other species. The garden, during its journey, has been a living diary of stories and species, places and people, forms of curation and cultivation: an embassy of the archipelago and its ecologies.

Designed by Studio Ossidiana, and hosting unique material research tied to the soils and minerals of the islands, the floating garden has been animated by a programme curated in collaboration with The Young Curators Group, the NGO Dünya Mirası Adalar (World Heritage Islands), Istanbul’s Açık Radio, and Deniz Yaşamını Koruma Derneği (Marine Life Conservation Society). Büyükada Songlines is a project by Studio Ossidiana (Alessandra Covini, Giovanni Bellotti with Sze Wing Chan, Marie Saladin, Lyubov Viller, Mariagiulia Pistonese, Daniel Marshall) with Sera Tolgay, Derya Tolgay, Şirin İskit, Daniel Marshall, Merve Yücel, Kerim Bayer, and Ahmet Topbaş.

Project Manager: Merve Yücel
Landscape: Fatih Koçak, Ceren Beker, Büşra Fındıklı, Sıdık Kudüs Müminzade (Nadir Bitkiler Fidanlığı)
Platform plants: Derya Tolgay
Cast elements producer: Urban Atölye
Construction: Muammer Temel, Yalçın Kaan Öztemir, Serhat Öztemir, Özkan Şener, Abdullah Tutuk, Berke Şener, Ali Babacan
Transportation: Mehmet Sayan, Hasan Sayan, Göksal Polat, Burak Furkan Duru
Engineering: Ahmet Topbaş, Mehmet Onur Öztepe
Videographer: Tamer Giray

Special thanks to:

(Public Programme): Serco Ekşiyan, İpek Çankaya, Dilek Yalçın Demiralp, Burak Ayaz, Koenraad Van Lier, Mete Özel, Gündüz Vassaf, Derya Tolgay, Talin Büyükkürkciyan, Nikolai Galen, Nur Eda Topçu, Sibel Horada, Özdeş Özbay, Volkan Narcı, Cem Dalyan, Ferhan Çoşkun, Cihan Erdönmez, Akgün İlhan, Ünal Akkemik, Dadans Dans Topluluğu: Dila Yumurtacı, Melek Nur Dudu, Merve Uzunosman, Korhan Gümüş, Tansel Korkmaz, Bahar Özay, Dolunay Varol
(DMA Organisation): Derya Tolgay, Şirin İskit, Sera Tolgay
(DMA Project Support Team): Merve Yücel, Kerim Bayer, Ahmet Topbaş, Hikmet Eliz, Yasemin Bahçekapılı, Fulya Baran