curated by ? Marco Sammicheli (Zero director) and Baris Bilenser (Zero Istanbul director) Presentation to the public and the press: 13 October at 2.00 pm c/o Italian Institute for Culture, Istanbul Design your own Istanbul Workshop on personalizing covers 19-20 October 1.00pm - 6.00pm At Borusan Music House, Istanbul Zero presents a special edition in English and Turkish dedicated to the 50 places that have determined the changes of Istanbul from the 1980s to today. A guide to design, based on the English meaning of 'design' as project, process, constructing, and developed thanks to the sponsorship of Mini and Becks and the contributions by journalists and writers (such as Ulus Atayurt, Aysegül Oguz, Merve Erol, Haziran Düzkan), architects (Özer Önkal, Cem Sorguç, Tolga Yagli), photographers (Sahan Nuhoglu), economists (Yigit Atilgan), film makers (Imre Azem) and academics (Firat Genç). An overview of the city of Istanbul today and in the upcoming future. A glance at museums, galleries, public areas, shopping and business districts - and their developers, that gives us this image: one of the most interesting realities of the Mediterranean area. This special issue contains a detailed description of the city provided by Zero Istanbul, (the first international edition of Zero launched in 2009) realized by combining the efforts of the entire editorial board: the printed material, the website, social medias and several events taking place during the opening of the Biennale at the Italian Institute for Culture, the Borusan Music House (borusanmuzikevi.com) and the headquarters of Zero Istanbul. The guide will be released with a neutral cover. The task for its creative aspect has been assigned to international figures from the world of architecture, design and graphics. They will produce the first exclusive covers illustrating their vision of Istanbul. Their names will be communicated through our social medias (www.facebook.com/www.zero.eu and through our twitter account @Zero_eu). Moreover, to celebrate the liaison between Italy and the new Mediterranean Capital, a cover will be specifically dedicated to a drawing by Raimondo Tommaso D'Aronco, an eclectic architect from the Italian Liberty scene, and above all the creator of symbolic buildings such as the Italian Embassy and the little mosque, now under reconstruction. Among the events, on 19 and 20 October, two workshops curated by Stefano Temporin – Art Director for Zero – will be held at the Borusan Music House. During these workshops, the illustrations for the cover will be produced live. During 'Design your own Istanbul', as the workshop is called, students from the best design schools (Gürbüz Dogan Eksioglu, Yesim Demir...) and professionals linked to Istanbul (Erkut Terliksiz, Ulas Eryavuz, Geray Gencer, Burcu Tokatli, Pemra Atac,Pinar Akkurt...), selected in collaboration with the Turkish Graphic Designers Association, will offer their interpretation of the city and its urban texture through their sketches, the same way Zero deals with events. A workshop format that has been already experienced in Milan, during the 'MilleMila Copertine' event, in collaboration with the Triennale Design Museum (May 2012). For the Istanbul event too, readers are invited to participate by choosing their favorite cover. The event itself is in effect a creative studio similar to those of the editorial offices in Milan, Rome, Turin, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Veneto and Istanbul, where Zero has worked since 1996. The two days of residence in the museum will involve That Was Now, an art festival curated by Xing (an interdisciplinary network for contemporary culture – Xing.it) conceived for the fourth Ap(art)man event. Planned for in the line-up are installations, performances and live audio-visuals distributed throughout the six floors of the Borusan Music House. You will find all the details about the graphics and illustrations by the designers involved in the project in Instanbul on Zero.eu. The Italian edition of Zero will be printed together with a mini-catalogue of the event. You will find the best selection of events on a channel tagged Design Biennale on zeroistanbul.com. On Twitter @zeroistanbul you will be able to follow live the opening of the Biennale thanks to the live tweets curated by the Turkish editorial board and its collaborators. The report will be in English and the hashtags will be #zerodesignbiennal and #zeroistanbul.