Archiving the Voice of the Child and Collaborative Production: DenizBank 8th International Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial Memory Documentary and "Happiness is a Right" Meeting

For the DenizBank 8th International Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial, we prepared a 25-minute memory documentary. Creating a documentary narrative using multi-participant and found footage video and photographic materials, and producing a documentary for this meaningful biennial, holds a very special place for me.

We were together in workshops with children and young people, as well as with hundreds of teachers, schools, and parents. The film, along with desktop and field work, took approximately 9 months to complete and was brought to life by a large, dedicated collective team.

It was a magnificent gathering bringing together cameramen, photographers, and artists. This initiative, spearheaded by Gazi Selçuk, the founder and director of the Biennial since 2010, touches the lives of children and young people every two years. In turn, it facilitates hundreds of educators and teachers making a difference in people's lives. Long live the Biennial!

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the invitation to participate in the webinar titled "Happiness is a Right: The Voice of the Child, the Power of Art, the Right of Culture," organized by PALETDER and supported by the European Union (Civil Society Programme) on October 10, 2026. In this meeting where art meets happiness and we broke down digital barriers, moderated by Nur Bardakçı, the following individuals participated: Prof. Dr. Serra Müderrisoğlu (AÇEV), Yasemin Güler (Tomurcuk Cooperative), Prof. Dr. Filiz Meriçli (ÇYDD), Dr. Kader Akçay (President of the Biennial Art Committee), Dilan Salkaya (Arter), Kardelen Fincancı Arıkan and Tayyar Fikret Bektaş (İYİ Social Cooperative), Melek Seçilir (Ağrı Science and Art Center), Birgül Taştan Meriç (Friends of Educational Art Association), Nilay Abınık Akçalı (Habitat Association), and Gazi Selçuk (Biennial Director).

During the time allotted to me, as a documentary filmmaker, social impact and advocacy designer, I tried to contribute to the fields of memory, social impact and advocacy; digital memory creation, the right of children to visibility and the civil society sector. At the end of the webinar, we watched the first screening of our 25-minute Biennial memory documentary, which brings together the productions, encounters, workshops and moments recorded throughout the 8th Biennial.

What is a "Memory Documentary" and Why is it Important?

The documentary genre we adopted in this project is a "Memory Documentary" that stands at the intersection of participatory documentary and found footage/desktop documentary aesthetics.

So, from the perspective of a director and human rights advocate, what does a memory documentary represent, and what exactly are we archiving?

• Beyond Aesthetic Recording: Advocacy for Rights: Documenting children's and young people's relationship with art and their artistic creations is not merely an aesthetic documentation task; it is directly related to the child's right to visibility and the collective memory of civil society.

  
  

• Multi-Participant and Found-Related Narrative: During the 9-month production process, we didn't just rely on professional field footage. We combined diverse audiovisual materials (found videos and photographs) from workshops, schools, teachers, and participants with desktop editing research to construct a collective narrative. Thus, instead of a hierarchical perspective where the camera is the sole authority, we brought the perspectives of the subjects involved in the production to the film.

  
  

• A Living Archive That Transcends Physical Time: An exhibition or biennale doesn't end when its physical runtime on the calendar is over. The digital memory created through documentary filmmaking extends the resulting artworks, workshop processes, performances, and encounters beyond the exhibition period, keeping the biennale's memory alive and amplifying the public impact of children's relationship with art.

With the hope that this shared memory, freely created by children and young people and amplified by the transformative power of art, will inspire new encounters in the future; enjoy the show!