In a collage and a video projection Banu Cennetoglu documents a fragment from the cost line at Kalamis, which is one of the wealthiest neighbourhood at the Asian side of Istanbul. She focuses attention on a number of remarkable contrasts between the three zones that make up this very fragment. Are there any palm trees in Grozny? can be read as the geographic reflection of latent desires and social displacements: While each represents specific interests and projected wishes, together they become a spatial frame in which personal stories can be traced.

Zone 1 is a military camp; Cennetoglu draws attention to the absurdity of the official maps of the area. Of the three plans that are part of the collage, the middle one is the government’s official version. The map displays deliberate errors that are designed to hide the location of the military zone, a strategic bulwark that is stable and where order reigns and time accumulates.

Zone 2 is a deserted site that accommodated a shopping mall, which has been demolished recently after 20 years of illegal presence. Since that moment a diversity of wishes have been projected on the parcel. First there were dozens of imported palm trees planted that were intended to give the coastline status. Since then plans to build a nightclub have been mooted.

Between the two extremes lies a dilapidated vacation colony for employees of the Turkish railways. While a part of it still fulfils that function, other parts of the complex serve as a camp for 160 Chechen refugees.

Determined Barbara

September 19th 2002
I come to Banja Luka
I come with a bus from Belgrade
The distance between Banja Luka and Belgrade is 331km
In Banja Luka I meet Goca
She tells me about Determined Barbara:
A military training ground constructed in Glamoc for SFOR units
SFOR units are the international stabilization forces
Their mission is to keep the peace and the stability
Goca tells me about the kindergarten where Serbian refugees from Glamoc “stay “
The kindergarten is in Banja Luka
The distance between Banja Luka and Glamoc is 131km

March 12th 2004
I come to Sarajevo
I come with a plane from Amsterdam
The distance between Amsterdam and Sarajevo is 1309km
Latif picks me up from the airport
We drive

Sunday the 14th
We are in the car
We are in Glamoc
We see Barbara
Barbara is occupying the land of 704 pre-war inhabitants of Glamoc
In 1998 their land was expropriated for its construction
The distance between Glamoc and Sarajevo is 221km
The distance between Glamoc and Antwerp is 1369km