I was invited to participate in a collaborative project organized by Arzu Ozkal and Claudia Peterson.

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Gün is a Turkish word meaning day and referencing women-only groups, part of social relations in Turkey and today among the diasporas. The gün usually consists of a group of friends taking turns hosting these gatherings in their homes, which take place weekly or monthly and serve as a time/space devoted to pleasurable exchanges between women, involving food, conversation, games, crafts, gossip, and sometimes money. In short, güns are forms of networks specific to gendered spaces within Turkish culture. Turkish women have a long tradition of story-telling that manifests itself in the sharing of hopes and dreams weaved as motifs in carpets, kilims, and needle work. This book provides another platform for Turkish women's cultural production - extending the "language of crafts" among networked women working with contemporary media. This initiative intends to be a homage to the "First Women's Rights Convention" (in 1848, Seneca Falls, NY) drawing parallels between histories and traditions of both events as a form of social exchange for civic action.Its concept focuses on the etymology of the term network as materials and systems fashioned "in the manner of a net," thus emphasizing interrelations and connections. In practice, the work involves online exchanges between participants, with each woman contributing work related to the gün as a social/cultural form-- a handle for research into the ideas, conditions, and aspirations framing the cultural positions of women in Turkey and those living and working abroad.

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Participants: Aslı Akıncı Alpert, Berna Ekal, Başak Şenova, Chantal Zakari, Güneli Gün, İz Öztat, Nazenin Tokuşoğlu, Nazmiye Halvasi, Nilbar Güreş, Meltem Işık, Övül Durmuşoğlu and Özlem Özkal.