Dear stranger with Ece Temelkuran

“Dear stranger. Are you home? Do you feel at home? And for how long?”
Across the world, the number of refugees, exiles, and displaced people continues to rise. More and more individuals find themselves politically homeless, economically excluded, or estranged within their own countries. Over the past decade, Ece Temelkuran has warned that the erosion of democracy does not happen overnight. To those who believed “it can’t happen here,” she has insisted: it will.

In her new book, Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century, journalist Ece Temelkuran – who herself left her home country Turkey because of the authoritarian turn it took after the failed coup of 2016 – turns to the urgent question of belonging. Through a series of intimate letters from one stranger to another, she explores what it means to lose a home — and how we might begin to rebuild one in a fragile and uncertain century.

Part of this programme is an immersive art installation, by Studio Julian Hetzel, exploring the feeling of being “unhomed.” Visitors are invited to move freely through the installation space from 19.00 onwards. The program will start at 20.00, with a conversation with Ece Temelkuran about her personal experience of exile, and the political realities shaping our present moment. Following the interview, the installation can be experienced again, this time together with the author.

The installation is created in collaboration with Studio Julian Hetzel, known for undisciplinary art projects that merge theatre, performance, and visual arts. Their work investigates the hidden power structures and invisible economies that shape our world, often exposing the tensions between ethical values and economic systems.

Ece Temelkuran (1973) is an award-winning writer. In 2012, she was dismissed from her position at a Turkish newspaper after writing critically about the Erdoğan government. Her earlier book, How to Lose a Country: The Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship, examined the gradual steps through which democracies can slide into authoritarianism. The Dutch edition of Nation of Strangers will be published in March. She has recently been longlisted for the women’s prize for non-fiction.