Artist Saype’s Worldwide Symbolic Human Chain extends to Istanbul, Turkey 2020

French-Swiss artist Saype’s worldwide ‘Beyond walls Project’ extends his symbolic human chain to Istanbul, the eight step of the global “Beyond Walls” project that Saype initiated in June 2019 in Paris.

In a polarizing world, the artist chooses to symbolically create the largest human chain in the world to invite us to benevolence and to live together: the Beyond Walls project. A combination of pairs of intertwined hands, painted on the ground across the world, slide from city to city, to symbolize union, mutual aid and common effort beyond the walls.

The symbolic human chain launched in the city of love, Paris and then travelled to Engolasters in Andorra. Saype then stepped into Geneva, Switzerland. Step 4 took the human chain to Berlin, step 5 to Ouagadougou, step 6 to Yamoussoukro and step 7 to Turin. Step 8 sees Saype link Europe to Asia via Istanbul.

It was born from fortuitous encounters and a will of the people to bring the largest human chain in the world to Istanbul.  It is therefore a real collaborative and multilateral project.  For a painter whose monumental works want to be bridges thrown between cultures, the city of Istanbul constitutes an essential stage, at the crossroads of the worlds of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.  After connecting Europe and Africa, the gigantic hands of the universal farandole created by the French-Swiss will pass through the European side of the Bosphorus and cross the strait to arrive on the Asian coast.  They will thus continue to draw from city to city, from continent to continent, an immense fraternal chain which will henceforth intertwine West and East.

Three frescoes covering a total of 6300m2 were created in Istanbul using biodegradable pigments made out of charcoal, chalk, water and milk proteins.

Here in Istanbul this step links Europe to Asia : one artwork was created at Bogazici University (2500 Sq. m) on the European side of the country,

The second one was created in the Beykoz district (1600 Sq. m) on the Asian side.

The two of them were linked by an artwork painted on a floating barge in the Golden Horn of the Bosphorus (2200 Sq. m).

The work carried out in Istanbul has benefited from the support of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Kültür A.Ş, the Municipality of Beşiktaş, the Boğaziçi University, the Consulate General of Switzerland, the French Institute in Turkey and  UPS.

Photo credit: Valentin Flauraud for Saype

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