This exhibition and catalog is a result of an exchange course -- Locality & Global Discourses -- between California College of the Arts and Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey).

The purpose of this exchange is to research the historical developments of the two respective cities and specifically explore the geopolitical and cultural heritage of designated neighborhoods. The participants assumed the role of artist/designer as an ethnographer or fieldworker in the relationship between action and public space by responding according to her/his individual curiosities.

The course was divided into small groups, and each group chose a specific neighborhood in either San Francisco or Istanbul; after researching a chosen district, each artist/designer explored her/his individual interests within.

Historical and cultural research of each district in concert with visual collecting by direct experience from each participant produced an archive in the evolution of place. Further connections were then developed between the two unique cities as the dialogue between both groups of students increased.

Global issues of locality, culture, displacement, and identity surfaced, while the world seemed to get smaller due to the obvious threads of commonality. The explored San Francisco neighborhoods included the Financial District, Chinatown, the Tenderloin (Little Saigon,) and Port/Waterfront.

In Istanbul the neighborhoods included Bomonti District,Taksim Square, Galata, and Tophane -- all historically significant to the development of each city.

Our attempt was to make visual the specifics and uniqueness of place and allow for the similarities to bridge our individual experience.