This issue takes us to many different shores; from the fields in which Turkish oil wrestlers grapple, through the living room of a Chilean exiled in San Francisco, to a replica of Paris in China, with these same questions on our lips: What places is this? What kingdom? What shores of what world?
212 magazine is a new biannual publication from Istanbul. It contains short fiction and long-form reportage; distinctive photo essays and revealing interviews. Even though it was born in the city where east meets west (as the love-worn cliche goes), the magazine seeks to transcend the loaded dichotomies of Istanbul’s favourite metaphor, and extends its gaze far beyond the region.
The name “212” comes from the area code for Istanbul, but it also happens to be the area code for New York – a piece of misdirection that’s characteristic of the magazine’s ethos: as soon as you try too hard to close in on your subject it has a habit of defying you. Rather than pigeonholing ideas into narrow parameters, 212’s contributors trace connections that will surprise and delight.
Each issue is centred around a loose theme – the first is Strange Days. 212 aims to be as challenging as it is influential – to provide an inclusive space for ideas and perspectives to mix without prejudice and better interrogate social, artistic and cultural phenomena from the region and around the world.
