Zeki Müren Hotline collects and curates people’s memories and messages about Turkey’s beloved queer pop star, Zeki Müren (1931 – 1996).
Visit test.zekimurenhotline.com on a desktop or laptop to view the full curated experience of selected messages, as well as a growing archive that updates with every call.
Call and leave a message!
TR: +90 212 988 02 08
US: +1 (646) 760-2065
NL: +31 203690753
Email: zekimurenhotline [at] gmail [dot] com
Modern Turkey’s first pop star Zeki Müren died twenty years ago on live television, devastating millions of fans all over the country. Tens of thousands attended his state funeral in national mourning. Müren — who emerged as a radio star in 1951; recorded hundreds of albums and singles; played lovers of women in cinema; proved himself as the young Republic’s golden boy before transitioning into a queer nightclub star — is still considered the greatest Turkish vocalist of all time and his gender-bending performances remain unparalleled. He is remembered as a national hero worthy of the nickname ‘pasha’ (military general), a pioneer of Turkish Art Music, and an LGBTQ resistance icon all at once.
Beyza Boyacıoğlu – Director
Beyza Boyacioglu is an award-winning documentarian and artist from Istanbul. Currently she is producing a cross-platform documentary about Turkey’s queer pop legend Zeki Müren. Her previous film ‘Toñita’s’ was produced during her fellowship at UnionDocs (New York), and was premiered at MoMA Documentary Fortnight. She has an MSc in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. She is works at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab.
Jeff Soyk – Director
Jeff Soyk is an award-winning media artist with experience in creative direction, UI/UX design, HTML/CSS/JS and film/video. His credits include art director, UI/UX designer and architect on Hollow (2013 Peabody winner), and creative director and UI/UX designer on Inheritance (2016 Emmy winner). Soyk has a BFA in New Media Design from R.I.T., an MFA in Media Art from Emerson College, and is an MIT OpenDocLab fellow.
Directors: Beyza Boyacıoğlu & Jeff Soyk
Producer: Beyza Boyacıoğlu
Web Designer: Jeff Soyk
Web Developer: Can Usta
Co-producer: Sasha Costanza-Chock
Branding: Hayrettin Günç
The hotline is powered by Vojo
Vojo Project Lead: Sasha Costanza-Chock
Vojo Development & Support: Research Action Design
Supported by:
MIT OpenDocLab
MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Vojo
SALT Research
CAMIT
Special Thanks
Ahmet Boyacıoğlu, Emine Boyacıoğlu, Eda Boyacıoğlu Kacar, Çağlar Kaçar, Jan Popelar (Blondie), Defne Kırmızı, Selin Gülgöz, Defne Civelekoğlu
All the anonymous participants of Zeki Müren Hotline
Legal
Zeki Müren Hotline does not charge any additional fees for calling the local telephone lines. Please make sure to call your local Hotline, unless you accept international-call fees. Collected audio messages will be immediately added to the Zeki Müren Hotline archive, and selected stories will be featured on the curated experience. The authors of the project are not accountable for the content of the received messages, as the content is crowdsourced and there is no filtering process. Zeki Müren Hotline is a non-profit art project.