the project

During her residency in Istanbul, Joséphine De Weck will develop a literary project inspired by Annemarie Schwarzenbach’s stays in the city during the 1930s. Using Schwarzenbach’s presence in Istanbul as its starting point, the project unfolds as a contemporary literary exploration.

Working with reproductions of Schwarzenbach’s photographs and writings, she will revisit places the author once documented, observe how they have changed, and allow encounters, walks and fragments of the city to shape the narrative. The project unfolds as an investigation where archival material, lived experience and fiction intersect.

Istanbul plays a central role in this research. As a city of crossings, transitions and constant transformation, it resonates with Joséphine’s writing practice, which brings together observation and imagination. Through this residency, she will explore how a place, the people encountered and the stories embedded in the city can influence and transform the act of writing.

Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Beyazıt Meydanı, 1933-34

Alongside her research project and prior to her residency in Istanbul, a collaboration was established with Claire Lajus, poet and lecturer in translation at Istanbul University. Selected excerpts from Je parle au-delà, Joséphine de Weck’s reinterpretation of Antigone, were translated into Turkish by the students. At the end of the translation process, an online discussion was organized with the author, giving the students the opportunity to ask questions about the text, the translation process and her writing practice.

the artist

Joséphine de Weck is a Swiss writer, actress and creator of interdisciplinary performance projects. Trained in drama at INSAS in Brussels and in Expanded Theater at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB), she founded the collective Opus 89 in 2013, developing installations, performances and literary projects presented across Switzerland. She is the author of the novel Ambassadrice de la marque (L’Âge d’Homme, 2019), and La petite lutte (La Veilleuse, 2025). She also translates contemporary German-language plays into French. Her work explores the intersections between literature, performance and lived experience.