Since the mid-1990s, Altindere has emerged as one of the most prominent contemporary artists in the Turkish scene. His practice is multifaceted spaning from video to sculpture, photography, installation and performance, but also extending to collaborative editorial and curatorial projects.
The work Wonderland is realized in collaboration with the hip-hop group Tahribad-ı isyan and is presented in the style of a music videoclip. The piece bears witness to the anger and frustration of a group of youths from the historic Sulukule neighborhood of Istanbul. The neighborhood is home to Romani communities since the times of Byzantine Empire but is being increasingly demolished as part of an urban development project led by the government and the private sector that has compromised the memory and traditions of the Romani community, and has endangered many heritage sites. The specially written lyrics of the song is the way the young men of the hip-hop group have chosen to tell the story of the neighborhood and speak about inequality and gentrification, as they are simultaneously confronted by the police. Although the story of Wonderland is closely connected to the context, repercussions of similar stories can be encountered all over the world.
