A letter to the space between us
Written by Cemre Ceren Asarlı, a co-host of the upcoming Satellite BEYOND, “Between Neighbours: Crossing Voices, Crossing Borders” taking place in Istanbul, Türkiye, 4-6 May, 2026.
This letter is a part of Culture Action Europe’s At the Heart series, “Love Letters to Culture.” This February, we’re inviting hosts of the upcoming 2026 Satellite BEYOND events to write their own love letter. Not necessarily to a person, but to something that holds meaning within their Satellites: a location, an object, a site, an event, a fleeting moment between people, or something more abstract, like potential, hope, care, continuity. These letters speak to what members love about culture, why this matters where they are, and what makes their Satellite more than just a programme.
What an intimate privilege to see where care blossoms across our network’s communities. Learn more and join us at a Satellite near you.
I’m writing to you from the space between chairs pulled a little too close together. From a table where tea cools faster than the conversation ends. From a room where people arrive carrying not only ideas, but histories; some heavy, some unfinished, some carefully folded to fit into the day.
I’ve met you here many times before. You don’t always announce yourself. Sometimes you appear as a pause. Sometimes as a disagreement that doesn’t break us. Sometimes, as a quiet moment when everyone realises they are still here, still choosing to stay.
In this part of the world, we have learned to build you with care. Not because it is easy, but because it is necessary. We have learned that culture is not a luxury or a backdrop. It is a practice of survival, of dignity, of remembering ourselves when systems forget us. It is what allows us to gather without certainty, to speak without guarantees, to imagine futures without permission.
You live in our methods: in circles rather than podiums, in listening before proposing, in making space for reflection as a form of action. You live in our insistence on asking not only what are we building, but how are we building it, and with whom. You live in the slow work of trust, in the patience of process, in the belief that meaning is something we make together, not something delivered fully formed.
I have seen you emerge when people from different languages and lived realities sit together and realise they are asking similar questions. About care. About continuity. About how to remain human inside structures that often reward speed over depth, output over presence. In those moments, you become visible not as an answer, but as a shared orientation.
I love you because you refuse to be finished. Because you ask us to keep showing up. Because you remind us that care is not soft, and that togetherness is not naïve. You teach us that hope is not optimism, but practice.
We will keep making room for you.
We will keep holding you, even when it’s difficult.
Especially then.
With care, always.
East Satellite Beyond Team
Photo Credit: Postane