Diyarbakır Arts Center hosted ‘Pizzeria Babylon’ contemporary art exhibition April 3-May 9, 2010. The exhibition was coordinated by Sezgin Boynik, a contemporary artist based in Helsinki, and featured the works of contemporary artists Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger, who are also from Helsinki. ‘Pizzeria Babylon’ art project started with the idea of ​​interpreting British explorer Isabella Bird’s 1891 book titled ‘Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan’. The participating artists, who generally focus on marginality, migration, and cultural encounters in their works, followed Bird’s footsteps and embarked on a journey in Iran’s Kurdistan region in 2003 and explored what Kurds in the region thought about Bird’s ideas. The photographs featured in the exhibition focused on the memories of former residents of the abandoned Kurdish village of Upper Afaryan in Iran. They are more artistic works that value the personal experiences of individuals than historical facts. Another work examined the ingredients of pizza, as a food widespread around the world, and aimed to show how similar cultural products were invented in different places independently of one another and continue to spread through cultural encounters. Sezgin Boynik, Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger also participated in a panel on April 3, 2009, prior to the opening of the exhibition.