The workshop was organized by The Travel Club (Klub putnika), the main non-profit Balkan hub for independent travelers and travel writers. I was one of the Club's editors, organizers, and publishers for a couple of years.

The workshop was part of The Travel Club's community funded Travel House project. In short, the Club would organize a crowdfunding campaign, rent an apartment in a city for 2 months (in 2012. it was Istanbul), and create a fully-funded free travel culture residency programme. Accommodation was freely available for all applicants for a week.

As part of the programme, the workshop focused on exploring and mapping the hidden stories and symbols of the biggest Balkan city, referencing diverse map-related projects, books, and practices such as Map as Art, The Practice of Everyday Life, Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, Situationist International, Experimental Geography, We Feel Fine, Aboriginal Songlines, Ottoman cartography of Piri Reis, and many more.

Participants included people from all walks of life (travelers, artists, writers, musicians, programmers, carpenters, physical workers) and from different countries (Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Netherlands, Bosnia, Germany, Italy, USA).

Maps created during the workshop were presented at the Istanbul Travel House. ■