We cannot always quantify change; is Istanbul changing very fast? … too fast? To document and archive in a place that has a habit of describing itself as “in flux” is of immense importance; we rely on the stories we record and tell to create a collective memory.
We thank the individuals and institutions that shared their recordings with us.
In this growing report for post, Superpool surveys urban developments in Istanbul. This content was commissioned as part of the research for the 2014 MoMA exhibition Uneven Growth, Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities, curated by Pedro Gadanho (Curator, Architecture and Design).
1. Shell
Taycan looks at the impact of the massive growth of the city’s population and questions the viability of the new living spaces presented to us. The mass migration toward Istanbul since the 1950s has exposed the city to unplanned urbanization; a constant need for new buildings to accommodate the population has transformed the city periphery into a huge construction site. This transformation can be witnessed at the urban border in its most vulnerable and raw state, where the scene is far from optimistic. Environmental sustainability is not taken into account, and new areas of development are far from the familiar dynamics of the city. The carved mine sites, which provide the origins of construction material, mark the wounds of the city. Serkan Taycan represents Istanbul as a dystopia stuck in this vicious cycle of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. He combines different endpoints of the city in diptychs and triptychs merging time and space. In this way, his photographs become personal interventions into the topography of these places and propose alternatives for the current city image.
Inonu Stadium, demolished in the summer of 2013, was one of Turkey’s oldest sports stadiums and is an integral part of the country’s sports history. Home to the Besiktas soccer club, one of Turkey’s biggest soccer teams, the stadium opened on November 27, 1947 with a match against AIK Solna (Sweden). The Democratic Party changed its name to Mithatpasa Stadium in 1952; later, it was known as Dolmabahce Stadium; and then in 1973 it regained its original name. In 2009, _The Times_ ranked it fourth among the world’s ten most beautiful stadiums. Plans to renovate the stadium were approved by the Council of Monuments in May 2013. The match between Besiktas and Genclerbirligi on May 11, 2013, was the last to be played in the original Inonu Stadium. The stadium served as a home for fans of the local team. Until recently, the Besiktas club had resisted pressure to become financially oriented, while other teams in the country went about rebuilding their stadiums. However, this year the club approved the construction of a larger, modern stadium with more seats and luxurious private rooms. Inonu Stadium was demolished in July, and the site is now being prepared for construction. Fans fear that the state will appropriate the land because of its desirable location in the center of Istanbul near the Bosphorus strait and the Dolmabahçe Palace. In recent years, the cultural life of Istanbul has been affected by the loss of movie theaters, cafes, and bookstores—sites that hold public memories—which have been razed and replaced by shopping malls. With increasing real estate speculation in the city, there are fears that at the last minute the stadium’s land could be designated for other uses, as when the government attempted to situate a shopping mall and hotel in Gezi Park. The Gezi protest started two weeks after the last game in Inonu Stadium, and the Besikats fan club Carsi was one of the leading groups involved in saving the park. This video documents the last chance to be there, to take a piece back home (chairs, field, grass…), to talk about memories and say goodbye. As filmmakers, photographers and Besiktas fans, members of the NARPhotos Collective wished to bear witness to this.
3. Istanbul Eats
First started as a blog in 2009 by Americans Ansel Mullins and Yigal Schleifer, Istanbul Eats was created with a dual purpose. On the most basic level, the blog was designed to be a guide that helps visitors to Istanbul find their way to the city’s best local, authentic, and traditional restaurants and food makers, the kinds of places that are often very hard to find on one’s own. On a deeper level, though, Istanbul Eats was created to help celebrate, support, and preserve these types of places, many of them small-scale, family-run businesses, by introducing them to a new audience—both foreign and domestic.
In a rapidly changing and economically dynamic city like Istanbul, many of these traditional food spots were finding themselves unable to compete and often left behind. Istanbul Eats tries to remind those who live in Istanbul and, more importantly, those who make decisions about the city’s future, that culinary tradition and those who uphold it are as essential a part of a city’s fabric as new roads, buildings, and infrastructure projects.
Şahin Lokantası: Edible Complex.
Çakmak: Breakfast of Şampiyons.
Özbek Sofrası: A Higher Plov.
Çakmak: Breakfast of Şampiyons.
Özbek Sofrası: A Higher Plov.
Since 2006, artist Banu Cennetoğlu has been running the space BAS in Istanbul, where local and international artists’ books and publications are collected, displayed and produced. With a permanent display area in the space, the aim is to create an awareness of the medium and to encourage the public to explore printed matter.
Between 2006 and 2009, BAS published Bent, a series of artists’ books co-edited by Banu Cennetoğlu and Philippine Hoegen. To support a local production and generate a discussion on the context of bookworks, Bent deliberately focused on collaborations with artists from Turkey and created titles by 4 artists and 1 artist collective. Philippine moved to Brussels in 2011, and the production of the Bent series was ceased, but projects that resulted from or relate to the project still continue.
In 2007, the hugely successful An Interrupted History of Punk and Underground Resources in Turkey 1978-1999, edited by Sezgin Boynik and Tolga Güldallı, was published by BAS.
Since December 2009, a series of talks and archival exhibitions has been taking place at BAS. In September 2013, an exhibition of Old News archive (2004- ) was followed by a talk by its founder, curator Jacob Fabricius.
Sanatçı Kitabı (Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.Sanatçı Kitabı (Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.Sanatçı Kitabı
(Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.Sanatçı Kitabı (Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.
Sanatçı Kitabı (Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.Sanatçı Kitabı
(Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.Sanatçı Kitabı (Artists’ Book) by Daniel Knorr was released in October 2013, the eighth edition in a series called Carte De Artiste, which he began in Romania in 2007. Value-free objects and trash are collected in public spaces by the artist and inserted between the pages of an empty book. The objects are pressed flat with an industrial 30-ton press. Each edition is made in a different country, and has the same size, the same name and the same edition number of 200 unique variants. Aiming at a global encyclopedia, the series includes editions from Romania, China, Ireland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Sweden and Armenia. Sanatçı Kitabı means Artist’s Book in Turkish; the title is always the same, only translated into the local language where the book is produced. Each book contains a DVD with a film made especially for each edition, which documents the process of “making” the work.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
İstanbul – Ömer’in Uçurtması (Istanbul – Ömer’s kite) was given to BAS as a gift by its creator Güngör Kabakçıoğlu who was an architect and artist. He was commissioned to produce this children’s book by British Petroleum in 1967 as a gift for the children of their customers. It is an unusual piece for BAS collection in terms of the targeted audience, as well as its commissioner (British Petroleum). Ömer, a young village boy discovers İstanbul on his flying home-made kite through stories narrated by palaces, towers, stones, trees and strangers. The artist seems to have created an underlying story; although Ömer was very excited to see the big city, Kabakçıoğlu ends with rather a heartbroken tone “And they soared … with a shining trace behind them, they have moved far, far away from Marmara towards new lands, lands where happy children live.” Kabakçıoğlu was perhaps envisioning the dark future of Istanbul. Marmara is a region in northwestern Turkey.
Inside BAS’s space in Istanbul
Inside BAS’s space in Istanbul
BAS Center for Artists’ Books and Publications
(logo)
Inside BAS’s space in Istanbul
BAS Center for Artists’ Books and Publications
(logo)
KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.
KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.KILAVUZ by Atıl Kunst is a guide to the standardized tests SBS, OKS and OYS, tests taken by all Turkish students at different stages of their school careers. Their scores determine if, where and at which level they will progress in their studies. A selection of questions from these tests is reproduced. Reading through them one is confronted by themes and suppositions that permeate the questions, subtly revealing the presumptions and state of mind that inform these questions and the way in which they reflect current events in contemporary Turkey. Illuminating in different way is the index in the back of the book, which dryly lists how often certain words or used.
Zumbara is a platform where groups and individuals can pool and trade experiences and skills, using time instead of money as the unit of currency based on the principle, “We have what we need if we use what we have”. To give an example, Mary shows how to make his own web page to David for 2 hours, earns 2 hour in return, spends 1 hour on having her washing machine fixed and the other hour by having her wedding playlist organized by someone else. While time banking is being practiced in many countries to strengthen local communities, Zumbara brings the combination of this system with a social network: Time Bank 2.0. Zumbara aims to foster a two-sided gift culture: “To begin with, each of us has a unique gift, which seeks continuously to be realized and expressed. When given the chance, this gift flows naturally and that which we give somehow comes back to us. Secondly, when we share our gifts with others, we experience a feeling of unity. Thanks to the social technologies that exist in today’s world, the gift economy and sharing culture is being practiced – every day – by huge numbers of people, resulting in major changes in behavior patterns … Our goal is to prompt people to question whether they need to be money dependent. We offer a glimpse into a world where sharing and collaboration has the potential to create self-sufficient communities. In monthly events, Zumbara asks people to bring food that they cook, things (e.g., clothes, books), and services/expertise that they want to share with others. Together, they form an open bazaar, where people organize yoga classes, make music, and talk about their experiences in film, sports etc. The content of every gathering is a total surprise but through each, people connect in meaningful ways. Zumbara was founded by Meltem Şendağ and Ayşegül Güzel.
Ethnomusicologist David Novak brings you to the noisy scenes of Japan’s 2012 antinuclear protest movement in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukushima, mixing commentary with field recordings, musical examples, and interviews about the role of arts and culture in the ongoing political crisis.
These presentations and panel discussion at MoMA brought together four filmmakers and artists who work in expanded documentary modes, using existing footage, archival research, interviews, and scripted narratives to produce imaginative accounts of transnational struggles, solidarities, and interventions. Using moving images, some of these practitioners interrogate the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements of the mid-late 20th…
In the middle of debris and ruin, the Seville Oranges (naranj) were shining from behind dusty leaves. And again it was pickaxes that would come down on the rooftops, and the mud brick and dirt that would fall. —Ebrahim Golestan, From the Days Gone Narrate The wind is blowing through the street, the beginning of…
What is historicized, how is it recorded, and who determines and controls these seemingly unyielding criteria? Invoking multiple media apparatuses and deriving its title from a rumor, Akram Zaatari’s Letter to a Refusing Pilot (2013) undercuts the hegemonic and umbilical ties of media and history.
