Becoming Istanbul
Salt Beyoğlu
September 13 – December 31, 2011
Becoming Istanbul was developed and executed by Garanti Gallery between 2007-2010. The first exhibition took place at Frankfurt am Main upon the invitation of the German Architecture Museum (DAM) in 2008. Then it was shown at the German Architecture Center (DAZ) in Berlin and at Al Riwaq Art Space in Al Manama in 2009.
The second comprehensive exhibition at SALT Beyoğlu is Becoming Istanbul. Open from September 13 to December 31, 2011, the exhibition will be accompanied by two parallel programs: 90, a program of 90 events focusing on contemporary issues in Istanbul, and The Making Of Beyoğlu, a series of workshops examining the methodology and implementation of projects initiated in the city’s center.
Becoming Istanbul explores contemporary Istanbul through an interactive database of over 400 media. An up-to-date collection of artists’ videos, photography series, documentaries, news reports, cartoons and architectural projects, the database is organized according to 80 concepts that instrumentalize typical discourses relating to the city and suggest new points of view. Its media include the visual productions of artists and researchers who have problematized actors and phenomena typically disregarded in urban discourse, as well as the declarations of decision makers involved in Istanbul’s current transformations.
The exhibition’s structure is far from linear. Each viewer may chart his or her own course through the database, making each experience of Becoming Istanbul original. The internal dynamics of the database’s content as a whole, not visible in individual navigations, will also be interpreted by Burak Arıkan in a work deciphering the relationships between concepts and time.
The conceptual framework of Becoming Istanbul was set by Pelin Derviş, Bülent Tanju and Uğur Tanyeli in 2008. The trio also edited the publication Becoming Istanbul, a multi-authored critical dictionary published in Turkish, English and German. Two other books published as part of the project were Tracing Istanbul (from the air), edited by Meriç Öner, which discussed the causes and effects of changes in Istanbul’s urban texture based on the aerial photographs of Oğuz Meriç; and Mapping Istanbul, co-edited by Pelin Derviş and Meriç Öner, a visualization of the city through aerial maps.
Through Becoming Istanbul, 90 and The Making Of Beyoğlu, SALT shares its enthusiasm for and experience in urban research. The graphic and spatial design of these projects, to be presented on SALT Beyoğlu’s second and third floors, is carried out in collaboration with design firms Project Projects and Superpool. The design solutions allowing the Becoming Istanbul database to be viewed individually or collectively are also intended to enrich the experience of viewers.
Designed by Evren Yantaç and developed by Hüseyin Kuşçu, the interactive database is already online and will remain fully accessible as a contemporary urban archive after the exhibition is over.Those who would like to contribute to the database can leave their work at Collections located on the 3rd floor at SALT Beyoğlu throughout the duration of the exhibition.
With thanks to the individuals and institutions that have contributed to Becoming Istanbul:
Adnan Onur Acar, Özge Açıkkol, Şebnem Adıyaman, Muhsin Akgün, Hande Altay, Maria Andersson, Arzu Arbak, Berk Arıca, Laleper Aytek, Selda Asal, İmre Azem, Altan Bal, Bahadır Baruter, Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins, Laurence Bonvin, Osman Bozkurt, Banu Cennetoğlu, Antonio Cosentino, ¨cˇu’m„a*, Özgüç Bertuğ Çapunaman, Cahit Çeçen, Orhan Cem Çetin, Anıl Çizmecioğlu, Jeremiah Day, Özden Demir, Derya Demiroğlu, Ece Deniz, Elmas Deniz, Pelin Derviş, Cem Dinlenmiş, Gülay Doğan, Selçuk Erdem, Cevdet Erek, Özgür Erkök, Esra Ersen, Ahmet Erzurumlu, FrenchMottershead, Jacopo Mario Gandolfi, Pınar Gediközer, Murat Germen, Erik Göngrich, Doğan Güneş, Uğur Gürsoy, Anja Hansmann, Nedim Hazar, Erdem Helvacıoğlu, Juul Hondius, Aslı Kıyak İngin, Merve İzmir, Gülsün Karamustafa, Ebru Karaca, Gizem Karaduman, Sönmez Karakurt, Serdar Karataş, Faruk Kaya, Cihan Kılıç, Ayşe Bilge Koçoğlu, Ömer Kokal, Orhan Kolukısa, Halil Koyutürk, Deniz Lenger, Murat Musulluoğlu, Ceren Oykut, Metehan Özcan, Arif Özden, Levent Özden, Yiğit Özgür, Deniz Pekkıyıcı, Erkin Peprek, Fatih Pınar, Erich Pick, Neriman Polat, Ali Saltan, Umut Sarıkaya, Mustafa Satıcı, Nermin Saybaşılı, Tayfun Serttaş, Behnan Shabbir, Solmaz Shahbazi, Luis Miguel Selvelli, Senem Sinem, Belmin Söylemez, Kamuran Süner, Ali Taptık, Memo Tembelçizer, Burcu Begüm Topuzdağ, Arzu Tuncel, Nasan Tur, Aysim Türkmen, Cengiz Üstün, Metin Üstündağ, Tolga Yağlı, Arif Yaman, Cem Yardımcı, Erdil Yaşaroğlu, Seçil Yersel, Ender Yıldızhan, Özlem Yılmaz, Serkan Yılmaz, Hakkı Yırtıcı, Anze Zadel, A Tasarım Mimarlık, asp Architekten Stuttgart, İhsan Bilgin, Boran Ekinci Mimarlık, Cafer Bozkurt Mimarlık, CM Mimarlık Ltd., DBArchitects, ddrlp, Emre Arolat Architects, ERA Şehircilik Mimarlık Müşavirlik Ltd. Şti., Ergün Mimarlık, Ipera, Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Mimarlık, Esin Yürekli Tire İnşaat, GB Mimarlık ve Mühendislik, Kreatif Mimarlık, Limited Mimarlık, Adnan Kazmaoğlu Mimarlık Araştırma Merkezi, MArS Mimarlar, Mutlu Çilingiroğlu MİAR Mimarlık, Nevzat Sayın Mimarlık Hizmetleri, Plan A, REX architects, Murat Arif Suyabatmaz, Tabanlıoğlu Architects, TeCe Mimarlık, ]TRafo Mimarlar[, UMO Architecture, Uras Dilekçi, Penguen, Uykusuz, NTV, Vakko
Becoming Istanbul explores contemporary Istanbul through an interactive database of over 400 media. An up-to-date collection of artists’ videos, photography series, documentaries, news reports, cartoons and architectural projects, the database is organized according to 80 concepts that instrumentalize typical discourses relating to the city and suggest new points of view. Its media include the visual productions of artists and researchers who have problematized actors and phenomena typically disregarded in urban discourse, as well as the declarations of decision makers involved in Istanbul’s current transformations.
The exhibition’s structure is far from linear. Each viewer may chart his or her own course through the database, making each experience of Becoming Istanbul original. The internal dynamics of the database’s content as a whole, not visible in individual navigations, will also be interpreted by Burak Arıkan in a work deciphering the relationships between concepts and time.
The conceptual framework of Becoming Istanbul was set by Pelin Derviş, Bülent Tanju and Uğur Tanyeli in 2008. The trio also edited the publication Becoming Istanbul, a multi-authored critical dictionary published in Turkish, English and German. Two other books published as part of the project were Tracing Istanbul (from the air), edited by Meriç Öner, which discussed the causes and effects of changes in Istanbul’s urban texture based on the aerial photographs of Oğuz Meriç; and Mapping Istanbul, co-edited by Pelin Derviş and Meriç Öner, a visualization of the city through aerial maps.
Through Becoming Istanbul, 90 and The Making Of Beyoğlu, SALT shares its enthusiasm for and experience in urban research. The graphic and spatial design of these projects, to be presented on SALT Beyoğlu’s second and third floors, is carried out in collaboration with design firms Project Projects and Superpool. The design solutions allowing the Becoming Istanbul database to be viewed individually or collectively are also intended to enrich the experience of viewers.
Designed by Evren Yantaç and developed by Hüseyin Kuşçu, the interactive database is already online and will remain fully accessible as a contemporary urban archive after the exhibition is over.Those who would like to contribute to the database can leave their work at Collections located on the 3rd floor at SALT Beyoğlu throughout the duration of the exhibition.
With thanks to the individuals and institutions that have contributed to Becoming Istanbul:
Adnan Onur Acar, Özge Açıkkol, Şebnem Adıyaman, Muhsin Akgün, Hande Altay, Maria Andersson, Arzu Arbak, Berk Arıca, Laleper Aytek, Selda Asal, İmre Azem, Altan Bal, Bahadır Baruter, Jeffrey Baykal-Rollins, Laurence Bonvin, Osman Bozkurt, Banu Cennetoğlu, Antonio Cosentino, ¨cˇu’m„a*, Özgüç Bertuğ Çapunaman, Cahit Çeçen, Orhan Cem Çetin, Anıl Çizmecioğlu, Jeremiah Day, Özden Demir, Derya Demiroğlu, Ece Deniz, Elmas Deniz, Pelin Derviş, Cem Dinlenmiş, Gülay Doğan, Selçuk Erdem, Cevdet Erek, Özgür Erkök, Esra Ersen, Ahmet Erzurumlu, FrenchMottershead, Jacopo Mario Gandolfi, Pınar Gediközer, Murat Germen, Erik Göngrich, Doğan Güneş, Uğur Gürsoy, Anja Hansmann, Nedim Hazar, Erdem Helvacıoğlu, Juul Hondius, Aslı Kıyak İngin, Merve İzmir, Gülsün Karamustafa, Ebru Karaca, Gizem Karaduman, Sönmez Karakurt, Serdar Karataş, Faruk Kaya, Cihan Kılıç, Ayşe Bilge Koçoğlu, Ömer Kokal, Orhan Kolukısa, Halil Koyutürk, Deniz Lenger, Murat Musulluoğlu, Ceren Oykut, Metehan Özcan, Arif Özden, Levent Özden, Yiğit Özgür, Deniz Pekkıyıcı, Erkin Peprek, Fatih Pınar, Erich Pick, Neriman Polat, Ali Saltan, Umut Sarıkaya, Mustafa Satıcı, Nermin Saybaşılı, Tayfun Serttaş, Behnan Shabbir, Solmaz Shahbazi, Luis Miguel Selvelli, Senem Sinem, Belmin Söylemez, Kamuran Süner, Ali Taptık, Memo Tembelçizer, Burcu Begüm Topuzdağ, Arzu Tuncel, Nasan Tur, Aysim Türkmen, Cengiz Üstün, Metin Üstündağ, Tolga Yağlı, Arif Yaman, Cem Yardımcı, Erdil Yaşaroğlu, Seçil Yersel, Ender Yıldızhan, Özlem Yılmaz, Serkan Yılmaz, Hakkı Yırtıcı, Anze Zadel, A Tasarım Mimarlık, asp Architekten Stuttgart, İhsan Bilgin, Boran Ekinci Mimarlık, Cafer Bozkurt Mimarlık, CM Mimarlık Ltd., DBArchitects, ddrlp, Emre Arolat Architects, ERA Şehircilik Mimarlık Müşavirlik Ltd. Şti., Ergün Mimarlık, Ipera, Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Mimarlık, Esin Yürekli Tire İnşaat, GB Mimarlık ve Mühendislik, Kreatif Mimarlık, Limited Mimarlık, Adnan Kazmaoğlu Mimarlık Araştırma Merkezi, MArS Mimarlar, Mutlu Çilingiroğlu MİAR Mimarlık, Nevzat Sayın Mimarlık Hizmetleri, Plan A, REX architects, Murat Arif Suyabatmaz, Tabanlıoğlu Architects, TeCe Mimarlık, ]TRafo Mimarlar[, UMO Architecture, Uras Dilekçi, Penguen, Uykusuz, NTV, Vakko
