Talk:
Burcu Yiğit Turan
“Landscape and Power”
Salt Ulus
November 28, 2013 19.00
Looking over the bridge, Çubuk Dam, 1940
(Aslıhan Demirtaş Archives)
(Aslıhan Demirtaş Archives)
“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.” – Edward W. Said
The newly defined geography of the nation-state has been bombarded more than ever happened during the war; bombardment of ideas, forms, images and imaginations. For Ankara, the center of the bombardment, or the “school” of practice, a new dialectics of nature and culture emerged. Open water and green space had become the important sites for struggle, social practice and imaginary formations.
As one of the most striking examples of a symbolic relationship established by the nation state with nature, dams reveal the emerging dialectics between nature and culture in Turkey within its different realities. Deriving from the contemporary theory of landscape and the intersections that it unfolds inbetween imaginary and real, culture and nature, this talk will attempt to interpret “dams” and the exhibition Modern Essays 5: Graft.
The exhibition is on view until November 30 at SALT Ulus.
The talk will be held in Turkish.
Burcu Yiğit Turan has studied the intersections of architecture, urbanism and landscape through the lens of cultural studies. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Urbanism and Landscape from Vienna University of Technology in 2009. Turan practiced landscape architecture and urban design in the Netherlands, and has been involved in various research projects in Europe. She was a visiting professor at Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning (2011-2012). She currently works as an assistant professor at Özyegin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design.
The newly defined geography of the nation-state has been bombarded more than ever happened during the war; bombardment of ideas, forms, images and imaginations. For Ankara, the center of the bombardment, or the “school” of practice, a new dialectics of nature and culture emerged. Open water and green space had become the important sites for struggle, social practice and imaginary formations.
As one of the most striking examples of a symbolic relationship established by the nation state with nature, dams reveal the emerging dialectics between nature and culture in Turkey within its different realities. Deriving from the contemporary theory of landscape and the intersections that it unfolds inbetween imaginary and real, culture and nature, this talk will attempt to interpret “dams” and the exhibition Modern Essays 5: Graft.
The exhibition is on view until November 30 at SALT Ulus.
The talk will be held in Turkish.
Burcu Yiğit Turan has studied the intersections of architecture, urbanism and landscape through the lens of cultural studies. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Urbanism and Landscape from Vienna University of Technology in 2009. Turan practiced landscape architecture and urban design in the Netherlands, and has been involved in various research projects in Europe. She was a visiting professor at Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning (2011-2012). She currently works as an assistant professor at Özyegin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design.
