miscellaneous

Toplu: Landscapes of New Turkish Suburbia
Photographs by Mark Slankard
Cleveland State Art Gallery | August 28 – October 10, 2009

Image taken from http://www.csuohio.edu/artgallery/

I went to see Slankard’s exhibition the other day. He has been documenting the new developments in the suburbs of Ankara and Istanbul for 2 years. How he captured his frames are amazing, beautiful photographs, but, as I said to the artist at the opening, these pictures disgust me. What is happening in Turkey in the name of urban development; The fixation of middle class single family dormitory like housing.

I worked at an advertising company in 1999, where I did works for a construction firm building these low cost semi-skyscrapers around Turkey. I used to get pictures like Slankard’s, empty concrete structures in the middle of dirt. As the designer, I had to put some green around, make the sky bluer, and perhaps include a few “newly married” similing couples in the final layout to make these things appealing to people. I found this one online, good job indeed.

The fact is Turkey will never become greener, and the sky will never be blue if they continue to sacrifice the lands for  the sake of an immediate profit.

Anyways, if you’re in/around Cleveland, go see Mark Slankard’s photographs, you will hate them—kidding, they are great.

See the previous blog entry.

A project I really like: beingeverywhere by Stefan Riebel.

This is his project statement: “Since February 2007 I fill white ballons with my breath and send them to people all over the world. They destroy these balloons in a place and a way they choose and set my breath free. For a short time while the air as an essential part of me is included into the surrounding of the chosen space i will be present.”

I’m waiting to receive my balloon. Where should I pop it?

In September, Orkan and I will deliver a paper about our collaborative research and project “Price Per Breath” in Aalborg, Denmark at the Architecture and Stages in the “Experience City” Conference. The conference is hosted by Aalborg University, the Department of Architecture and Design.

I’ll upload the paper on my website once the conference publication is out.