BECOMING ISTANBUL

The Becoming Istanbul project consists of an exhibition and a number of publications. Its conceptual framework was developed by Pelin Derviş, Bülent Tanju, and Uğur Tanyeli in 2008. The three also co-curated the exhibition and edited Becoming Istanbul, a multi-authored critical dictionary published in Turkish, English, and German. Two other books were published as part of the project: Tracing Istanbul (from the air), edited by Meriç Öner, which discusses the causes and effects of changes in Istanbul’s urban fabric through Oğuz Meriç’s aerial photographs; and Mapping Istanbul, co-edited by Pelin Derviş and Meriç Öner, which visualizes the city through aerial maps.

Becoming Istanbul explores Istanbul’s recent urban history from 1999 to 2011 through an interactive database of more than 400 media items. These include artists’ videos, photographic series, documentaries, news clips, cartoons, and architectural projects, organized under 80 concepts that use typical discourses about the city as a point of departure for suggesting new perspectives. The database brings together visual productions by artists and researchers who have problematized actors and phenomena often overlooked in urban discourse, alongside statements by decision-makers involved in the city’s ongoing transformation. The exhibition is not structured as a linear narrative. Each visitor can chart their own course through the database, making every experience of Becoming Istanbul unique. Designed by Evren Yantaç and developed by Hüseyin Kuşçu, the interactive database is also accessible online, where it remains available as a contemporary urban archive beyond the exhibition.

Organized by Garanti Galeri, Becoming Istanbul was first presented in 2008 at the German Architecture Museum (DAM) in Frankfurt am Main, followed by exhibitions at Al Riwaq Gallery in Bahrain and the German Architecture Center (DAZ) in Berlin. The exhibition was subsequently updated and presented at SALT in Istanbul in 2011.

Individuals and institutions that contributed to the Becoming Istanbul database:

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, Elmas Deniz, Ece 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