Fragments from the same patchy city.
The aim of this on going project is to investigate, document with images and catalogue the new areas of urban development come up during the last 20 years in the city of Istanbul, stressing the contradictions emerged in the city due to it uncontrolled, non planed and speculative growth.
Just having a look towards the big new districts of Istanbul, the results of such unrestrained urban growth are more than evident: overcrowding of the urban environment, increase of the social class differences, disappearance of the autochthon characteristics of the original inhabitants, and social rootlessness of the new residents coming from Anatolia. According to this thesis, the wish of a more habitable city seems to be failed and to become a mere utopia. The city has turned into a kaleidoscope of multiple realities related to the social status of the inhabitants, and virtually all new areas constructed in the last years show a depressive aspect.
With the development of this project, I hope to raise some questions of vital urgency in a time when the city of Istanbul, and in general, all major cities in the world, are on the verge of collapse due to the uncontrolled increase in area that have experienced in recent years: What kind of new relationships must be established between the individual and the space to live in an era of overcrowding, urban speculation and general economical crisis? What should be the attitude of the politicians, urban planners and architects to face this new development in mega cities? Is there a sustainable human development project in the twenty-first century?
The Fragmentpolis project was started in the summer of 2008. An introduction to this project, the Maltepe series, was displayed in a solo exhibition called Once upon a time..., held at BM Suma Contemporary Art Centre in Istanbul, January 2009. This first series was composed of 14 images presented in a mosaic stile composition. This photo-mosaic was conceived as a fragmented puzzle, leaving some empty spaces inside the composition, with the intention of creating a kind of fragmented visual perception according to the theoretical ideas developed.
FRAGMENTPOLIS_MALTEPE SERIES, INSTALATION AT BM SUMA CAC.
The project consists in choosing different areas of urban development, located in the outskirts of Istanbul, to document them, then to make a selection of about 60-70 images. The final result will be displayed as a huge instalation consisting in a fragmented mosaic, using all the images assembled.
With the development of this project, I hope to raise some questions of vital urgency in a time when the city of Istanbul, and in general, all major cities in the world, are on the verge of collapse due to the uncontrolled increase in area that have experienced in recent years: What kind of new relationships must be established between the individual and the space to live in an era of overcrowding, urban speculation and general economical crisis? What should be the attitude of the politicians, urban planners and architects to face this new development in mega cities? Is there a sustainable human development project in the twenty-first century?
The Fragmentpolis project was started in the summer of 2008. An introduction to this project, the Maltepe series, was displayed in a solo exhibition called Once upon a time..., held at BM Suma Contemporary Art Centre in Istanbul, January 2009. This first series was composed of 14 images presented in a mosaic stile composition. This photo-mosaic was conceived as a fragmented puzzle, leaving some empty spaces inside the composition, with the intention of creating a kind of fragmented visual perception according to the theoretical ideas developed.
FRAGMENTPOLIS_MALTEPE SERIES, INSTALATION AT BM SUMA CAC.
The project consists in choosing different areas of urban development, located in the outskirts of Istanbul, to document them, then to make a selection of about 60-70 images. The final result will be displayed as a huge instalation consisting in a fragmented mosaic, using all the images assembled.
