The Pavilion of Turkey at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (28 May-27 November 2016) will feature the project Darzanà. Curated by Feride Çiçekoğlu, Mehmet Kütükçüoğlu and Ertuğ Uçar, with curatorial collaborators Cemal
Emden and Namık Erkal, the exhibition team of Darzanà consists of Hüner Aldemir, Caner Bilgin, Hande Ciğerli, Gökçen Erkılıç, Nazlı Tümerdem and Yiğit Yalgın. The Pavilion of Turkey, coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and co-sponsored by Schüco Turkey and VitrA, is located at the Sale d’Armi, Arsenale.
Central to the concept behind Darzanà is the common cultural heritage shared between Istanbul and Venice arsenals, reflecting the trails found in language and architecture on future projections. The title of the project Darzanà shares the same origin with the Turkish word tersane and the Italian word arsenale. For the Biennale Architettura 2016, a last vessel, a baştarda will be constructed out of waste materials in Istanbul and transported to Venice to complete the connection between the cities.
Darzanà: Two Arsenals, One Vessel
This project builds a bridge between the dockyards of Venice and Istanbul, borrowing its title from a hybrid word which has its roots in the Mediterranean. The title of the project makes a reference to Lingua Franca, as the term Darzanà corresponds to the Turkish word tersane and the Italian word arsenale in this hybrid language and in fact all three words share the same origin. A Lingua Franca was used in the Mediterranean basin from the 11th to the 19th century between people who needed to communicate with each other, such as sailors, travellers, merchants, and warriors. In the same vein, it is possible to talk of a common architectural language and to define it as Architectura Franca.
Venice and Istanbul, despite their different identities and different dimensions today, both featured considerable dockyards that once reflected one another in size and production. The common core of these dockyards were the shipdecks called “volti” in Italian and “göz” in Turkish – the sites where ships were built and then launched, which were positioned perpendicular to the sea and constructed in proportion to the ships. For the project Darzanà, a last vessel, a baştarda will be built at an abandoned volti at the Haliç dockyards in Istanbul, using the waste materials on site. It will then be taken to Sale d’Armi, the volti that hosts the Pavilion of Turkey, and reinstalled there.
Derived from the Latin bastardo, a baştarda is a type of vessel that is a cross between a galley and a galleon, propelled by sails and oars. A symbol of the hybridity specific to the Mediterranean as a concept, it will be the vessel of the project. The baştarda will be a bridge between two shipyards, one which has been left to rot away in the megacity of Istanbul and the other springing to life only at certain times of the year in a museum-city. It will exhibit that which you cannot demarcate water or put a wire fence between words, all the while looking for the clues to transform fronts and borders into thresholds and spaces of consensus. Architectural practice is a field prone to confrontation, conflict, to drawing borders and withdraw, to quitting the profession and taking up other things. The question of whether or not it is possible to transform spaces of conflict into those of consensus by continuing the practice of architecture will be the main theme of the project Darzanà.
Darzanà Book and the Tote Bag
A book will be published to accompany the project Darzanà, which will make use of different archive materials to narrate the history of the dockyards in Haliç from their first establishment through their golden ages to our times when they eventually became unusable. Edited by Feride Çiçekoğlu and featuring texts by Namık Erkal and Vera Costantini and photographs by Cemal Emden, the book will be available in two editions, English and Turkish, at the opening of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and will later be distributed by Yapı Kredi Publications in selected bookstores. The book and the exhibition’s visual identity are designed by Bülent Erkmen. Also, a special tote bag for Darzanà made of used sail cloth is designed by Hüner Aldemir.
Pavilion of Turkey Selection Committee
The selection committee’s members who chose the Darzanà project among the applications made in response to a two stages open-call, are Prof. Dr. Sibel Bozdoğan, Head of the Architecture Department at Kadir Has University’s Faculty of Art and Design, and Faculty Member at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design
(GSD); Levent Çalıkoğlu, Director of Istanbul Modern, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Prof. Dr. Arzu Erdem,
Dean of Faculty of Architecture at Abdullah Gül University; Prof. Dr. Murat Güvenç, Director of the Istanbul
Studies Centre at Kadir Has University and Faculty Member at Kadir Has University’s Faculty of Economic
Administrative and Social Sciences, Political Science and Public Administration; Yeşim Hatırlı, Founding Partner of Hatırlı Architecture Co. Ltd., Member of the Turkish Association of Architecture in Private Practice, and Visiting Lecturer at the Middle East Technical University’s Department of Architecture; Prof. Dr. Süha Özkan, Founding President of the International Union of Architects; and Prof. Dr. Uğur Tanyeli, Dean of Bilgi University’s Faculty of Architecture.
Supporters of the Pavilion of Turkey
The Pavilion of Turkey Exhibition is coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), cosponsored by Schüco Turkey and VitrA, and realised with the production support of Competenza, the lighting support of Linealight Group by Tepta, the contribution of AKDO, and with the contribution of the Republic of Turkey’s Promotion Fund of the Prime Ministry, Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Culture and Tourism, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Pavilion of Turkey is located at the Sale d’Armi at the Arsenale, for a 20 years residency from 2014 to 2034, thanks to the contributions of 21 supporters who have made this possible.
BIOGRAPHIES
Feride ÇİÇEKOĞLU
After receiving her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Middle East Technical University’s (METU) Faculty of Architecture, Feride Çiçekoğlu earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. Following her doctoral thesis criticising Philadelphia’s urban renewal, her academic career, which she began in Turkey in the field of architecture, was interrupted by the military coup of September 12, 1980. Her first book Uçurtmayı Vurmasınlar (Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite), which was based on the memories of her four years in prison, also formed the basis for her first script. The film’s success steered Çiçekoğlu towards cinema, and in addition to screenwriting, she also became a professor, building an academic career in the field. Maintaining her connection to architecture, Çiçekoğlu focused on the relationship between cinema and the city. She is still a faculty member at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Department of Film and Television.
Mehmet V. KÜTÜKÇÜOĞLU
He graduated from the METU’s Faculty of Architecture in 1989, and completed his graduate work, which he began in Switzerland that same year, at the SCI-ARC School of Architecture in Los Angeles in 1992. Alongside his professional output, Kütükçüoğlu has also lectured at SCI-ARC, METU, Yıldız Technical University, and Istanbul Technical University as part of his academic career. He was also a studio coordinator at the Istanbul Bilgi University’s Master’s Programme in Architecture. His articles on the city, its relationship with architecture, and the architecture profession have been published in various media. He continues his professional work as a partner at TEGET, with projects such as the Istanbul Naval Museum, the Izmir Opera House, and the Yapı Kredi Cultural Centre in Galatasaray.
Ertuğ UÇAR
After completing Antalya High School, he graduated from the METU’s Faculty of Architecture in 1993. He completed his master’s degree in 1999 in the same department and received awards at both national and international competitions. He writes for trade publications as well as popular periodicals, and has also published four books of short stories. During the spring semesters of 2006-2007, he was a coordinator at Yıldız Technical University and Istanbul Technical University Architectural Design studios. He has curated exhibitions, including the second exhibition of VitrA Contemporary Architecture Series, Lütfen Rahatsız Etmeyin (Please Do Not Disturb) and designed Istatistiklal exhibitions at ZKM Karlsruhe and Siemens Art. He is currently continuing his professional career as a partner at TEGET, with projects such as the Istanbul Naval Museum, the Izmir Opera House, and the Yapı Kredi Cultural Centre in Galatasaray.
Cemal EMDEN
Cemal Emden completed his degree and master’s in architecture at the Yıldız Technical University and graduated with the title M.Arch. in 1992. Combining his interest in photography with his major during the university years and specializing in “architectural photography”, Emden participated in many distinguished projects involving magazines, books, exhibitions among others, both home and abroad. He currently continues his photography and architectural practices in the Stüdyo Mimarlık.
Namık ERKAL
Namık Erkal is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at the Middle East Technical University. His academic research and publications focus on early city morphology, architecture of the urban border, bazaar, customs, and harbour buildings in the Ottoman period, and especially on the Istanbul city history. He has projects to his credit on new buildings in historical environment and on museums.
Hüner ALDEMİR
After graduating from the Koç Private High School in Istanbul, she attended the Pratt Institute in New York and obtained her degree in fashion design in 2012. She joined the American fashion designer Peter Som’s design office as a member of his professional team. She worked in the fields of design and project management in various fashion shows and events in New York. Since 2014, she has been in Istanbul, working as a brand manager and head of projects in the leading companies of the e-trade sector, including Shopigo and Lidyana.
Caner BİLGİN
He graduated from the Istanbul High School and then got his degree at the Istanbul Kültür University in 2009. He attended the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven in 2008-2009 on an exchange programme. He completed his master’s degree at the Istanbul Bilgi University in 2011. He has worked with Mehmet Kütükçüoğlu and Ertuğ Uçar in Teğet Architecture between 2011 and 2014, while also working as a part-time instructor at the Istanbul Bilgi University from 2012 onwards.
Emine Hande CİĞERLİ
She obtained her degree in architecture at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2009 and completed her master’s degree in architectural design at the Bilgi University in 2011. During this period she has participated in various concours and workshops. She has been working in Teğet Architecture since 2012, while also joining Mehmet Kütükçüoğlu at his workshops at the Bilgi University as a project assistant.
Gökçen ERKILIÇ
She graduated from the Middle East Technical University Department of Architecture and participated in exchange programmes, collaborative studios, and workshops in collaboration with the Politecnico Milan, Westminster University, and Columbia University. Her professional interest has shifted to interdisciplinary architecture and urban studies with the project, Milan industrial area transformation: IncubationEx-FalckArea. In the Istanbul Bilgi University’s master programme, she worked on research projects of different scales, ranging from the Istanbul city centre to the periphery, including the Haliç Dockyards, Arnavutköy Agricultural Route, Süleymaniye Neighbourhood Urban Transformation. She continues with her PhD in the Istanbul Technical University, while working in Teğet Architecture.
Nazlı TÜMERDEM
She graduated from Üsküdar American Academy and then obtained her degree from Istanbul Technical University in 2008. She went to the Politecnico di Milano on an exchange programme in 2005-2006. In 2011, she completed her master’s degree at the Istanbul Bilgi University, where she also worked as a research assistant. She has worked in architecture offices in Istanbul, Ljublana, and Zagreb. She has been doing her PhD on the possibilities of reconciliation between geography and transportation infrastructure, at the Istanbul Technical University Architectural Design Programme. She has been working in the Teğet Architecture since 2013.
Yiğit YALGIN
He studied at the Tevfik Fikret High School in Ankara, after which he entered the Istanbul Technical University Department of Architecture. He continued his studies at the Ecole Nationale D’Architecture de Grenoble on an exchange programme in 2008 and obtained his degree in architecture in 2011. He started working in Teğet Architecture in 2011. Since 2013, he has been doing his thesis on public spaces and borders at the Istanbul Technical University in Architectural Design Master Programme.