Istanbul's SALT Adds Second Space / Chiara Zampetti (Art in America)

SALT, the Istanbul-based nonprofit that launched in April 2011 with the mission to "explore critical and timely issues in visual and material culture," will open a second space in the city on Nov. 1. Located in the central commercial Galata neighborhood, the new space will have a library and hold the archives of art, architecture, design, urbanism, social and economic history maintained by SALT. It will also include almost 11,000 square feet for temporary exhibitions, an auditorium, and rooms for workshops and conferences, plus revenue-generating amenities.

PHOTO, COURTESY OF SALT

SALT Galata will open with three exhibitions: "Scramble for the Past: A Story of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire, 1750–1914," "Researcher and Artist: Tayfun Serttaş" and "Modern Essays 3, Modernity Unveiled / Interweaving Histories, Gülsün Karamustafa." The first is a historical exhibition with contemporary commissions. The 29-year-old Turkish atist and writer Serttaş's show comprises images of Istanbul from 1935–1985 by Maryam Şahinyan. The third project is an installation by Karamustafa, and reflects on the story of Margaret Schütte-Lihotzky, the Austrian architect who relocated to Turkey in 1938, in exlile from fascism.

The 19th-century building, owned by Garanti Bank, was designed by the French architect Alexandre Vallaury to house an Ottoman bank that was later incorporated into Garanti—which founded and funds SALT.

The building has facades in two architectural styles-the one facing west is, appropriately, Neoclassical, while the one facing east has Byzantine features. Refurbishment of the building, which has been subject to numerous architectural interventions since the 19th century, is being undertaken by Mimarlar Tasarım Danismanlik Ltd, the studio of the architect Han Tümertekin, who received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2010. The new design aims to eliminate those parts added after 1862, bringing back the original character of the building with its Neoclassical staircase, white columns, big wooden windows and red marble fireplaces.

The organization's first space, SALT Beyoğlu, opened in April on İstiklal Caddesi, one of the busiest streets in the commercial and cultural center of Istanbul. Its five-floor building includes 13,000 square feet of exhibition space, a walk-in cinema, a café and a shop.

Link: http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/news/2011-09-22/salt-istanbul-galata/

En sevdiğim; ARCHER

Lighter than Light.

Because Archer’s graceful forms shine at large sizes, we’ve outfitted the font with a delicate Extra Light, a diaphanous Thin, and an impossibly fine Hairline, all included in the Archer Complete package or available separately as Archer 2.



Can you ever be too thin?

All type is affected by its color and the medium in which it’s reproduced, but hairline type is especially susceptible to its environment. Of greatest consequence is a font’s size: a typeface that’s elegant in one size can become ungainly when enlarged, and can vanish completely if it’s reduced too far.

Since typography is rarely content to live at just one size, we’ve provided Archer’s lightest shades in three different weights: an Extra Light that works in small sizes, a Thin that’s useful for headlines, and a Hairline that’s ideal for anything larger. All three weights come in both roman and italic, and Pro editions of Archer additionally include small caps, tabular figures, fractions, and indices.

fifth time of thessaloniki

Akropol Hotel

Bienal Enflasyonunda Dikkat Çeken Bir Değer; Selanik Bienali / Fırat Arapoğlu

Birgün Pazar / 6 Kasım 2011

Yazma Cesareti*

"The Courage to Write"ın yazarı Ralph Keyes diyor ki; "Kamuya açık bir şekilde yazan herkes psikologların performans anksiyetesi dedikleri bir durumla karşı karşıya kalır. Yazmanın verdiği kaygıyı inkar etmek, onu susturmak veya ortadan kaldırmak mümkün değildir. Kaygı, yazma sürecinin yalnızca kaçınılmaz bir sonucu değil, ayrılmaz bir parçasıdır. Başka insanların gösterecekleri reaksiyon konusunda kaygılanmak bir yazarı felçe uğratabilir".

One to watch: Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey – also known as Lizzy Grant – was raised in Lake Placid, a town in New York state close to the Canadian border, which she describes enigmatically as "the coldest place on earth" and which sounds like somewhere David Lynch, who she cites as an influence, would set a TV series.

She is politely reticent about her childhood, mentioning two younger siblings and parents who are "fine" with her being a professional musician. A self-taught guitarist, Del Rey says that hip-hop was her first musical love, specifically Biggie Smalls and Eminem. Later, when she moved to New York to study metaphysics at college – she specialised in "working out whether we could mathematically prove God's existence" – she discovered Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. After striking up a friendship with the Spanish Harlem-based rapper Princess Superstar and moving to a trailer in New Jersey, Del Rey developed a love of Nirvana, an enthusiasm she still has today.

Who was Maryam Şahinyan?

WHO WAS MARYAM ŞAHİNYAN?

Maryam Şahinyan (1911, Sivas - 1996, İstanbul)

Maryam Şahinyan was born in 1911 at Şahinyan Konağı (Camlı Köşk), one of the most impressive civil structures in Sivas. Her grandfather, Agop Şahinyan Paşa, represented Sivas in the first Ottoman Parliament (Meclis-i Mebusan), established in 1877. Born with the social privilege inherent to a grandchild of a member of parliament, Şahinyan’s life took an unexpected turn when, as a child, she witnessed the historical events of 1915. Her family left behind the considerable real estate it owned in the region, including nearly 30 villages, five flour mills and Şahinyan Konağı, which was located in Sivas’ city center. Relocating to İstanbul via Samsun, the Şahinyans adjusted to the circumstances brought about by the Republican era, resettling in a modest apartment in Harbiye.

In 1933, Maryam’s father, Mihran Şahinyan, became a partner at the Foto Galatasaray studio in Beyoğlu - at the time managed by two Yugoslavian brothers. Typical to bourgeois children of the Imperial era, photography had been a hobby for Mihran growing up. Now, his childhood pastime would determine his family’s future, as Mihran worked at the studio to support them. At the time of Maryam’s mother, Dikranuhi Şahinyan’s, sudden death in 1936, the family’s limited finances were strained. While her brothers continued to pursue their educations, after completing primary studies at Esayan Armenian School, Maryam dropped out of Lycée Français Privé Sainte-Pulchérie during middle school to help her father at the studio. Learning the intricacies of studio photography over a couple of years, the young woman, in contrast to her siblings, developed a passion for her father’s work. By 1937, she decided to shoulder the financial burden of the family and manage the studio independently. As a woman studio photographer, Maryam was preferred by many female clients. The decision to take over the business thus proved advantageous for the studio under the conservative climate of the time. Maryam Şahinyan never married nor had children, and worked uninterruptedly in her studio, which ultimately moved across three Galatasaray locations, over her half-century-long career.

Armed with the wooden bellows camera she took over from a family that immigrated from the Balkans in the aftermath of the First World War and the black-and-white sheet film she continued to use until 1985, Şahinyan, in a sense, arrested time – both against the technological advancements photography was experiencing and contemporary trends. In the end, she created an unparalleled visual coherence without compromising her technical and aesthetic principles. Throughout her professional life, Şahinyan wore a white coat and black over-sleeves to protect her clothing. She had a good command of French and Italian, in addition to Turkish and Armenian, and she used all these languages in her work. Friends with nuns, Italian sirs, and clergymen who came to İstanbul to work in different institutions, as well as the kuyrs of the Armenian Kalfayan Orphanage and Anarat Hığutyun, she provided her services pro bono to these circles throughout her life. Under Şahinyan’s leadership, Foto Galatasaray witnessed various political periods, from the 1942 imposition of Turkey’s Capital tax to the war against Cyprus in 1974, as well as the demographic and socio-cultural transformations İstanbul underwent over the course of five decades. When she retired from the studio in 1985, Şahinyan left behind a unique visual archive made up of approximately 200,000 images. She passed away at her home on Hanımefendi Sokak in Şişli in 1996 and is buried in Şişli Armenian Cemetery.

























MARYAM ŞAHİNYAN KİMDİR?

Maryam Şahinyan (1911, Sivas - 1996, İstanbul)

Maryam Şahinyan, 1911 yılında Sivas’ın en görkemli sivil yapılarından Şahinyan Konağı’nda (Camlı Köşk) doğdu. Dedesi Agop Şahinyan Paşa, 1877’de kurulan ilk Osmanlı Parlamentosu Meclis-i Mebusan’da Sivas kentini temsil ediyordu. Milletvekili torunu olmanın sınıfsal ayrıcalıklarıyla dünyaya gelen Şahinyan’ın yaşamı, henüz küçük bir çocukken tanıklık ettiği 1915’in akabinde aniden değişti. Sivas’ın en köklü ve güçlü ailelerinden Şahinyanlar, bölgede sahip oldukları 30’a yakın köy, beş büyük un fabrikası, sayısız gayrimenkul ve kent merkezindeki Şahinyan Konağı’nı geride bırakarak Samsun üzerinden İstanbul’a sığındılar. Harbiye’de mütevazı bir apartman dairesine taşınan Şahinyanlar için, Cumhuriyet döneminin getirdiği yeni koşullar altında bambaşka bir süreç başladı.

Gençlik yıllarında amatör olarak fotoğrafla ilgilenen baba Mihran Şahinyan, ailenin geçimini sağlayabilmek için 1933 senesinde, Beyoğlu’nda Yugoslav iki kardeş tarafından işletilen Foto Galatasaray’a ortak oldu. Mihran Şahinyan’ın, imparatorluk yıllarında dönemin burjuva gençlerine özgü bir hobi olarak heves ettiği fotoğraf, bu büyük şehirde onun ve ailesinin geleceğini tayin edecekti. İlkokulu Esayan Ermeni Okulu’nda tamamlayan Maryam Şahinyan, orta öğrenimine devam ettiği Sainte Pulchérie Fransız Lisesi’nden maddi imkânsızlıklar nedeniyle ayrılarak babasına işlerinde yardım etmeye başladı. 1936’da annesi Dikranuhi Hanım’ın ani ölümünün ardından aile içerisinde yapılan iş bölümüne göre, eğitim için ayrılan kısıtlı imkânlar erkek çocuklar için kullanılacak, kız çocuklar ise babalarına ya da ev işlerine yardımcı olacaklardı. Kardeşlerinden farklı olarak erken yaşta babasından stüdyo fotoğrafçılığının tüm inceliklerini öğrenen Maryam Şahinyan, 1937 itibariyle tüm ailenin ekonomik yükünü omuzlayarak stüdyoyu tek başına işletmeye karar verdi. Bu durum, dönemin muhafazakar koşulları altında İstanbullu birçok kadın açısından tercih nedeni sayılarak stüdyoya çeşitli avantajlar sağlayacaktı. Yaşamı boyunca hiç evlenmeyen ve çocuk sahibi olmayan Maryam Şahinyan, yarım asırlık meslek hayatında, Galatasaray’da üç ayrı mekânda işlettiği stüdyosunda kesintisiz olarak üretmeye devam etti.

Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrasında Balkanlardan göç eden bir aileden devraldığı körüklü ahşap fotoğraf makinesi ve 1985’e dek kullanmaya devam ettiği siyah-beyaz tabaka filmlerle Maryam Şahinyan, fotoğrafın geçirdiği tüm teknolojik dönüşümlere karşın teknik ve estetik prensiplerinde en küçük bir değişiklikliğe gitmedi. Meslek yaşamının ilk gününden son gününe dek beyaz iş önlüğü giymeye ve gömlek kollarını koruyan siyah kolcaklar kullanmaya devam etti. Türkçe ve Ermenicenin dışında iyi derecede Fransızca ve İtalyanca bilir, iş hayatında bu dillerin tümünü kullanırdı. Farklı kurumlarda görev yapmak üzere İstanbul’a yerleşen birçok rahibe, İtalyan sör, rahip, Ermeni Kalfayan Yetimhanesi ve Anarat Hığutyun kuyru ile yakın arkadaştı ve yaşamı boyunca bu çevrelere bila ücret hizmet verdi. Stüdyosunun aktif biçimde faaliyet gösterdiği süreçte, 1942 Varlık Vergisi’nden 1974 Kıbrıs Savaşı’na farklı siyasal dönemlere ve İstanbul’un 50 yıllık zaman diliminde geçirdiği demografik ve sosyo-kültürel dönüşümlere tanık etti. 1985 yılında yaşlılık nedeniyle stüdyosunu devrettiğinde, geride 200 bine yakın görüntüyü kapsayan İstanbul’un en emsalsiz görsel arşivlerinden birini bırakmıştı. 1996 yılında Şişli Hanımefendi Sokak’taki evinde hayata gözlerini yumdu. Mezarı, Şişli Ermeni Mezarlığı’ndadır.