Künstlerin: Aydan Murtezaoğlu (Istanbul)
Abgebildetes Werk: „HIP ACTIVITIES – displacement / balcon series : SAVAŞA HAYIR ( NO WAR )“ (2003–2006)
Text von Erden Kosova (Istanbul) [DE] [EN] [TR] [HR] [SI] [HU] [CZ]
The Turkish society is experiencing dramatic changes at the present. The foundational vision of the Republic Project is thoroughly shaking. The investment into the ideal citizen (imagined as a subject bound to Western, urban and secular values, and dedicated whole-heartedly to the future of the nation) has shaped a serious portion of the population over the years. Taking over superior posts in the bureaucracy and initiatives in the economic field, filling positions in higher education and possessing full visibility in the public space, this privileged citizen type has retained its hegemonic position until recently. Yet, as a result of tectonic shifts in the sociological structure of the country, social segments that had been degraded for decades as the uncivilised, narrow-minded, conservative, uneducated, provincial and rural, and dismissed paradoxically as ‘the people’ have recently started to claim the social power and got some. In this political atmosphere, conflicts that dissect the social life into pieces (secular vs Muslim; poor vs rich; Alevite vs Sunni; west of the country and the east of it) have become more visible and discernable.
The image used on this poster is taken from Aydan Murtezaoğlu’s photographic series Hip Activities. By employing simple computer graphics intervention (Photoshop), which is typical for her previous work, Murtezaoğlu has fused two images: a photograph taken from her family album and a picture from an anti-war demonstration. A careful look recognizes the time difference between the two components. Haircut and clothing are not the only difference. The poses on the balcony conform to the ideal of harmonious and untroubled domesticity, despite differences in formation and life style. Moreover, they do not conflict with the ideal of the homogenous and classless society promoted by the official ideology. Indeed, it is still an early period for severe political schisms and obscene gaps between income levels. The other image displays a demonstration of active, excited and angry people from varying political creeds. Actually, the two time components are not fully antithetical. On one hand, we have a family image on the balcony, an architectonic device that produced transparency and interaction between the public and the private throughout the 60’s and 70’s. It belongs to a time period which had preceded the disciplinary policies and neo-liberal economic regulations implanted by the military coup of 1980 and the consequent retreat from the public space and the street. The second image in the composition, on the other hand, displays the masses that react against this imposed atomisation. They are the ones who get out of their new claustrophobic flats with shrunk windows and disappearing balconies to reclaim the streets.