Today’s Zaman
05 July 2009, Sunday
Ýstanbul’s first-ever `city museum’ to be built on Büyükada
Büyükada will soon host a first for Ýstanbul: a `city
museum.’ This museum will ultimately help to preserve objects, sounds
and images that are in danger of simply disappearing from modern life.
Though a city as large and disparate as Ýstanbul really deserves a
separate museum for each of its districts, one year from now, its
first real city museum will be open on Büyükada’s Taþ
Mektep. At an informational meeting on the museum held on a beautiful
Saturday afternoon, people gathered in a darkened room to learn what
they could about the new enterprise, as all the diverting activities
of the island went on around them, from horse-drawn carriage tours and
bicycle rides to drinking tea and eating ice cream.
Speeches addressing just what exactly a city museum is were
interspersed with calls for long-time residents of the island to pull
some of their beloved old memorabilia out of dusty chests to share
with the museum. There was a definite air of gratitude mixed with
pleading requests reigning in the salon that day; after all, island
residents need to believe and support this museum, both materially and
spiritually, if it is to be established by the year 2010. There was
great support expressed for the idea of the museum by ethnically
Greek, Armenian and Jewish residents of the island in attendance at
the meeting; they one by one took the opportunity to vocalize the
message: `We are behind you.’ This message in essence was great news
for the museum in that it meant `The doors of our homes are open to
you.’ Alongside this, island residents were really saying, `Take and
use our albums, our old documents, our letters, our maps, even the
dresses worn by our grandmothers.’ While the te!
rm `city museum’ sounds so simple, it really isn’t sufficient to
describe what is going on. The museum that is coming to the island of
Büyükada really promises much more than just the preservation of
objects and sounds and memories under a roof and between four walls;
what it promises, too, is a modern creation that will work not only to
give people a perspective on today, but will also help shape the
future.
Museum sparks action
It is very interesting to hear directly from someone who has seen and
closely examined many museums throughout the world just how a city
museum will actually affect and shape the city it is in. The director
of museums for the Ýstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture
Agency, Suay Aksoy, believes the `golden era of objects’ is
over. `There is an incredible level of production and consumption
happening now. What kind of cell phone, for example, could we put on
display in a museum? We are in the era of virtual representations,
such as films and photographs,’ she explains. According to this new
way of seeing things, what is deemed important is not what a museum
preserves and displays, but what a museum says and how it expresses
itself. These days, the size and depth of collections are barely
looked at, instead all the attention goes to how the objects are used
and whether meaningful expressions are derived from these
collections. On this note, Aksoy says, `Entering a city museum!
should be like watching a film or picking up and reading a book from
start to finish.’ This new generation of museums are like live
organisms, addressing us directly and waiting for us to respond. This
being the case, these are museums that not only expect us to lend our
material and spiritual support, but also demand that we take part in
their debate forums and come to their art performances and
exhibitions. Additionally, temporary shows are beginning to gain
prominence over long-term and permanent exhibitions. This reflects how
cities are now, so much more mixed and changeable than they were in
the past and with such a vast number of both objects and concepts
waiting to be displayed.
Waiting for the islands’ museum
The cost of the Adalar Müzesi will be TL 2,600,000. It will cover,
among other topics, the phenomenon of immigration and exile,
stretching from the Byzantine era all the way through to the Ottoman
Empire and the founding of the Turkish Republic. Sixty percent of this
project is being funded by the Ýstanbul 2010 European Capital of
Culture Agency. If everything goes according to plan, in around a year
from now, when you get off a ferry at Büyükada, you’ll see signs
telling you about the activities and events at the Adalar Müzesi,
which might just lead you to postpone that tea you were planning on
drinking by the shore.
05 July 2009, Sunday
ÜLKÜ ÖZEL AKAGÜNDÜZ