Project, titled Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture and curated by Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş, has been announced as the project of the Pavilion of Turkey to be exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023.

Announced by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), Istanbul-based architecture studio SO? co-founders Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş's project has been selected following an open-call and a two-stage evaluation.

After a two-stage evaluation process, the Selection Committee has determined Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture that will be exhibited at the Pavilion of Turkey at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. 

The Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 will take place from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 26 November, 2023 at the Arsenale and Giardini venues. 

The 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale is curated by Lesley Lokko under the theme of The Laboratory of the Future. 

Arsenale area. Image © Andrea Avezzu, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

The Pavilion of Turkey will be realised under the coordination of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) with the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. 

Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture "aims to question the taken-for-granted images and approaches to buildings and to reveal hopeful proposals for the future," stated by Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş. 

Taking references from Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Carrier Bag Theory, the exhibition content, which also draws strength from the radical change that the world of architecture has undergone in the last two decades, will suggest listening to the stories of unused buildings rather than heroic structures standing on pedestals. 

In response to Lokkos' theme The Laboratory of the Future, a collective documentation of the contemporary archive of unused buildings, found in almost every city in Turkey, will be the main topic at the exhibition. In addition, a comprehensive research will suggest how we can transform them, instead of demolishing or leaving them to their fate.

The members of the Selection Committee, consisting of Aslı Çiçek, Prof. Dr. Ayşen Savaş, Neyran Turan, Han Tümertekin and Ertuğ Uçar "selected the project from among the proposals that made it to the second round of evaluations, each of which had different content and design qualities," said IKSV in a statement. 

"Bringing a unique perspective to architectural and urban debates, the selected project focuses on a current and important problem in Turkey as well as in the world, proposes a rich content and research method, and develops a field of interest ranging from building to urbanism with its cross-scale approach," the statement reads. 

Arsenale area. Image © Andrea Avezzu, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

IKSV will release details regarding the Pavilion of Turkey and the project Ghost Stories: Carrier Bag Theory of Architecture in 2023.

Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş established SO? in 2007 after studying Architecture at Istanbul Technical University, graduating in 2005. 

In 2013, they won the Young Architects Programme by MoMA/PS1, creating Sky Spotting Stop for Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, which was exhibited in MoMA and MAXXI. 

In 2015, they won the invited competition at the Royal Academy of Arts and their project Unexpected Hill was realised in London. Right after that, their installation Lost Barrier was mounted in Rome. 

Their project for the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, Fold and Float, traveled to MAXXI and Designmuseum Denmark. Both Lost Barrier and Fold and Float were acquired by MAXXI for its permanent collection.

In 2016, SO? installed an interactive sky garden in Istanbul's Ortaköy Square. Their recent work includes the transformation of a public cultural centre in Istanbul, a chicken coop, a cabin in the rural parts of Turkey, an interdisciplinary research project on post-disaster emergency housing and the transformation of a swimming pool and a hangar to activity halls. 

Sevince Bayrak is currently Assistant Professor at MEF University. Oral Göktaş has been running a graduate design studio, titled Alternative Architectural Practices in MEF University since 2019.

Top image: Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş, courtesy of IKSV.

> via IKSV 

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