In cooperation with Garanti Gallery, Istanbul, from Sept. 6 – Nov. 9, 2008 Deutsches Architekturmuseum is presenting the “Becoming Istanbul” exhibition. The exhibition, which is being held in the context of the Frankfurt Book Fair and its Guest of Honor 2008, Turkey, is being curated by Pelin Dervis, Director of Garanti Galeri, together with architects and architectural historians Bülent Tanju and Ugur Tanyeli.
The show consists of an interactive database driven by a large stock of contributions made by countless photographers, artists, architects, authors, illustrators and researchers who have focused in their work on Istanbul and approached the metropolis from different angles. As a compliment to this database, Garanti Gallery has commissioned Superpool with the design of a series of maps on the urban development and conditions of Istanbul within the context of Turkey and the world.
With a population of over 14 million people and a density of 2,400 people / sqkm, Istanbul feels impossible to grasp therefore impossible to control or design. The aim of “Mapping Istanbul” is to initiate a series of visualizations for the city; how many hotels are there in Istanbul, where are they located? How about hospitals, soccer fields, taxi stands...? How are the education levels in different neighborhoods? The occupations, densities? How extensive is the bus network? Rail? Ferries? All are invisible layers, slowly appearing on a white screen...
2008
