city+CONJURING: Istanbul’s best magic comes to life when we imagine vanished (and vanquished!) architecture, glimpse intrigue (and inspiration) down every alley, and surrender to a storyteller’s shadowy arts.
Guest curators: This month’s links in art, architecture, design and urban planning by Gökhan Karakuş, a Turk raised in New York. Art, cuisine and music links by Rose Deniz, an American settled in Turkey. The Jan Morris feature is thanks to an American creative entrepreneur in Turkey, Tara Lutman Ağaçayak.
This expat+HAREM series covered by Hürriyet Daily News
GHOST BUILDINGS
urban+ENVIRONMENT
+History and Destruction in Istanbul
Twelve destroyed Istanbul buildings — from the Byzantine, Ottoman and modern periods — will be reimagined through 3D computer models and installations on the spot where they once stood. Aim is to remind us all of their existence, and create a common consciousness about the city’s other incarnations. We vote you sponsor their work on the Church of Polyeuktos, Byzantium’s most tantalizing untold architectural story. (expat+HAREM’s got a soap opera story of imperial proportion in development about the Byzantine princess Anicia Juliana who built the church! See the National Geographic Walking tour we designed to take you to Juliana’s church.)
ATMOSPHERIC NOVEL
suspicion+INTRIGUE
+Jessica Lutz on Turkey
Novelist and longtime Istanbul resident reviews Jenny White’s new Late Ottoman period novel in the Kamil Pasha series, “White Thief”.
PULLING STRINGS
shadow+PLAY
+Puppets of the World in Istanbul
There’s a world puppet day and it’s March 21st. To celebrate, Istanbul hosted a minifestival. View images and videos of performances by international puppet masters, including shows with the traditional Turkish shadow puppetry Karagöz — designated world heritage theatre by UNESCO.
MOVING IMAGES
time+LAPSE
+Veysel Gençten
A film aficionado conjures a dreamscape of Istanbul’s seasons set to the music of Mercan Dede.
URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY
street+ART
+Jennifer Hattam
This American photographer and journalist’s visual narratives explore the street art of Istanbul. Take a photo walk through poetic avenues.
eerie+LANDSCAPES
+Lucie Debelkova
Luminous portraits of the city in candy colors by a Czech-born world traveler.
MASTER CHEF
heart+HEARTH
+Dining with al-Qaeda
Former foreign correspondent (and author of the newly released al-Qaeda title) Hugh Pope waxes lyrical about charcoal-roasted meat in “Ode to the ocakbaşı”. “I knew I was ready to fall in love when offered an opening teaser of tender sweet onions bathed in pomegranate essence and delightful newly-dried thyme.”
CITY OF SECRETS
solid+HISTORY
+Sydney Morning Herald Traveller
Even if “Turkishness” is the ultimate patina of Istanbul, writes legendary travel journalist Jan Morris, “you can imagine in these streets the imperial legionaries of Constantine himself, the janissaries of Islam, looting Christians from Venice on their way to the Crusades, merchants from all the nations setting up their stalls in its famous markets.” Fans of Istanbul (editors of city guides, authors, tour guides, and local luminaries) offer their favorite high and low attractions.
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OTHER ISTANBUL LINKS from expat+HAREM
city+CONNECTIONS // city+SCAPES //city+TREASURES // city+STREETS // city+INTELLIGENCE
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