Istanbul’s Panoramic Constructions and Destructions: Notes from On the Spot, by Mehmet Kentel

This lecture explores how Istanbul was imagined in the panoramic medium, from early modern prospects to purposefully-built rotundas in the modern times, based on the exhibition On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History recently opened at Pera Museum, Istanbul, co-curated by Çiğdem Kafescioğlu, K. Mehmet Kentel, and M. Baha Tanman. In the second part of the lecture I talk about a specific episode of this long history of panoramic imaginations: the panoramic photographs of the 1870 Fire of Pera and their forensic aesthetic, reflecting on our contribution to the exhibition catalogue with Ahmet A. Ersoy.

The lecture will be in English. Come to the National Museum of Antiquities (Leemans Room) to follow the lecture.