Installation by Çağlar Köse

“The lost SiB2”

Capitain Petzel Gallery, Berlin

The Istanbul pogrom was a government instigated series of riots against the Greek minority of Istanbul in September 1955. Even if the number of deaths (estimated at thirty-seven) among members of the Greek community was relatively low, the result of the pogrom was the flight and emigration of the Greek minority of Istanbul, which once numbered some 100,000 and was subsequently reduced to a few thousand. The vast destruction of Greek property, businesses, and churches provides evidence of the Turkish authorities’ intent to terrorize the Greeks in Istanbul into abandoning the territory, thus eliminating the Greek minority.
In the weeks leading up to the Istanbul pogrom, Turkish authorities had engaged in systematic incitement of public opinion against the Greek minority, partly in connection with the ongoing dispute over Cyprus. A student movement calling itself Cyprus Is Turkish was particularly virulent in creating anti-Greek propaganda. On 28 August 1955 the largest daily newspaper, Hürriyet, threatened that ‘‘if the Greeks dare touch our brethren, then there are plenty of Greeks in Istanbul to retaliate upon.’’ At ten minutes past midnight on 6 September 1955, an explosion occurred in the courtyard of the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki, a building adjacent to the house where Kemal Atatürk was born. The press immediately blamed the Greeks and published photos of Atatürk’s house that purported to show extensive damage. At the 1960/1961 Yassıada trial against Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and Foreign Minister Fatin Zorlu, it became known that the explosion had been carried out by Turkish agents under orders from the Turkish government. Beginning around 5:00 p.m., Turkish mobs devastated the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish districts of Istanbul, killing an estimated thirty-seven Greeks and destroying and looting their places of worship, homes, and businesses. The pogrom was not spontaneous but centrally organized: many of the rioters were recruited in Istanbul and in the provinces by the Demokrat Parti authorities and taken into Istanbul by train, in trucks, and by some 4,000 taxis with instructions on what to destroy and what was to be spared. They were given axes, crowbars, acetylene torches, petrol, dynamite, and large numbers of rocks in carts. Predictably, the riots got out of control, with the mobs shouting ‘‘Evvela mal, sonra can’’ (‘‘First your property, then your life’’). The Turkish militia and police who coordinated the pogrom refrained from protecting the lives and property of the Greek victims. Their function was, rather, to prevent Turkish property from being destroyed as well.

Foreknowledge

Project Overview

“The lost SiB2” is an installation project which deals with the İstanbul Pogrom in 1955. The installation takes place at Captain Petzel and consists of three phases which include various pieces related to each other.
The visitors are welcomed by a black tunnel, which leads them to the second part of the installation. At the second part, videos, archive photography, a neon work and glass piece at the center of the hall are placed, where the visitor can experience the reflections of the pogrom. After the second part, visitors are expected to continue to the first floor which is accessible with the stairs, where two musical instruments (bouzuki and bağlama) are installed for visitors to discover the sounds.

Project Description

view from south-west

neon piece

transparent structure of
the tunnel

view from inside the tunnel

perspective from first floor

Illustration on the wall, second floor

glass rectangular prism

The Route and the Phases

At the entrance of the gallery, right at the door the visitor enters a tunnel which is made of black color gypsum board. The height of the tunnel starts with 3.20 m at the entrance and goes down to 1.8m until the end, while the width reduces to 90cm. The speakers placed at the top corners play the sound called fake news.

1) Fake

2) Inside the shop

Visitors leave the tunnel from the south-west corner of the gallery, where a neon illustration is placed. At the center of the hall, one can see the glass rectangular prism, which contains broken glass and a stone in it. Visitors walk around or on the piece. The prism is covered by awnings which go along until the stairs. At the north wall, the archives photos from 1955 are placed. On the black wall of the tunnel visitors can see edited photos called the memory of the space, which are digitally merging the photos from that day and from today of the same location.
On the screens next to the stairs, animated interpretations of the shops of 1955 are displayed.

Memories of space
visuals created by merging photos taken today and
on that day from the same spot and the angle.

Archive photos from the day

Animated interpretation of the shops in 1955

Animated interpretations of the streets from the day

Broken glasses and a stone placed in a rectangular glass prism at the center of the hall.

Neon lights installed on the wall

3) The lost SiB2

On the second floor, there are two instruments placed, which are plugged to speakers through an amplifier and a magnetic mic. The visitors will be invited to discover the sounds by touching the strings.
A illustration can be viewed on the permanent exhibition wall.

Bouzouki sound sample

Bağlama sound sample