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Exhibition: Getting Lost in Cities
9 January 2020, Thursday ~ 04 February 2020, Tuesday
Galeri Ark

Through his series of ‘Getting Lost in Cities’, Timurtaş Onan re-
interprets the ‘flâneur’ typology who is the traveler of modern
life created by Charles Baudelaire in the 19th century; he tracks
him in the 21st century. Flâneur chooses to be homeless with the
aim of finding himself within life. He is after the unknown, on
an unending journey. Timurtaş Onan’s photographs in this exhi-
bition show us this state of being on the road through the eyes
of a traveler and on the streets of Paris, Prague, Luxembourg,
Zagreb, Belgrade, and Dubrovnik.
inside a deserted amusement park. We can see Onan’s original
Though the cities and places change, the state of being on the interest in catching the souls of deserted places in this series as
move does not. well. He leaves the audience with the task of solving the mysteries
of atmospheres that are disconnected from any time and place.
The concept of Flâneur takes his power from being in the move The element of human, in single and plural forms, displays itself
most of the time. In the series of ‘Getting Lost in Cities’, the art- both in the city and in the nature with true forms and in the de-
ist gets away from İstanbul this time, and reflects his impressions tails of light and shadow.
of European cities, as well their feelings, as a cinematic experi-
ence. Photographs of Timurtaş Onan, who began his career in The woman in the photograph of the graffiti behind the fluttering
photography due to the influence of cinema, move in a classical birds or looking through the window of a photographed building
flow, like the sections of a black & white movie. continues to remind us the element of human.

In his photos, we look down through the window and watch the Black and white photographs give us a more objective read by
passersby, and see streets, musicians, children playing in parks, highlighting the graphical elements. The man holding a frame in
and cities. We can hear the rhythm of the city through the sounds the street and his shadow, or a couple climbing the stairs disrupt
of children playing ball in a Paris square, or heels of the women the pattern in black & white stripes. The existence of human is
passing over a bridge. always there with its mobility, stability, disharmony and quest.
With ‘Getting Lost in Cities’, Timurtaş Onan makes us question
As a person living in the crowds with his desire, existence and whether we have an opportunity to experience the world through
thoughts, what does Flâneur remember when he is alone in the the eyes of a Flâneur today.
nature?
How can we still be after the unknown, where can we get lost in
When he leaves the city and gets back to the nature that he left, the post-digital era when we keep up with the life and our envi-
the crowd goes away, and the city sounds go mute. His sense ronment through screens?
of being lost in the city continues in the nature. Being lost also
brings alone remembering oneself. A man standing alone in the “Getting Lost in Cities” is looking into the future of going after
forest is like a stranger in the middle of the unknown. The only the unknown and journey of finding oneself.
horse of a merry-go-round in Zagreb was left in an empty area

Theatre: Piraye
26 January 2020
Public Education Center of Kadıköy
Theatre: Güneyli Bayan (A Southern Belle)
26 January 2020
“Piraye” continues to meet with the audience as the biggest source of inspiration for and immortal
love of Nazım Hikmet. Nazım Hikmet, the biggest poet of Turkish language, wrote hundreds of letters Kenter Tiyatrosu
to his wife, Piraye, during his 17 intermittent years in prison, from 1933 to 1950. Through those
letters, he shared his love, his fight and his longing in its purest form with Piraye. For years, Piraye A woman who caused a stir with her memoirs, her fight with art
kept those letters in a wooden case which was hand-made by Nazım in the Prison of Çankırı. The and politics which is restricted by the pressure created by the
embodiment of his love, fight and longing as a single form in his heart was what made him hold on to McCarthy gang in 1950s, and the reflection of this fight onto
life during his difficult years of captivity. Get ready to open the doors of your heart and meet with the her inner world… In this play, we observe the fight of Lillian
universal and immortal side of love, poetry, and music through this journey made into his inner world Hellman, who impressed people with her powerful stand in her
of poems and letters written with the full force of Nazım’s heart. time, through another perspective. The play tells the story of how
those who consider themselves to be among the “enlightened”,
Murat Çidamlı can suddenly turn into the men of the system; and the fight of a
Murat Çidamlı, Turkish actor of movies and TV series, completed his BA degree in theatre at Hacettepe University, State Conserva- woman with the society without abandoning her own reality. As a
tory, Department of Theatre. Following his conservatory education, he worked as an actor at Diyarbakır, Trabzon, Ankara and İzmir woman who did not choose to obey the system and had the cour-
State Theatres. He played and directed many play in both state and private theatres. He studied anthropology and theatre anthro- age for free-speech, Hellman presents us with all the backrooms
pology at several universities for master’s degree. He lectured at various long-established institutions and trained a lot of students. created by the regime of her time.”