Of course cultural consumption for “high culture”
in Istanbul, compared to statistics for industrialized
countries, is much lower. Visiting museums or attending
other contemporary cultural activities has not become
a habit for many residents of the city. Because of this,
public leaders have ignored investments on buildings for
contemporary culture and instead focused on restoration
works of existing cultural heritage sites as investments in
“culture”. This dynamic became clear after a number of
restoration works with little impact on contemporary life
started when Istanbul was selected as the 2010 European
Capital of Culture. Investments in spaces for culture such
as museums, theaters, concert halls and libraries as part of
public infrastructure were left to the private sector and to
the families in control of the country’s large conglomerates.
A similar dynamic can be seen in a cultural building
being developed in the Asian district of Üsküdar by a
philanthropic citizen living in the area who would finance
the development of the Ünalan Culture Center that was
initially designed by the Istanbul practice of Cem Ilhan
and Tulin Hadi, TeCe Architects in 2010. This project was
eventually not realized because it was rejected as being
‘too modern’, by the local conservative city council. This
EYLÜL - EKİM 2013 / SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013 • NATURA 43