Panorama | Public Art | Built April – September 2010 | Istanbul | Turkey
Public Art Project by Andreas Fogarasi and Alper Derinboğaz. Sponsored by the British Council.
Panaroma is a public art which criticizes the lack of public space and the confused function of the few open/green spaces in İstanbul.
The installation is planned to move inside Istanbul every 3 months as follows: Kadıköy, Beşiktaş, Levent, Eminönü. Therefore the structure needed to be built in manner to be easily transportable as it was going to visit important public spaces in Istanbul. In order for it to be portable and to give it an “architectural luna park” quality Panorama was designed to include smaller parts that could be assembled at will. The contrast between the mobile steel construction and architectural elements like the marble casings and marble steps emphasized the main idea of the work. The white circle that hangs there in an “illogical” way presents an attractive element that invites the viewer to the platform. To be left alone with this white circle creates a contradictory state in the backdrop of the beautiful panorama of the Moda coast.
Panorama may not be functional or easily legible but it presents a happy surprise for those who will come across it. The confusion about its functionality enables the visitors or the ones who will accidentally meet with it to establish a complex relationship with the work. Perhaps when the viewer spends enough time he/she becomes part of this installation and realizes that he/she participates in this attitude that approaches the lustful commodification of views in Istanbul in a critical manner.
