Musibet, Istanbul Design Biennial 2012

TLmag is proud to be one of the media partner of the first Istanbul Design Biennial. After having experienced three days at the Istanbul Design Biennial, let’s say that the city is definitively a place to be in order to discuss the major urban development of cities nowadays. As mentioned by Bülent Eczacıbaşı, chairman of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) in his opening speech: “We need cities that are better designed and  products that are better designed”.

Istanbul needs in fact to develop its design culture but in its own way, by enhancing its roots and values. Both central exhibitions Musibet and Adhocracy are not only about the real but also about the dream of what could come through in a city such as Istanbul where open source architecture is still quite abstract knowing the chaos which is still to be managed and the deep humane issues which are to be faced by the population part of this growing megalopolis. Editor-in-chief of Domus magazine Joseph Grima together with Istanbul architect Emre Arolat have been appointed to curate this first inaugural Istanbul Design Biennial, which is taking place from 13 October to 12 December 2012 both at Istanbul Modern Museum and at the Galata Greek Primary School  nearby. This movie you are going to watch is revealing the complexity of Istanbul not just at the level of its urban development but certainly more related to its humane scale challenges. How to deal with the socio-political situation, the third bridge, the delocalization of people, the real estate promotors… How to raise public awareness in Istanbul regarding public space, which is a shared and common ground for everyone? How to respond to this ever rapid growth to which Istanbul is confronted everyday? This theme of urban rapid growth in demography … is currently on many governmental agendas. Would it be possible to put it on Istanbul’s agenda for taking care of its future and of a rising necessity to think about communities and individuals with their immediate needs for a better living? There is hope and wishes, there is ‘Musibet’ and ‘Adhocracy’. How to manage change well when it’s so much chaos and uncertainty around us? The theme ‘Imperfection’ suggested by Deyan Sudjic, Director of Design Museum London, is fitting well to the real life situation of people living in Istanbul. There is a quest for moving on but there are so many constraints which are political, territorial, legal, … and cultural. Why not as suggests Joseph Grima in his curatorial approach of open source design and architecture, there is more than high tech solutions but a ‘cultural revolution’ which moves us forward in order to find new solutions for a sustainable change. The productive model of the designer is shifting towards the model of the man as a designer, co-producer of its own solutions and finding ways to escape to the bureaucraty… Enjoy the movie and visit Istanbul if you can before mid-December. You will love it!