Situationİst January 09

New Year brings more of the same, Situationİst happily reports
On January 1st of next year, citizens and residents of this city will groggily awake
to a collective hangover in the capital. Or, to be more accurate, “a” capital, since
on that date İstanbul becomes the ‘European Cultural Capital’ for 2010. The
city’s efforts towards securing this accolade date back to a 1999 EU decision that
non-member states could also hold the title. It should prove to be an interesting
time to be here. But then again, when isn’t it?
Yes indeed, much fanfare has been promised by the 2010 organizers, who
comprise members of central government, NGO’s and other assorted volunteers.
As ever though, neither the organizer’s euphoric optimism, nor the naysayer’s
smug cynicism in expecting a mediocre performance will be entirely borne out.
Vast architectural schemes that take years to plan and obtain permission for,
much less implement, will not all materialize. The Hippodrome, - by Sultanahmet
mosque - a 200 AD reproduction of Rome’s Circus Maximus will, thus, not likely
resonate again to the clatter of chariot racing and roar of 100,000 spectators
hoping for a pile-up. Nor however, will the resulting celebrations simply be a flag-
waving litany of CGI effects (now what Olympian feat does that remind me of?).
The truth in fact, is that any celebratory spectacle Istanbul chooses to cook up
over the next twelve months will inevitably
fade into an audiovisual footnote when
compared to the splendid show it quietly
puts on day in and day out for those of us
with the time to notice. The Archaeology
Museum in the grounds of the Topkapı
Palace complex is doubtless destined for
some technical wizardry at the time, to
bring its comprehensive collection of
artifacts to the public in a more novel way.
But go today, a must if you haven’t
already been, and you’ll find not just a
world-class perspective on antiquity, but
also a living exhibition of objects regularly
being unearthed during the construction of
İstanbul’s Marmaray transportation
project. The Bosphorus swell won’t boast
any more varied colors in any given day of 2010 than it does now. And frankly, no
amount of shock urban planning will make the city’s almost biological streetscape
any more orderly. This is a city, bear in mind, whose petrol-head inhabitants are
not above tooting their horns on a car-ferry, so a few bollards here and a traffic
island there will do little to instill a less choleric sense of perspective. Frustrating?
Well, yes, but just a part of the great overall deal you get when you come here.
Meanwhile, the average Istanbuller getting by on $500 per month twenty
anonymous kilometers from Taksim Square will be no more aware in 2010 of, say,
the intricacies of Ottoman ritual than they are now, despite ambitious plans for a
multi-neighborhood cultural blitz of theater and enlightenment. Yet today there’s
scarcely a person on the streets here who isn’t highly opinionated, be it about
local politics, or the duck’s-fart-in-a-tornado predicament of the global economy.
Doubtless too, security measures will be taken to ensure the anticipated climb in
tourist visits to the city isn’t met by a parallel rise in crime. Yet despite the
ridiculous population surge here over the past few decades based, remember, on
stark economic need, rather than cultural curiosity, who can deny that İstanbul
today is one of the safest metropolises in Europe, and therefore the world?
Meanwhile, never mind 2010 and all that, fun as it promises to be. It’s just turned
2009, and you find yourself here, be it working, living, or on a rush-decision short
holiday – whatever. So here’s a tip for you guaranteed to start the New Year with
a bang rather than a whimper. Basically, start as you mean to go on, with a fresh
experience. Try venturing on foot into a neighborhood or two you might have
otherwise left undiscovered, even if it’s a bit of a schlep. The downright exciting
and surprising Golden Horn, for one, makes for an alternative sliver of psycho-
geography to the familiar palaces, eateries and seascapes of the Bosphorus
shores. Other than that, laugh in the face of infuriating urban foibles like the
dodgy pavements that soak your shoes in winter, while passing traffic finishes
the job by splashing you for being a lowly pedestrian. Exploit the existential
possibilities of crossing the road successfully at all, and take pictures along the
way if you must. Oh, and keep patronizing the bars that illuminate İstanbul’s all-
night road to salvation. Next time you do, raise a glass to yourself, and then
another to the city. A proud battleaxe of a city with ornamented handle and razor-
sharp edge that needs no pretty pennant or official title to confirm its vertiginous
history of splendor, madness and awe. Oh, and talking of capitals, I’ll close with
four consecutive capital letters. A Happy New Year to you all!

Situationİst January 09

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New Year brings more of the same, Situationİst happily reports

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