Where: Maxxi Museum
When: 2015-2016
“Mobile Bureau” is a fictional consultancy office that gets its inspiration from the mobile vehicles of venders culture. Venders as being one of the most significant part of Istanbul’s urban life are seen where there is dense movement of people, in the most important places of the city. Being inspired from this dynamic of mobile vehicle, the office is gathered to create an awareness on the user-focused transformation in Istanbul, at a time where everyday a there is another urban regeneration area and a time where the city as a whole is becoming a construction site.
Even though the urban regeneration, as administrative, aims for Istanbul’s earthquakes to strengthen and the risky buildings to be renewed; the income relationships and maximum profit-focused urban regeneration applications win over the city to lose its identity, and gives ground for the commons of the city to be suspended from the city centre.
Mobile office is a tool of creating awareness in the frame of reference from architecture against the transformation-focused income relationships and maximum profit-making unqualified urban regeneration applications.
Mobile Office, places itself to urban squares in the urban transformation areas, in risked areas and in privatised places like community associations where urban intervention goes on; and communicates to urban commons who get affected by the urban regeneration. Mobile office interviews with landlords and tenants, gives consultancy service. It archives and collects the materials of sales and marketing materials which are based on the regional construction plans prepared by the local administration and macro and micro scaled projects ordered to be prepared by construction companies.
The documents are reinterpreted in terms of legality and technicality. After a process of multi-disciplinary investigation, related brochures and videos are prepared. The executed research and archive work are shared with the urban commons through mobile office activists. The network of information that have been produced becomes a dynamic collective memory, that updates itself constantly with the information that is gathered through the feedbacks from urban commons and the new information that was collected from different disciplines.
* Mobile Bureau, taking place in Rome MAXXI Museum, in between 11 December 2015 – 15 May 2016, is curated by Hou Hanru, Ceren Erdem, Elena Motisi ve Donatella Saroli and had been designed and exhibited as a part of “Istanbul: Passion, Joy, Fury” exhibition. You can check out the materials we produced for the exhibition along with what we actualised in the past: the documents that involve the two projects, “Neighborhood” and “Underground”.
Project Lead: Begüm Sarışın, Bilge Kobaş, Canan Erten, Cenk Dereli, Dilara Kara, Elif Çak, Elif Tan, Emre Gündoğdu, Hayrettin Günç, Mert Cığızoğlu, Merve Güzel, Merve Gül Özokcu, Mihriban Duman, Serkan Kurt, Tarık Keskin, Yelta Köm
