Güler and Tanpınar in the same dream

ISTANBUL

The Ara Güler Museum in Istanbul opens its doors after the long COVID-19 outbreak with an exploration of mid-20th-century Istanbul through the pen of the novelist Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and the eye of the legendary photographer Ara Güler.

In the new exhibition, titled “In the Same Dream,” the texts of Tanpınar, the intellectual memory of history, and the photographs of Güler, the visual record master of history, meet.

The book with the same name, prepared together with Dergah Publishing House, also meets with art lovers simultaneously with the exhibition. Art enthusiasts will witness an Istanbul story showcasing reality and fiction in the new exhibition and the book.

The Istanbul dream of Tanpınar and Güler, two nostalgic lovers who devoted themselves to aestheticize lost beauties, will continue in the future in the memory of those who read and watch them, according to a press statement made by the museum. 

A biography wall, an animation of Güler’s darkroom with original objects, and examples of contact prints can also be seen in the museum.

In another gallery of the museum, another exhibition titled “Istanbul in My Dreams is Either a Ferry or a Bird,” which is consisting of the drawings made by Güler during the preparation of the book “Lost Colors” published in 1995, can be visited.

In this exhibition, a selection of colorful Istanbul photographs in the book, along with notes and correspondence, are presented to the art lovers.

Ali Sina Özüstün, who prepared the book for publication, explains that Güler came together with Tanpınar to take his photograph and that later they met again on the occasion of this book.

Özüstün, who stated that looking at a photograph of Güler is equivalent to reading a Tanpınar text, died in 2018 shortly after submitting the book for publication. The two exhibitions will remain open for art enthusiasts until Feb. 28, 2021.