The Making of Modern Ankara: Space, Politics, Representation

An international symposium organised by the Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster in conjunction with SOAS Seminars on Turkey.
The making of modern Ankara is a momentous yet oft-neglected episode in twentieth-century history. The transformation of this ancient Anatolian town into the capital of the Turkish Republic captured the world’s attention during the interwar period, when Ankara became a laboratory of modernism and nation building.
Largely designed by European architects, the new capital embodied the reformist ethos of a secular state firmly projected towards the West. Today, as this sprawling city of over four millions seeks to reinvent its identity, its modern development is the subject of growing scholarship and public interest.
The half-day symposium brings together a panel of scholars from architecture, planning, art history, heritage, and Turkish studies to revisit the making of modern Ankara in a cross-disciplinary perspective, while also debating its legacy on the eve of the Republic’s 90^th anniversary.
The event will be followed by the launch of Building Identities, an exhibition about Ankara’s Republican architecture curated by the Turkish Chamber of Architects, Ankara Chapter.
When: Friday 23^rd November, 2012, 2-7PM (followed by exhibition opening and reception)
Where: Room MG014, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS, United Kingdom
Registration: The event is free for all.
Please book at: themakingofmodernankara.eventbrite.co.uk
Participants will include:
Elvan Altan Ergut, Middle East Technical University
Martina Becker, ENGLOBE/Marie Curie, Middle East Technical University
Lindsay Bremner, University of Westminster
Eray Çaylı, University College London
Davide Deriu, University of Westminster
Benjamin Fortna, SOAS
Zeynep Kezer, University of Newcastle
Melania Savino, SOAS, Kunsthistorische Institut Florence