On the Spot

The exhibition aimed to shed new light on the history of Istanbul’s representations through panoramic paintings and photographs. It approached the history of the "panorama" critically and contextualized its many iterations. While examining the layered relationships involved in producing and consuming panoramic images, the exhibition also explored the circulation of these images among different audiences, their receptions, and the connections between various media that gained popularity over the centuries. 

An early 19th-century panorama of Istanbul, previously unpublished and never exhibited, was unveiled for the first time through the exhibition. As it brought together some of the most remarkable works by artists who captured panoramic views of Istanbul—such as Barker, Gudenus, Schranz, Melling, Dunn, and Robertson—it also revealed how the panoramic perspective was used to document different phenomena in Istanbul's history, from fire disasters to industrialization. While concentrating on 19th-century panoramas and panoramic images, On the Spot invited its audience to a comprehensive reconsideration of the long history of the panoramic perspective, dating back to the early modern period, and Istanbul's position within that history. 

The exhibition On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History portrayed the circulation of this representational form in the Ottoman world and Europe through a diverse selection of materials, including ephemera and archival documents, paintings, prints, and photographs. It explored the fluidity within this diversity and the dialogues between different media. 

Curated by Çiğdem Kafescioğlu, K. Mehmet Kentel, and M. Baha Tanman, the exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue containing articles that aimed to re-read urban history and the histories of architecture, art, photography, and modern consumption through the frame provided by panoramic images.