}

On the Spot

Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History

October 26, 2023 - August 18, 2024

The exhibition aims to shed new light on the history of Istanbul’s representations through panoramic paintings and photographs. It critically approaches the history of the "panorama" and contextualizes its many iterations. While examining the layered relationships in the production and consumption of panoramic images, the exhibition also explores the circulation of these images among different audiences, their receptions, and the connections between various media that have gained popularity over centuries.

An early 19th-century panorama of Istanbul, previously not published or exhibited, is being unveiled for the first time with the exhibition. As it brings together some of the most remarkable works by artists who captured a panoramic view of Istanbul, such as Barker, Gudenus, Schranz, Melling, Dunn, and Robertson, it also reveals how the panoramic perspective has been 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 invites 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 this history.

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

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

 

Image Credits

Joseph Warnia-Zarzecki
Coffeehouse on the Ridges of Dolmabahçe, early 20th century
68 x 98 cm
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Orientalist Painting Collection

Anonymous
Panorama of Istanbul from the Galata Tower, section, early 19th century
40 x 350 cm
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Orientalist Painting Collection

Philippe von Gudenus
Vue de la ville de Constantinople, capitale de l’Empire Ottoman (The view of the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire), first part, 1740
44 x 410 cm
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Istanbul Research Institute Library

Henry Aston Barker
Key to a Series of Eight Views forming a Panorama of the City of Constantinople and its Environs taken from the Tower of Galata, 1813
32 x 32 cm
British Library

 

3D Virtual Tour

Exhibition Catalogue

On the Spot

On the Spot

The exhibition On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History takes the allure and amazement of the 360-degree urban image as its starting point and moves on to historicize the power of this panoramic eff­ect.

On the Spot Exhibition Tour

On the Spot Exhibition Tour

In the context of the exhibition,aiming to shed new light on the history of Istanbul’s representations through panoramic paintings and photographs and critically approaching the history of the "panorama" and contextualizing its many iterations, a curator’s tour led by K. Mehmet Kentel’s informative commentary will be held.

On the Spot: A Curatorial History

On the Spot: A Curatorial History

Exhibition curators Çiğdem Kafescioğlu, K. Mehmet Kentel, and M. Baha Tanman will discuss the research process behind On the Spot, their selection of and approach towards historical material, as well as the excitement and challenges of preparing an exhibition on Istanbul panoramas.

This City of Istanbul is Priceless

This City of Istanbul is Priceless

Approaching Istanbul’s cultural and artistic history from a musical perspective within the theme of “Şehr-i İstanbul,” (The City of Istanbul) Rezonans is performing at Pera Museum as part of On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History which aims to shed new light on the history of Istanbul’s representations through panoramic paintings and photographs.

Video

Eternal Streets

The film program, which progresses along a route extending from Istanbul to Tokyo, Taipei, Marseille, and Oslo, asks a universal question while exploring the permanent and inevitable roles of our cities: Is it possible to form genuine connections amidst crowds?


Pera Learning

Expression Through Art: Workshops for Adult

Pera Museum Learning Programs organize fun and inspiring exhibition tours and workshops titled “Expression Through Art" as part of Souvenirs of the Future and On the Spot, which will take place from February 16 to March 24, 2024, for everyone aged 18 and over.

Beyond the Landscape

The parallel program to On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History offers online and face-to-face fun and inspiring exhibition tours and workshops for different age groups.

Half-Term Holiday Workshops

Fun workshops for the semester break provide kids and teachers the opportunity to enrich their holiday with art.

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Rational Medicine in Byzantium

Byzantine medical art was grounded in the Greco-Roman medicine transmitted by Hippocrates and Galen and new concepts introduced by such physicians as Oribasios of Pergamon, Aetius of Amida, Alexander of Tralles and Paul of Aegina. 

Galatasaray, an Institution of Institutions | Besim F. Dellaloğlu

Galatasaray, an Institution of Institutions | Besim F. Dellaloğlu

Is Istanbul a single city? Will Istanbul too, be one day one day divided into different sections, and numbered like the arrondisements of Paris? These are tough questions indeed! 

The Success of an Artist

The Success of an Artist

Pera Museum presents an exhibition of French artist Félix Ziem, one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. The exhibition Wanderer on the Sea of Light presents Ziem as an artist who left his mark on 19th century painting and who is mostly known for his paintings of Istanbul and Venice, where the city and the sea are intertwined.