Oto LUTHAR

I aim to cast light on the hidden fabric of the city. As a metropolis, Istanbul has already been presented in more than 1000 monographs, articles or photo collections; however, the focus of attention has rarely been on the everyday life of communities like Tarlabaşı or the hidden parts of Tophane. The same holds for people. Namely, anonymous inhabitants who came to Istanbul from all over Turkey, the Middle East and Bosnia still remain the hidden part of the megalopolis. Like Jovana Mihailović Trbovc, who is doing her secondment in Sarajevo, I am interested in examining grassroots mnemonic agents in an urban setting. In Istanbul, like in Sarajevo, one has to be aware of the polyphonic interpretation of the past, which influences everyday political and cultural routines. Besides the plethora of formal ethnicized, religious, generational, political, ideological, etc. interpretations for the educational, tourism and political purposes, there is also a wide range of micro-interpretations that define the everyday routines of individuals and their families. While Sarajevo already has a handful of “alternative” mnemonic agents who organize “alternative” commemorations in public spaces, alternative mnemonic agents in Istanbul have been the target of the regime’s persecution ever since the failed coup. We are interested in a marginalized memory of the city. Believing that knowing the ways in which people understand the past tell us a lot about their perception of social development, modernization, migration, power, government, etc.