Avant-Garde Approaches in Turkish Photography

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* Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts Photography Department “Monday Meetings” conference text. Photography Art and Turkey, Istanbul 1995, Pg. 48-54 Today, April 17, 1995, Monday and it is around 4 pm. I am celebrating an extraordinary event of an ordinary day, with joy. What is this event? I would like to say hello to the Department of Photography which was established as required by law despite the delay under the roof of the Faculty of Fine Arts of our University, leaving aside the discussion on the extent to which the 5th article of Higher Education Law numbered 2547 has accelerated the aimed widespread art education. There is avant-garde on the menu a little before the end of an ordinary day. Before passing to the theoretical and practical examples of the avant-garde tendency in the development process of photography in our country, I find it necessary to make an excursion in the historical past. Historical Process Although our knowledge on how and under which conditions photography entered the borders of our country is very limited, if the 1830s are considered to be the starting point of the practical application of the first photography works based on the partnership of Niépce and […]

What is the Share of Photography in the Cultural Development?

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* The symposium paper presented to the symposium organized by Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts on 4 – 6 May 1994 in Ankara, on the “Art Pioneering in Cultural Development”. Proceedings pg. 99 – 104 In this paper, after a brief account for the concept and theory of culture, I would like to examine the influence photography, its seemingly complex structure and both technological as well as aesthetic aspect, has on contemporary society by comparing the relationship -in terms of its aim- between art / artist and culture. While following this path, I will try to present the subject within the dimensions of the artistic and social / cultural anthropology. Culture is the only and indispensable theme of social/cultural anthropology. However, because of the versatility it reveals, it is difficult to describe and explain the concept of culture. The root of the difficulty in definition can be sought in the fact that the concept of culture has multiple meanings. Culture in general is used as corresponding to the following basic concepts: Culture is the cumulative civilization of a society or of all societies. Culture is the self of a particular society. Culture is the combination of a range of social […]

Examination of the Present State of Photography Training in Turkey and Anticipatory Recommendations

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* The paper text submitted at the “Outlook on General Photography Education in Turkey” Symposium organized by PTFD / Professional Promotional Photographers Association, on March 09, 1993 at Mimar Sinan University. Introduction In order to be able to explain the structural causes behind the transformations in the education system at the macro-level, the dilemmas in the general fact of training ought to be briefly examined in the process of the social change. As such, the issue is not only limited to photography education, but is spreading throughout the whole educational arena. Education aims to improve human talents to the extent of the possible, as well as to maintain the continuity of communities. In this process, the accumulation of culture is conveyed to the future. This age old, effort is still valid today. Education is an issue still being considered and discussed today, that almost every society has mobilized in order to solve its problems. This mobilization is in the name of a better education, an increasingly healthier society and a higher humanity, it seems that it will always continue and must continue as a central theme of investigation and discourse. In our country, the image of this international struggle aiming to […]

Methodology Research on the Review of the Artistic Dimension of Photography

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* AFSAD / Ankara Photography Artists Association, 4. Photograph Symposium, 21 – 22 November 1992, AFSAD Publications No:23, Ankara, Proceedings, Pg. 219 – 233 Due to the multidimensionality arising when the subject is examined at depth, the paper titled “Methodology Research on the Review of the Artistic Dimension” constitutes a context based on the trail of thought that I will try to convey shortly. The purpose of the research is to shed light on the artistic dimension of photography, to clarify unanswered questions, to answer the new questions to be asked, to produce antitheses against the theses put forward until this present time. In this study, 2 important principles of methodological thinking were taken into account: First; a prejudice-free consideration, Second; transparency. With reference to the generalization, “Everything that is carried out on a two-dimensional surface by physical and chemical methods is photography”, in defending the antitheses, the types were not discriminated in order not to destroy the whole. The thoughts within the framework I will try to convey are open to criticism and discussion. Introduction I remember Karl Pawek’s characterization of our age as the optical age, just like yesterday, during the postgraduate training I completed in Germany on […]

A Global Approach to Photography Changing its Shell

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* The text of the paper presented to the symposium on “The Photography from the Ottoman Empire to the Present” organized by the British Council at the Mimar Sinan University between the dates 23 – 25 October 1991. There have been proceedings such as the symposium on “Photography from the Ottoman Empire to The Present” and other similar subjects from the Ottoman or Republic period that have been isolated from one another, that are much smaller in scope, even that deal with a single sub-topic, and that deal with and open for discussion the past and the present and that were expected to have multidimensional effects. Together we experienced the drawbacks of this approach, the vicious cycle, the bottleneck in the debates brought on by this approach, very recently. In short, to emphasize, we created micro-pores and lost the whole. In order to be able to assess photography today’s Turkey, it is necessary to comparatively approach the relationship between the Ottoman and post-Republican works. No one can deny that, in Turkey today, photography has entered our lives in a major way. However, it is not possible to participate in the arguments that the photographical displays that appear as a re-submission of […]

The Reality Dimensions of Photography

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* AFSAD (Ankara Photography Artists Association), Paper presented at the 2. Photograph Symposium. 17 – 18 January 1987 Four years have passed since the I. Photography Symposium, last held in 1982. Today, we gathered for the second one, at AFSAD / Ankara Photography Artists Association, they having earned my respect with their open attitude towards the internal and external reality of the future, as of today. Our aim will be to make an assessment for the future rather than to review the past, to investigate the new languages of expression in photography, to examine and discuss their developments. It is useful to open a parenthesis before entering the topic and emphasize the fact that, in our country culture, art scene has not yet been able to reach sufficient maturity and wealth of knowledge necessary for such debates. We have watched –since the 80s– this reality fully in the form of altercation and grievance with, stereotypical thinking and haphazard discourse, far from reality, that lack theoretical substructure, knowledge and research. It is not a coincidence that these kinds of annoyances away from consciousness were seen in our country in the 80s. A group of thinkers, exasperated by the fact that the image […]

Graphics / Photography Relationship

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* Conference text held within the scope of İFSAK, 2. Photography Days on December 6, 1986 We will live the II. Photography Days, the scope of which is expanded compared to last year, to the fullest this month. The subject of the panel last year, carried through in a single session was “The Forms of Expression of Photography” as we will recall. I regard, the addressing of the relationship of photography with other plastic and writing arts and communication science, and the opening of a debate platform in this direction -the versatility of photography within the social order, with regard to the fact that it cannot be abstracted from other branches of art and science- as a positive development, this year. It is important that such or similar activities will enhance and expand communication between the masses, cultural exchange, inform the audience at theoretical level through the debate platform created, and will make a general assessment of the past one year. However, it is also a fact that our efforts in the theoretical and practical fields of photography in our country are not yet collective. My wish is that the Photograph Days will transform into an event like the Cinema […]

A Theoretical Approach to Experimental Photography

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Manifesto

Ahmet Öner Gezgin

* Paper on “The Present and the Future of Art in Turkey” symposium held by Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts between April 17-19, 1985 in Ankara. Faculty of Fine Arts Publications 1, Ankara 1985, pg. 373-380 I am very happy to be invited to represent the branch of photography in the symposium “The Present and Future of Art in Turkey” organized by your university. There are two important reasons why I am happy. First: This symposium means photography has become debatable as art among the ranks of other plastic arts with this symposium and the second is the evaluation of the different approaches in photography, the examination of the developments and thus the creation of the environment for discussion. It is also a fact that the current culture / arts environment in our country is not yet mature enough for this sort of debate. I wish the symposium reaches its goal. Although the purpose of this paper is to include the theoretical principles of experimental photography with the thought of shedding light to tomorrow’s understanding of photography as of today, it is worthwhile to make a brief introduction to the field of practice and use within the broad scope of photography. […]