The “Dark World” exhibition at Salt Galata does not merely present a narrative that unfolds along the venue’s dark corridors; it also opens up an intellectual space around that narrative. Based on the long-term research of Mike Bode and Caner Yalçın, the exhibition traces the marks of modernisation, urbanisation, and cultural transformation through a multilayered visual language, while its parallel programme adds conceptual depth to these layers.
One of the talks organised within this framework will take place on Tuesday, 25 November at 18:30 at Salt Galata:
“A Grey Stirring: Âşık Veysel in the Thought of Blue Anatolia”
The speaker is Emre Gönlügür, faculty member at the Department of Architecture, İzmir University of Economics.
Gönlügür’s focus is the Blue Anatolia intellectual current—one of the distinctive veins of Turkish cultural history—and how Âşık Veysel’s place within it can be interpreted.
What is the connection between Blue Anatolia thought and Âşık Veysel?
The Blue Anatolia approach, part of the Republic’s cultural imagination, represents an orientation that goes beyond a modernisation directed solely toward the West and instead centres Anatolia’s ancient cultures. It is often articulated through an interdisciplinary link with archaeology, history, anthropology, and mythology.
Âşık Veysel, in turn, is a figure who carried Anatolia’s oral culture in step with the spirit of his time—nourished by the local yet reaching a universal sensitivity.
Gönlügür’s talk will explore where these two lines intersect and open for discussion how Anatolia’s cultural backbone can be rethought through Veysel’s voice, words, and representational power.
A parallel intellectual space to Salt’s “Dark World”
The talk serves as an intellectual reflection of the dark, transformation-focused, and interrogative perspective offered by the exhibition. Addressing themes such as the unseen faces of the city, societal transformation, and spatial ruptures, the exhibition gains a broader field of interpretation when paired with this discussion of Veysel’s position in the context of tradition, memory, and cultural continuity.
Event Details
A Grey Stirring: Âşık Veysel in the Thought of Blue Anatolia
Speaker: Dr. Emre Gönlügür
Tuesday, 25 November, 18:30
Salt Galata
Free admission
