AKM reunion hosts cultural hub experts

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Photo shows the architecture of the AKM building, Hayati Tabanlıoğlu at the construction site of Atatürk Kültür Merkezi, during the years 1970s.

The “AKM Reunion” is the first of a series of events organized in parallel to the exhibition “The Performance of Modernity: The Atatürk Cultural Center, 1946-1977,” and will take place in the auditorium at SALT Galata on Oct. 9.

Moderated by the curators of the exhibition Pelin Derviş and Gökhan Karakuş, the gathering will host two of the key actors involved in the making of the original Atatürk Kültür Merkezi (AKM/Ataturk Cultural Center): architect Aydın Boysan and lighting designer Johannes Dinnebier.

Boysan and Dinnebier were among the avant-garde practitioners invited to contribute to the project by the architect and head supervisor of the AKM project Hayati Tabanlıoğlu. Leading figures in their respective fields, the speakers will discuss the intricacies behind the design and construction of the AKM in the context of post-war Turkey.

Aydın Boysan was one of the leading figures of 20th century architecture in Turkey. Known for his extensive work in the design of industrial buildings, Boysan was also one of the leaders in professional architectural practice as the first director of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey. His prolific architectural production from the 1950s to 1980s was marked by the design of a large number of buildings for industry using a structurally expressive language of reinforced concrete, steel, aluminum, glass and fiberglass.

Johannes Dinnebier was a key figure in the design and development of lighting systems in Germany from the 1950s to the present and worked on public spaces such as churches, airports, corporate lobbies, and concert and meeting halls. Not trained as a designer, Dinnebier started to work in lighting as a manufacturer of domestic lighting fixtures in post-war German reconstruction, repurposing the military production of steel and aluminum for civil use.

The talks will be held in Turkish and German, with simultaneous translation into German and Turkish.