Blind Spot: Exploring Republican Cultural Heritage
Blind Spot is a project that brings together architects, historians, academics, and urban planners as well as cultural heritage bodies from Sweden and Turkey. Its mission is to highlight spaces and architecture typical of Turkey’s early Republican modernism which are often overlooked or neglected.
The project program featured walking tours in three cities: Istanbul, Mersin, and Izmir, enriched by lectures, events, and discussions. Participants from both Swedish and Turkish universities as well as researchers and representatives of Turkish cultural initiatives came together to participate in the project.
The project was initiated and developed by the Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul in cooperation with the Swedish Research Institute and is supported by the Swedish Arts Council.
Participants: Anders Ackfeldt, Björn Magnusson Staaf, Catharina Gabrielsson, Ferhat Kentel, Liana Kuyumcuyan, Mine Turan, Murat Tülek, Olof Heilo, Sara Brolund de Carvalho, Serkan Turgut, Ulaş Bayraktar, Yaşar A. Adanalı
Photos: Mike Bode
As a result of the project Blind Spot, the book Pedestrian Modernities: Blind Spots in Turkish Cultural Heritage (eds. Mike Bode, Liana Kuyumcuyan, Murat Tülek) was published in January 2025 as the latest issue of Dragomanen, a publication by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul.
The book can be read online on
