September 1955 - A Virtual Documentary of the Istanbul Pogrom
September 1955. Cagri Hakan Zaman, Deniz Tortum, & Nil Tuzcu. 2016
September 1955 is a 8-minute virtual-reality documentary of the Istanbul Pogrom, a government-initiated organized attack on the minorities of Istanbul on September6-7, 1955. This interactive installation places the viewer in a reconstructed photography studio in the midst of the pogrom, allowing one to witness the events from the perspective of a local shop-owner.
Drawing on the photographic archive of Maryam Sahinyan (1911-1996) and Osep Minasoglu (1929-2013), Armenian photographers who lived in Istanbul at the time, the installation materializes an extinct space. The wall in the virtual studio that exhibits Sahinyan’s photos is transformed into a documentation of the raids and their aftermath in the physical space; by overlapping the layouts of the two spaces the project experiments with the transition from a virtual to physical experience.
The experience of the space induced by participating in the mundane activities of the photography studio aims to generate unique historical narratives that are reproduced and enacted by the viewer.
“I strained my eyes to read the head lines on a newspaper, and looked at personal objects in the room. I turned around to see who was smashing the windows of a burning apartment building, and made my way to a door that seemed as if it might provide an escape route from a horde intent on destruction.” - Angela Andersen. Empathy and the creation of virtual space: Review of September 55, Keller Gallery, MIT. Architectural Histories, 6(1), 2018.
On September 6, 1955, mobs in Istanbul erupted in violence, raiding the shops of non-Muslims. The state-sponsored pogrom followed the escalating tension between Greece and Turkey concerning the Cyprus crisis. It was sparked by a false report that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's home in Thessaloniki had been bombed. After the violent events of September 6 and 7, many non-Muslims chose to leave Istanbul.
To reflect the atmosphere of 1950s Istanbul, we created a virtual pho tography studio modeled after the actual studios of Maryam Sahinyan (1911-1996) and Osep Minasoglu (1929-2013), two Armenian photographers who lived in Istanbul at the time. Inside the studio, viewers can explore collaged architecture and objects and a photography archive displayed on the virtual walls.
September 1955 is a fictional story that invites viewers to experience it in space. Viewers are encouraged to take their time and examine archival materials such as a radio, an old camera, a photo gallery, and a replica of Maryam Sahinyan's mirror. These objects gain a spatial character. Instead of interacting with them, viewers should meditate on them and recognize them as traces of a past life captured in architecture, everyday objects, and live-lihood. By connecting directly with these elements, viewers can form a repository of memory and a narrative device that is uniquely their own.
Close to the end of the experience, the viewer finds themselves in the midst of the pogrom from the perspective of the studio’s owner. As the angry mob approaches the shop and starts banging on the windows, the viewer experiences entrapment and helplessness.Through such an immersive and emotional experience, September 1955 reenacts a dark moment in Turkey’s past — which is not too distant from history — serving as a warning against extremism and mob mentality.
