Salt Galata is a cultural complex in Istanbul that establishes a symbiotic relationship with the historical structure it inhabits. It’s not surprising that an art institution focused on physical and digital archives and research in the fields of art, architecture, and design, urbanism, society, and economics would prepare an exhibition focusing on architectural education. The title of the exhibition, “Architectural Education in Turkey: Thresholds of Institutionalization from the 18th Century to the Present” promises a narrative that integrates the past with the present, akin to the space in which it is displayed. 

The exhibition layout, comprised of two gray panels embracing the edges of the monochromatic space and interspersed with a diagonally placed “terracotta monolith,” aims for visitors to navigate around the panels to experience the explanatory texts, photographs, drawings, official documents, newspaper and magazine clippings, and displayed original materials. The predominance of materials sourced mainly from the archives of the institution or from the exhibition programmer, Uğur Tanyeli, highlights either the scarcity of institutional and individual archival culture in Turkey or an excessive reliance on in-house curation for the exhibition. 

Regarding the issue of integrating the past with the present: While the exhibition successfully depicts the thresholds, academic environment, and daily life of the pre-1980 military coup period, during which the autonomy of universities was dramatically affected, it falls short in conveying alternative, pedagogical approaches and experiences, their tools and representations, or extra-curricular activities, especially within the contemporary context. The exhibition misses an opportunity to engage those less familiar with the subject matter by failing to construct a more layered narrative that superposes the past onto the present using current photographs and videos, or AI-based mediums for the spaces within it.

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