The 1990s are on the verge of being historicized. Today, the transition between “then” and “now” is marked by the decade’s so-called end of theory and post-criticality, the rise of the “starchitect” and buildings with “effects,” and the turn towards “neo-postmodern” and “post-digital.” As new paradigms for archiving and history writing emerge, the question of how to exhibit a born-digital archive becomes pertinent. Once the drawing loses its Benjaminian “aura,” its reproductions in different media and materialities create “effects” through the experience of the archive. 

Time Scale, curated by Meriç Öner, surveys thirty years of architectural work by Erginoğlu & Çalışlar from Istanbul, Turkey. Celebrating its thirty-year mark, the exhibition is held at Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center with a series of public events involving architects, researchers, clients and employees. 

The exhibition chronologically displays the office’s production since 1993 with a historical timeline that highlights significant socio-economic events in Turkey. It unpacks a wide variety of media, chronicling the architects’ trajectory of shaping their practice around commissioned buildings and all design work aiming toward a tangible object.

The exhibition begins with axonometric drawings, hand-drawn on mylar paper from the early 1990s, transporting the viewer back in time. This brief encounter with conventional drawing ends with a floppy disk, placed on the wall like a placeholder, reminding us of the turn to digital production. The curator provides an alternative set of “original” materials: slides, photographic prints, construction documents, sketchbooks, meeting notes, books by corporate clients, video interviews, models, furniture pieces, and material samples used in construction. Photographs vary in size from 9 x 13 cm frames developed from analog films to gigantic prints, almost situating the viewer in a 1:1 section. Two building blocks in different colors (the original design’s color has been discontinued) become prominent exhibits. This architectural time travel through the curator’s thoughtful observation of material novelty hints that history is both near and far.

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