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The Past is Present
12/09/2023 @ 18:30 - 11/11/2023 @ 18:30

September 12 – November 11, 2023
Opening: Tuesday, September 12, 18:30
Depo presents The Past is Present by the Memory Museum for Historical Justice, Turkey’s first digital museum and human rights archive. The Past is Present is the most comprehensive exhibition on the 1980 Coup d’État to date.
The exhibition, whose name references the slogan “The Past is Present” previously used by the Memory Museum for Historical Justice, consists of fragments and content sourced from the Museum’s collections and archival materials, materialising its digital space into a physical one. Focusing on the period between 1960–1991 and made possible thanks to the collective contributions of people directly affected by the 1980 Coup, The Past is Present brings together artworks produced collectively or individually in relation to the Memory Museum’s collections, as well as works by writers, journalists and researchers.
The Memory Museum, aims to make rights violations visible by recording crimes against humanity perpetrated during the coup, and sheds light on the 43 years of struggle for justice and practices confronting the past with a human rights archive that includes the Oral History, Court Files, Memory Objects and Seeking Justice collections. These collections include testimonies about the rise of the revolutionary struggle to student movements, unionisation, women’s political struggle and anti-fascist resistance, as well as information on the collective memory regarding the coup, the military regime and its legal system, human rights violations, the struggle for justice, international solidarity, impunity, practices of confrontation and accountability.
The Memory Museum’s permanent collections include 235 digital and 93 physical court files, thousands of pages of legal documents, 40.000 memory objects acquired from 35 different donors, 120 oral history recordings of over 300 hours, 518 physical documents, 65 newspapers and 150 books. With contributions by various institutions, human rights organisations, rights defenders, lawyers, witnesses, academics and writers, the Memory Museum aims to generate a dynamic process built on a bottom-up narrative of history, open and accessible archives, and the active participation of those who were targeted by the 1980 Coup.
The Past is Present is organised by the Research Institute on Turkey and the Democracy and Memory Research Association, with exhibition concept and curatorial framework by Eylem Delikanlı, Aylin Tekiner and Sevim Sancaktar, and exhibition design by Sevim Sancaktar, from Karşılaşmalar.
The exhibition’s public programme:
Historical and Social Context of the 1980 Coup (with Tarih Vakfı), Assoc. Prof. İsmet Akça
- Thursday, September 14, 7:00–8:30 pm
- Address: Metro Han | Şahkulu Çukur, Erkanı Harp Sokak 2 Beyoğlu, Istanbul
Meeting Once Upon a Time / Autobiographical Narrative, Roza Erdem
- Tuesday, September 19, 7:00–9:30 pm
- Address: Metro Han | Şahkulu Çukur, Erkanı Harp Sokak 2 Beyoğlu, Istanbul
Epistemic Corruption and Social Complicity in State Violence in Turkey, Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız, PhD.
- Saturday, September 23, 16:00–18:00
- Address: Metro Han | Şahkulu Çukur, Erkanı Harp Sokak 2 Beyoğlu, Istanbul
The events will be held in Turkish and registration is not required to participate.
Contributors:
Gültan Kışanak and Osman Kavala have contributed to the exhibition with their texts; Aylin Tekiner, Doğa Yirik, Gülçin Aksoy, Gülsün Karamustafa, Güneş Terkol, Nil Yalter, Özlem Sulak, Sevim Sancaktar and Tan Oral with their artworks; while the Aybike Haydaroğlu, Berin Uyar, Burcu Ballıktaş Bingöllü, Bülent Aydın, Cemile Çakır, Saturday Mothers/People, Deniz Erdem, Emel Ataktürk Sevimli, Eylem Delikanlı, Ezgi Bakçay, Ferhat Kentel, Feyyaz Yaman, Feza Kürkçüoğlu, Fikret Akovalı, Hafıza Merkezi / Hafıza ve Sanat Arşivi (Memory and Art Archive), Hüseyin Yavuz, Mustafa Yükselbaba, Nevzat Açan, Öncü Doğu Gürsoy, Özgül Akıncı, Filiz Fırtına, Nalan Yırtmaç, Özgür Sevgi Göral, Özlem Delikanlı, Tanıl Bora, Reyhan Yalçındağ Baydemir, S. Yalçınkaya, Sevgi Can Yağcı Aksel, Ülfet Taylı and Ümide Çelik Aysu have helped realise the workshops and the exhibition’s content.
For more information: