Chapter by Emre Özyetiş
Çatışma, Planlama, Tasarım , 2018
This paper inquires into destruction as a manifold that cannot be exhausted when a given spatial ... more This paper inquires into destruction as a manifold that cannot be exhausted when a given spatial configuration is demolished or removed. In relation to Nusaybin, a border town between Turkey and Syria, destruction is elaborated on as one of the functions that are used to administer the relationship between varieties of structures found within the built environment. Instead of threading to a discourse where destruction is understood as a tool to establish a controllable ground for neoliberal policies to advance, it is going to be understood as a function of subtraction that is appropriated by the sovereign to traumatize and cause a spatial dysfunction in memory and speech as in the case of Nusaybin’s city center in the aftermath of security operations conducted in the region between 2015 and 2017.
Since the earliest canonic texts on architecture and built environment, the urban and nature are postulated in the form of a rivalry dichotomy. However, this dichotomy has become neutralized starting with the discourse on architecture and city in the 17th century. Into this discussion, this paper introduces the example of the popular TV series Planet Earth II and its final episode that focuses on the cities. Through this articulation on the dichotomy between nature and the city, how destruction has become a subtractive yet creative function for economic, social and political administration is questioned in relation to the advance of the urban context as a natural habitat in which not only humans, but species other than humans are also found. I argue that, however, the case of Nusaybin exemplifies another instance of appropriation of the function of destruction in reference to Giorgio Agamben’s set of concepts expanded in his work which postulates the difference between polis and oikos in order to explain how changing domains require new forms of administration. It is suggested that destruction can be used in this purpose to remove the capacity to talk, apprehend or produce language, causing a case of aphasia as Maurice Halbwachs elaborates on his seminal work on collective memory. While administration of the built environment through destruction is argued to be a historically lingering tool for the sovereign to govern, this study draws a correlation between Agamben’s conceptual toolset on governance and Halbwachs’ inquiry into the notion of collective memory, and tries to comprehend and expose the logic behind the destruction of the city of Nusaybin, in order to pass beyond critical studies on neoliberal ideology where an epidemic of subtraction and destruction of the urban space with the changed, altered and transformed social, political and economic context is depicted. I conclude this effort by suggesting that the final scene of Ken Russell’s The Devils provide a setting to locate and apprehend the destruction exemplified in the case of Nusaybin.
Conference Proceeding by Emre Özyetiş
DESIGNING URBAN DESIGN - METUDSYMP2016 Proceedings , 2017
This paper is an inquiry into the discourse of urban regeneration in the case of Sur, Diyarbakir,... more This paper is an inquiry into the discourse of urban regeneration in the case of Sur, Diyarbakir, which can be traced back to 2010 and revitalized recently by the expropriation of properties during the perpetuated curfews declared in the area which followed the pronouncement of “rebuilding Sur like Toledo” of Spain (Lepeska, 2016). By putting emphasis on the relevance of “camp”, “state of exception” and “homo sacer” (Agamben 1998; 2005; 2007) with the urban renewal process of the old city centre of Diyarbakir; the twofold use of city walls as defensive walls during the declared state of emergency, and as the proper background used for building Toledo in the destroyed urban landscape of Sur will be explored. This is an attempt to explore the contemporary intertwining social, political and economic global neo-liberal context in relation to the conceptual framework provided by Agamben. The goal of this paper is to refine the simulacrum attributes of both destruction (war) and production of built environment (urban planning) for understanding urban development in twenty-first century cities as Agamben’s identification of camp describes the norm for the city.
Papers by Emre Özyetiş
Arredamento Mimarlık, 2015
İtalyan mimarlık tarihçisi Manfredo Tafuri bu çalışma alanını 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısında radik... more İtalyan mimarlık tarihçisi Manfredo Tafuri bu çalışma alanını 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısında radikal biçimde dönüştüren kişiliklerin en önemlilerinden biriydi. Biçim analizi merkezli ve doğru-yanlış sistematiği arayışı içindeki bir yazma pratiğini, biçim eleştirisi olmaktan çıkarıp toplumsallık eleştirisi kılma çerçevesinde yenilemeyi denedi.
The International Journal of Design in Society, 2013
We find ourselves in a world. There is a tendency to regard the world as a spatial entity as well... more We find ourselves in a world. There is a tendency to regard the world as a spatial entity as well as a temporal one. Within a framework that suggests we find ourselves in a world which is constituted of the structures we are bound to, and resist from time to time; we can postulate that the built environment is a structure which does not only house dissent but also has the potential to be where the dissent, anxiety and anguish come from. The political, economic and social structures one can resist are the very same structures through which we engage with the world. This framework can be expanded to design theory and practice to suggest we are designing and constructing the built environment within those structures as we participate in their production and reconfiguration. Marxist and post-Marxist readings have a tendency to problematize built environment design and practice, as in this spatial configuration capitalism thrived and was possible. Suggesting structures of oppression are constructed within the city that sustain the capitalist mode of production and consumption, is a possible reading of all this literature. The same literature tends to seek methods to take hold of architectural design to be able to grasp the possibility of an alternative to capitalism. What can be emphasized in this literature is the Operaismo-aspired autonomous architecture. Autonomous [paper] architecture from the 60s and 70s acknowledges built environment does not only house capitalism and its tools, but also produces them. This paper questions how it is possible for a design professional to show antagonism to the structures of oppression in the contemporary economic, social and political context, if design professionals are one of the tools capitalism exploits and makes use of.
Drafts by Emre Özyetiş
Dünyevileştirmeler ve kutsallık halleri, kilise ve camileriyle beraber acilen kamusallaştırılan D... more Dünyevileştirmeler ve kutsallık halleri, kilise ve camileriyle beraber acilen kamusallaştırılan Diyarbakır'ın Sur ilçesinin son dönemde girdiği "kentsel dönüşüm"de aranabilir. Bu metin, içinde bulunduğumuz çok katmanlı toplumsal, politik ve ekonomik örüntüler karmaşasını Giorgio Agamben'in kavramsallaştırmaları etrafında irdeleme denemelerinden sadece bir tanesini daha teşkil edebilecek daha kapsamlı bir araştırmanın izleği olmak dışında bir şey vaad edememekte. Ancak Türkiye toplumunun bizatihi deneyimlediği bir dönemi anlamlandır(ama)ma ihtiyacı bakımından "Sur'da Toledo inşa etme" tartışmaları ile başlayan ve bu yazının kaleme alındığı sıralarda "acele kamulaştırma" aşamasının resmi olarak gerçekleştiği sürecin tartışılması gerek. Bu sayede kutsal olanın, insan olanın, kent veya şehir olanın, kamp olanla ilişkisini, 21. yüzyılın toplumsallaşma biçimlerini en bariz üreten "mülteci" olma haliyle tartışmanın, aslında mülteci kamplarını veya "kamp"ları değil, herhangi tür bir-aradalığın mekânını tartışmak anlamına geldiğini iddia edebiliriz.
Thesis by Emre Özyetiş
In this thesis I revisit Manfredo Tafuri’s 1969 article “Per una critica dell’ideologia architett... more In this thesis I revisit Manfredo Tafuri’s 1969 article “Per una critica dell’ideologia architettonica” (Toward a Critique of Architectural Ideology) within the political context of Italy in the 1960s. I address the research question: what is the contemporary relevance of the essay read in this context? I suggest that testing the arguments in Tafuri’s 1969 essay against his complete oeuvre and his subsequent career as a critic or a historian obfuscates and misconstrues the context and the essay. I argue that the essay was published in a moment when operaisti protagonists were processing the implications of the operaisti discourse they constructed in relation to the intensification of the social conflict in Italy in the late 1960s and the 1970s. This provides a convincing context for Tafuri’s application of this discourse as a total rejection of the possibility of the existence of an architectural profession outside participation in capitalist development. I conclude that, located with precision within the context of the journal Contropiano, where his essay was first published, “Toward a Critique of Architectural Ideology” is more likely to agitate intellectuals and architects than it has previously. It is important for the generation who has not yet acquired professional autonomy, such as architectural students or interns, to be reminded of Tafuri’s critique within its context as they assume their social vocation. Thus this is my target readership for this thesis. It is particularly important to revisit Tafuri and his 1969 essay at a time when there is a growing discussion around a social vocation or discourse on sustainability, participatory design, radical architecture and such. The social agenda still makes the art and the profession of architecture resilient to transforming political, economic and social structures. In this light, it is not only necessary but also relevant to revisit the nature of the social vocation of architects as it had been criticized in Tafuri’s 1969 essay within the intellectual debates Italian operaisti project initiated.
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Chapter by Emre Özyetiş
Since the earliest canonic texts on architecture and built environment, the urban and nature are postulated in the form of a rivalry dichotomy. However, this dichotomy has become neutralized starting with the discourse on architecture and city in the 17th century. Into this discussion, this paper introduces the example of the popular TV series Planet Earth II and its final episode that focuses on the cities. Through this articulation on the dichotomy between nature and the city, how destruction has become a subtractive yet creative function for economic, social and political administration is questioned in relation to the advance of the urban context as a natural habitat in which not only humans, but species other than humans are also found. I argue that, however, the case of Nusaybin exemplifies another instance of appropriation of the function of destruction in reference to Giorgio Agamben’s set of concepts expanded in his work which postulates the difference between polis and oikos in order to explain how changing domains require new forms of administration. It is suggested that destruction can be used in this purpose to remove the capacity to talk, apprehend or produce language, causing a case of aphasia as Maurice Halbwachs elaborates on his seminal work on collective memory. While administration of the built environment through destruction is argued to be a historically lingering tool for the sovereign to govern, this study draws a correlation between Agamben’s conceptual toolset on governance and Halbwachs’ inquiry into the notion of collective memory, and tries to comprehend and expose the logic behind the destruction of the city of Nusaybin, in order to pass beyond critical studies on neoliberal ideology where an epidemic of subtraction and destruction of the urban space with the changed, altered and transformed social, political and economic context is depicted. I conclude this effort by suggesting that the final scene of Ken Russell’s The Devils provide a setting to locate and apprehend the destruction exemplified in the case of Nusaybin.
Conference Proceeding by Emre Özyetiş
Papers by Emre Özyetiş
Drafts by Emre Özyetiş
Thesis by Emre Özyetiş
Since the earliest canonic texts on architecture and built environment, the urban and nature are postulated in the form of a rivalry dichotomy. However, this dichotomy has become neutralized starting with the discourse on architecture and city in the 17th century. Into this discussion, this paper introduces the example of the popular TV series Planet Earth II and its final episode that focuses on the cities. Through this articulation on the dichotomy between nature and the city, how destruction has become a subtractive yet creative function for economic, social and political administration is questioned in relation to the advance of the urban context as a natural habitat in which not only humans, but species other than humans are also found. I argue that, however, the case of Nusaybin exemplifies another instance of appropriation of the function of destruction in reference to Giorgio Agamben’s set of concepts expanded in his work which postulates the difference between polis and oikos in order to explain how changing domains require new forms of administration. It is suggested that destruction can be used in this purpose to remove the capacity to talk, apprehend or produce language, causing a case of aphasia as Maurice Halbwachs elaborates on his seminal work on collective memory. While administration of the built environment through destruction is argued to be a historically lingering tool for the sovereign to govern, this study draws a correlation between Agamben’s conceptual toolset on governance and Halbwachs’ inquiry into the notion of collective memory, and tries to comprehend and expose the logic behind the destruction of the city of Nusaybin, in order to pass beyond critical studies on neoliberal ideology where an epidemic of subtraction and destruction of the urban space with the changed, altered and transformed social, political and economic context is depicted. I conclude this effort by suggesting that the final scene of Ken Russell’s The Devils provide a setting to locate and apprehend the destruction exemplified in the case of Nusaybin.