History runs through ancient channels

Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations is home to a new exhibition that delves into some of the greatest monuments in the history of Constantinople, Istanbul’s predecessor. The ‘Waters for a Capital’ exhibition shares findings on one of the longest and most extensive water channels ever constructed in history

A new exhibition shines further light on the history of Istanbul, unraveling one of the biggest achievements in the history of Constantinople, the late Roman and Byzantine city.

The long title of the exhibition is Waters for a Capital: Archaeological and Scientific Research into the Water Supply of Byzantine Constantinople / Istanbul, and it uncovers some of the greatest monuments, sharing the history of the Hagia Sophia, the relics of the Hippodrome, and the walls overlooking the Bosphorus.

The exhibition, which opened Nov. 9 at Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (RCAC), reveals archaeological findings through photos and computer reconstructions of one of the longest and most extensive water channels ever constructed. Hidden in the dense forests of northern Thrace are the monuments to ancient water engineering, channeling and distributing water to Istanbul across hundreds of kilometers.

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Research center opens with a look at Anatolia

Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations makes its official opening with a photography exhibition of the late chronicler of Anatolia, Josephine Powell. The center aims to focus on the Anatolia

Josephine Powell was one of the most prominent documenters of Turkey’s recent history and its transformation after the establishment of the republic in early 20th century. Having visited Turkey for the first time in 1955 to photograph Byzantine mosaics, she became a regular traveler in Turkey, photographically and academically documenting nomadic life. She was both a collector of Anatolian artifacts like flat-woven textiles, kilims and sacks, as well as a photographer of ethnography.

Until her death in 2007, Powell documented Anatolia and its diverse ways of life in a collection of 30,000 photographs. Three months before her death, she left the entire collection to the Vehbi Koç Foundation. The photos have been digitized and cataloged by Koç University’s Suna Kıraç Foundation.

Now, a selection of these photographs, taken over a span of two decades, is ready for art and culture aficionados as part of an opening exhibition.

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Angrier, more aggressive Madonna rocks Istanbul

Three decades into her career, with her second visit to Istanbul after a twenty year absence, Madonna once again showed an awe-struck audience of 50,000 the very definition of a good show. In fact, the best show anyone could hope to see.

Madonna performed in Istanbul June 7 on the third stop in her latest MDNA tour. The show was vintage Madonna, edgy Madonna, a re-invented Madonna, and an all-too-familiar in-your-face Madonna. Singing perhaps a little too much from her new album MDNA for the casual fans’ taste, the Queen of Pop nonetheless managed to impress with a two-hour extravaganza of singing, dancing, acrobatics, visual effects and costumes.

With nine concert tours undertaken throughout her career, the MDNA Tour is the darkest Madonna has ever done. This was a concert of war, anger and aggression. But against whom it was directed is a bit muddled. There were guns, a shooting rampage on Madonna’s part against her male dancers, a choreographed dance of eye-flinching torture, prison violence and blood, lots of blood splattered across giant screens. Madonna definitely had some issues to work out. She was angry at ex-husbands, ex-lovers, the male authority figures, high school bullies, the church, and a pop star who is 28 year her younger.

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Lucky Luke celebrated in Istanbul

Lucky Luke, the timeless Belgian comic depiction of a lonesome cowboy created by the team of Morris and Goscinny, will be celebrated in Istanbul with an extravaganza including an exhibition, a workshop and a panel

Comic books were a hovering presence in Turkey’s pop culture from the late 1950s until the 1980s, defining generations, their tastes and the boundaries of their imagination. It’s no surprise that kids who grew up with imaginary comic heroes dominating their childhood and adolescent lives are looking back on them now. While comic book culture went into a period of deep sleep with the increasing number of private TV channels and the emergence of videos and computers in the 1980s, the nostalgia has become unbearable for some kids, who have now grown up, whether they have become academics or artists, opened their own businesses or are working away in a job.

The lazy comic book readers of the past have become adults, reviving the cult of comic books in late 1990s through underground fanzines and secondhand booksellers. Now this has become an economy of its own, with old comic books published in new packages to suit expensive tastes, and collectors demanding insane amounts of money for old issues of comic books and the once-cheap memorabilia of childhood.

In this atmosphere, a comic book hero that was a big name for Turkish readers is getting the star treatment in Istanbul now. Belgian cartoonist Morris and writer René Goscinny’s timeless creation, the lonesome cowboy Lucky Luke (known as “Red Kit” to Turkish readers) is at the center of an extravaganza celebrating the history, art and fandom of the character.

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From Istanbul with love

As the world’s most famous spy Bond prepares to jump into his 23rd adventure on screen, Turkey prepares to host him in Istanbul, Fethiye and the historic Varda Bridge in its opening scenes. This will be the third time Bond visits Istanbul

The coolest, sexiest and most charismatic spy of them all is donning his latest state-of-the-art gadgets and raising his glass of vodka martini – shaken, not stirred – for a celebration of 50 years in the spy business. With a “license to kill” anyone threatening the reign of the British, James Bond is preparing to parachute off to the next exotic locale in the 23rd installment of the longest-running film franchise.

The next exotic locale in the upcoming Bond movie Skyfall, to be released in late 2012, will be none other than Istanbul. The opening scenes will take place in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square and Hagia Sophia and a further move will take the crew to the coastal town of Fethiye and the historic Varda Railway Bridge close to the southern city of Adana.

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