Pera Museum, under the auspices of the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation, is set to kick off the autumn season in style with the introduction of two compelling exhibitions.

As a tribute to the visionary Suna Kıraç, who was instrumental in assembling the museum's remarkable Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection, the first of these exhibitions, aptly named "Souvenirs of the Future," delves into the profound interplay between memory and the imaginings of the future.

Meanwhile, the second exhibition, "On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, A History," embarks on a journey to unravel the multifaceted history of Istanbul's portrayal, offering fresh perspectives through an array of panoramic artworks and everyday objects. This exhibition promises to reevaluate Istanbul's significance within the annals of panoramic artistry.

Future-oriented history

"Souvenirs of the Future" focuses on the memories recalled through objects while exploring the connections between memory and future imaginings through a contemporary lens. The cultural and symbolic value and significance of objects taken as souvenirs, those that remind us of a certain place and time, or those that are collected, weave together personal journeys and the memory of the region. The exhibition approaches the collection with a future-oriented perspective, aiming to capture it through contemporary works derived from it. Instead of a nostalgic attachment to the past, it proposes contemplating how the future will be remembered and focuses on memory's future-oriented functions.

The exhibition comprises four sections: "Reminiscences of Motifs" brings together works inspired by motifs used in ceramic decorations. In the "Memory of Objects" section, stories are told through ceramic objects, focusing on contemporary reflections of material culture. "Memory of the Region" presents spatial interventions and site-specific installations, while the section titled "Remembering the Future" brings together speculative objects, videos, and photographs to create future memory artifacts.

Curated by Ulya Soley, the exhibition also includes a selection of ceramic pieces from the collection that inspired the commissioned works.

Istanbul's panorama

"On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, A History" aims to shed new light on the history of Istanbul’s representations through panoramic paintings and photographs. It critically approaches the history of the "panorama" and contextualizes its many iterations. While examining the layered relations in the production and consumption of panoramic images, the exhibition also explores the circulation of these images among different audiences, their receptions, and the connections between various media domains that have gained popularity over centuries.

An early 19th-century panorama of Istanbul, previously not published or exhibited, is being unveiled for the first time with the exhibition. As it brings together some of the most remarkable works by artists who captured a panoramic view of Istanbul, such as Robert Barker, Philipp Ferdinand von Gudenus, Joseph Schranz, Antoine-Ignace Melling, Montagu B. Dunn, and James Robertson, it also reveals how the panoramic perspective has been used to document different phenomena in Istanbul's history, from fire disasters to industrialization. While concentrating on 19th-century panoramas and panoramic images, "On the Spot" invites audiences to a comprehensive reconsideration of the long history of the panoramic perspective dating back to the early modern period and Istanbul's place within this history.

It also portrays the circulation of this form of representation in the Ottoman world and Europe through a diverse selection of materials, including ephemera and archival documents in addition to paintings, prints, and photographs, while exploring the fluidity within this diversity and the dialogues between different media domains.

The museum's new exhibitions will be on display from Oct. 26 to Feb. 25.