Scholars@Hallwalls is a monthly series featuring talks by Humanities Institute Faculty Fellows. Please join us in the cinema space at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center!

Complimentary wine and light fare will be served for a brief, pre-talk mingling session at this free and open-to-the-public event.

“Modernizing Nature/Naturalizing Modernization: Structuring Public Leisure Space in the Late Ottoman Empire”

Similar to the urban parks of industrializing cities, new Ottoman “public gardens” were established to serve as symbols and tools municipal reform during the long nineteenth century. These spaces were fitted into urban cultural landscapes where longstanding practices of recreation and entertainment had taken root. This presentation looks at public gardens in key Balkan and Anatolian cities to trace how their establishment followed the expansion of infrastructural networks and imaging technologies. While these spaces signified the Ottoman empire’s centralizing command over the provinces, they also served as platforms where publics emerged into visibility to address or challenge state power.

This event will be simultaneously live-streamed via the Hallwalls website. The talk will begin at ~4:15pm.

About Berin Golonu, Assistant Professor of Art History, Department of Art

Berin Golonu’s research interests include Ottoman art and visual culture, landscape architecture, art and ecology, and photographic histories of the Middle East. Her current book project Modernizing Nature/Naturalizing Modernization: Urban Greenspace and Cultural Memory in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Lands looks at the design, function, use of public recreation space in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman cities during the long nineteenth century. Golonu’s art criticism has been published in various international arts journals including Third Text, Artforum, Art in America, Aperture and frieze. Golonu’s curatorial projects have been displayed at Dorsky Gallery; the University of Rochester; New Langton Arts; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.