Koray Degirmenci

Bu makale sanat sosyolojisi ile sanat yazini arasindaki disipliner sinirlardan ve sanatin farkli tariflerinden kaynaklanan temel bir kavramsal ve metodolojik gerilimden yola cikmaktadir. Bu makale, sanat sosyolojisi alanina giren yaklasimlari ele almaktan ziyade birbiriyle baglantili iki temel iddia uzerinde temellenmektedir. Makalenin ortaya koyacagi birinci iddia sanatin Arthur Danto tarafindan yapilan ontolojik tanimindan esinlenilerek bir imge olarak tanimlanabilecegi iddiasidir. Bir imge olarak kavranan sanatin sadece sanat uzerine felsefi ya da estetik dusunumu degil sanatin sosyolojisini de derinden donusturebilecegi ise ikinci iddiayi olusturmaktadir.

This article attempts to understand the fate of conventional notions of photographic indexicality and referentiality in the digital era where digital images have replaced analog images almost completely. Following a critical overview of relevant literature on digital photography, the author makes a conceptual distinction between referentiality and indexicality with respect to their implications for the notion of photographic realism. With a particular focus on the concept of indexicality, defined herein as an element that radically determines the definition of photography, the author argues that the image becomes a “thing” in digital images in the absence of indexicality by using Jean-Paul Sartre’s notion of “illusion of immanence”, a claim that would strongly challenge the view that digital images can still be regarded as photographs that themselves presuppose a particular relationship between an image and its object.

What distinguishes photography from other visual mediums? This deceptively simple but fundamental question has been at the centre of both past and current debates on the aesthetics of photography for quite some time. In this article, I will first address the premise that this question is intrinsically ontological and unfolded in pioneering debates as a sequence of implications about photographic indexicality. I will then argue that the ontological implications of photographic indexicality have been largely overlooked in subsequent research due to scholars’ concerns with how photography appears to us rather than what photography is in itself. To this end, I will specifically examine Kendall Walton's highly contested transparency thesis and some of its rebuttals, which have exerted a sprawling influence on debates on the aesthetics of photography. I will also argue that, having been exceedingly implicit in his account, what appears as indexicality to Walton and the implications thereof with respect to the transparency argument has operated on a phenomenological level; thus, the thesis itself has failed in instances in which the problem of representation and the very existence of the medium come into play. Finally, I will suggest that indexicality can be regarded as a distinctive feature of photography only when it is considered a predicate of transparency as an interstice of ‘unconcealment’ in the Heideggerian sense that would call into question the very existence of the representation and the photographic medium.

Resume This paper largely investigates the dynamics of cultural policy in the founding years of the Turkish Republic (1923-1940s) by looking at a particular cultural form, Turkish folk music. The reconstruction of Turkish folk music and the development of the term 'folk' reflect certain cultural and political aspects of the formation of the nation-state and of Turkish nationalism. The paper also attempts to understand the inspirational sources of the founding cadres' cultural policy by looking at the genealogy of the term 'folk' (in Romantic thought and during the Enlightenment period) and their folk discourse.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank everyone who helped with the organization of the conference " The Aesthetic Dimension of Visual Culture " , from which this volume Thanks also to the DigiLab personnel, František Zachoval and Jan Habrman, for their excellent technical support, and to Václav Magid for the kind offer to hold the event in the beautiful building of the Academy of Fine Arts. We are grateful to Josef Šebek and Derek Paton, who helped considerably in preparing this volume for publication. We wish to express our gratitude to the Czech Science Foundation, since the conference and this volume are the results of a three-year research project conducted by the Aesthetics and Film Studies Departments at Charles University and supported generously by the Foundation (project no. GA ČR 408/07/0909). We extend our gratitude also to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, which funded the conference. Finally, we thank our colleagues and friends at the Char...

Özet: Her ne kadar bu konuda ilgili literatürde çatışmalı fikirler olsa da, tesbih Hinduizm, Budizm, Hristiyanlık ve İslam gibi farklı dinsel geleneklerde dini, kültürel, işlevsel anlamlar ve roller taşımaktadır. Dini işlevleri ve anlamlarının ötesinde, tesbih koleksiyoncu-luğu Türkiye'de çok köklü ve zengin bir alanı temsil etmekte ve görünüşte seküler olan özgün bir kültürel pratiği oluşturmaktadır. Bu çalışma bu kültürel pratiğin tesbih yapımında kullanılan malzemelerle ilgili çok belirli bir boyutuna odaklanmaktadır. Makale, tesbih koleksiyonu alanında bazı durumlarda mistik haller alabilen bir materyal fetişizminin öne çıktığını ve koleksiyoncuların ve ustaların tesbih yapımında kullanılan materyaller aracılığıyla bir tür otantisite inşa ettiklerini öne sürmekte ve bu inşa sürecini incelemektedir. Bu otantisite inşasının belki de en çarpıcı biçimlerde gerçekleştiği alan, tesbih yapımında Osmanlı sıkma kehri-bar malzeme olarak adlandırılan ancak çok daha yeni bir döneme ait olan malzemelerin kullanıldığı alandır.

Abstract: Prayer beads, although being controversial in the relevant literature, have religious, cultural and functional significance in the doctrines and practices of various religious traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc. Beyond its religious functions and meanings, tesbih collection represents a deeply rooted and rich field, creating a unique cultural (and so-called secular) practice in Turkey. In this study, a very specific dimension of this cultural practice will be investigated, which is related with the materials used in tesbih making. This article will attempt to examine how a material fetishism, which takes mystical states in some cases, has come to the forefront and how collectors and masters construct authenticity through and within materials in tesbih making. To investigate the construction of authenticity, the author will especially focus on the so-called Ottoman (cherry) amber (faturan) in tesbih making, which are supposed to be related with the Ottoman period but indeed date back to a newer (modern) period.

This article attempts to understand the fate of conventional notions of photographic indexicality and referentiality in the digital era where digital images have replaced analog images almost completely. Following a critical overview of relevant literature on digital photography, the author makes a conceptual distinction between referentiality and indexicality with respect to their implications for the notion of photographic realism. With a particular focus on the concept of indexicality, defined herein as an element that radically determines the definition of photography, the author argues that the image becomes a " thing " in digital images in the absence of indexicality by using Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of " illusion of immanence " , a claim that would strongly challenge the view that digital images can still be regarded as photographs that themselves presuppose a particular relationship between an image and its object.

The notion of depth of field refers to the way in which spatial depth is represented through depth of focus in cinematic or photographic images. Technically speaking, a shallow depth of field allows a relatively smaller portion of space to come into focus, while a broader depth of field brings a larger spatial plane into focus. From classical debates to contemporary film theory, the issue of depth of field as a means of representing space in depth in cinematic imagery has been the subject of immense debate in relevant literature with respect to film philosophy and aesthetics. Surprisingly, though, the phenomenon of depth of field has garnered significantly less attention in popular theories of photography despite it being the only technical means by which to represent spatial depth in the photographic image.

What distinguishes photography from other visual mediums? This deceptively simple but fundamental question has been at the centre of both past and current debates on the aesthetics of photography for quite some time. In this article, I will first address the premise that this question is intrinsically ontological and unfolded in pioneering debates as a sequence of implications about photographic indexicality. I will then argue that the ontological implications of photographic indexicality have been largely overlooked in subsequent research due to scholars’ concerns with how photography appears to us rather than what photography is in itself. To this end, I will specifically examine Kendall Walton’s highly contested transparency thesis and some of its rebuttals, which have exerted a sprawling influence on debates on the aesthetics of photography. I will also argue that, having been exceedingly implicit in his account, what appears as indexicality to Walton and the implications thereof with respect to the transparency argument has operated on a phenomenological level; thus, the thesis itself has failed in instances in which the problem of representation and the very existence of the medium come into play. Finally, I will suggest that indexicality can be regarded as a distinctive feature of photography only when it is considered a predicate of transparency as an interstice of ‘unconcealment’ in the Heideggerian sense that would call into question the very existence of the representation and the photographic medium.

The notion of depth of field refers to the way in which spatial depth is represented through depth of focus in cinematic or photographic
images. Technically speaking, depth of field is determined by many factors, namely the distance between the lens and
the subject, the focal length of the lens, the camera format, the aperture value, etc. Although the technical aspects of depth of
field have been subject to pointed empirical exploration, this article will address the debates that focus on the implications of
the notion of depth of field vis-a-vis the philosophy and aesthetics of the cinematic and photographic image. The significance
of depth of field with respect to the cinematic representation of space has stirred considerable controversy in extant literature.
This paper will attempt to connect pertinent theoretical debates in film theory with photography through an examination of the
implications of each on the indexical character of the photographic medium.

This article rests on the assumption that photography operates inherently through a notion of nostalgia, which in turn depends on what Roland Barthes calls the “adherence of the referent.” The author focuses on the ontology of digital images with respect to their relation to the “referent” and claims that the nostalgia once immanent to the photograph has been fundamentally changed by the so-called digital turn in photography. Thus, the digital images that operate within a postmodern system of representation no longer depend on the sense of nostalgia that owes its existence to the referent, but rather nostalgia for the “modern”; for forms tinged with naïvety that have thus retained their meaning in a world whose language is a set of semiotic signs—for things that don’t actually “mean” anything innately, but stand as signifiers of something else, of the “other.” The aesthetic of digital images confirm the existence of this new “mode” of nostalgia: while the digital images marry perfection and tactlessness with a desire to behold everything possible, they, somewhat paradoxically, operate mainly through “texture” and “defect” to generate analog-like images. I will argue that these two different but interrelated forms of representation produce and correspond to two distinct realms: a postmodern (ironic) nostalgia that consciously withers its object and, by taking inspiration from Lev Manovich (2006), solidification and glorification of the “photographic.”

This article assesses the quality of the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) process in Turkey through an exploration of the legal status and practical dimensions of SIA. We examined a randomly selected sample of SIAs, implemented in 67 development and investment projects between 1993 and 2011, using non-mandatory indicators of quality assessment. We found that, although this period has seen substantial improvements in the legal status of SIA and some improvement in certain dimensions of SIA in practice, much remains to be done in respect to international principles, guidelines and best practices. In practice, SIA is often considered an informational and consultation activity to be fulfilled during the public participation meeting. Moreover, in most cases mechanisms of impact identification/prediction and mitigation/monitoring exist only in theory. On the basis of these findings and assessment of relevant legislation, we offer some recommendations to improve the SIA process in Turkey in hopes that an understanding of the problems plaguing SIA in practice renders these recommendations appropriate to other contexts as well.

This study broadly examines the relationship between “world music” and the production of place and locality in the cultural economy of late capitalism by looking at the Turkish case, focusing specifically on how Doublemoon, an internationally well‐known Istanbul‐based label, constructs an “Istanbul sound” under the label of “world music” or “world fusion.” It investigates how the image of Istanbul produced through the category of world music is a reproduction of the stereotypical identity of the city—the meeting place of ethnicized and essentialized East and West. The investigation shows how global discourses of world music are incorporated and “indigenized” in the production of “Turkish world music” as created by Doublemoon.