Curating the nation: Turkish pavilions in world expositions

Abstract

World expositions predate the Republic of Turkey. They came into existence 72 years before the foundation of the Republic, in 1851, with London’s Great Exhibition. As Timothy Mitchell has stated, these were events to which ‘the “whole world” was to be invited in to see a fantastic and yet systematic profusion of material goods, all the new necessities and desires that modern capitalism could order up and display’.1 The nineteenth-century world expositions gave the opportunity to learn more about other cultures – those of the colonies and of potential new markets. During the nineteenth century, what accompanied the encounter with others was a curiosity to learn the place of one’s own nation in the world and an expectation to be convinced of its superiority over others. After all, world expositions were ‘great new rituals of self congratulation’.2 Consequently, while physically bringing different nations together, expo grounds were conceptually setting them apart. From the placement of the display grounds to the representations of other cultures, the world was hierarchically categorized into a modern, progressive West and its others. © 2009 Selection and editorial matter, Sarah Chaplin and Alexandra Stara; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.