Stepping back | Adina Selimović

  

After three months of thinking about what turns my work should take, I might finally found my path. The idea of making a guided tour still seems to be final.   

  

Let me quickly sum up what are the elements of my project I seem sure of right now:   
-It is tour of Jewish heritage in Sarajevo 

 - It will be a self-guiding app   
- The target group will be tourists who have an interest in heritage and literature  

  

  

New Questions emerging   

  

During last month we presented our thesis to professors and our colleagues from the second year.  My respondent gave me some valuable suggestions and tips about what I should be focusing on. For example, asking me to think about my target audience. Professors also had valid points I am taking into consideration. Joska repeated once again to think of “Head, foot and the stomach “. Most tours in Sarajevo, that I have observed, indeed lack this last element of satisfying our bellies after a long walk. (And I do mean long, some of the tours are four hours long)   

  

  

  

The most important piece of information I have received is that I need to start thinking about what does indeed connect sites and how they fit into same narrative. Is it enough to pile it all up in one box just because they have „Jewish“in front of it? This made me think of what can actually be considered Jewish, the answer of this I have found in the book by Rosman „How Jewish is Jewish history “. The author deals with a postmodern turn in historiography that has affected Jewish studies as well. He tries to answer who can be considered a Jew and how to fit all different social and religious groups into one category. Luckily for my project postmodernism also means cultural turn in Jewish studies, the culture is the element that unites Jewish community more than religion, economic status, location and so on.    

  

In respect to this, I have decided to make the distinction between Sephardi Jewish heritage and Ashkenazi heritage.  Taking into consideration my personal interest I will be focusing on Sephardi Jewish heritage.   Thinking about the difference of those two communities I remembered the quite from Jakob Finci, I read on poster for exhibition "Survival in Sarajevo"

  If you are interested to know more about the role of the Jewish community in Sarajevo during Siege, and the connections between Jews and non-Jews in Sarajevo. I strongly recommend watching this short film: http://www.centropa.org/sites/default/files/film/video/sarajevo_eng_nosub-032014.mp4    

P.S while watching it have in mind that bizarrely enough the purpose of Siege of Sarajevo was to distract rest of the world from  ethic cleansing in rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

In the last post, I have written about the criteria I will use for the selection of sites, the decision is not made yet, but I have changed the perspective I think about the criteria.  Now, I am thinking of what the criteria should for connecting sites be, not what site is “worth presenting”. The change and progress might not be great, but for now, to me, it seems much clearer about the direction I am taking. (not to mention the stress it reviles me from)  

I have decided to take a step back, and not think about the specific sites but about Identity and Heritage. Hopefully, during the break I will have time to read following works that will potentially show me how to think Heritage and Identity in postmodern world:   

 -Soderland, Hilary A, Identity and Heritage: Contemporary Challenges in a Globalized World  

 -Rodney Harrison, Heritage: Critical Approaches  

  

  

  

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Let's go for a walk | Adina Selimović

Good news,  seems like I have finally moved from a dead point. During my recent meeting (third one in just one month to be more precise) with professors, I got some exciting ideas for my thesis. I will not be conducting  academic research but making a 'tour of the Jewish heritage in Sarajevo'.

If someone told me a month ago that this would happen I surely would not believe it. I felt like I was in a helpless situation and that I will never decide what to write about. Who knew that I would just make decision not to write? And to be fair I am quite happy with this new road I am on. Not that I don't love spending nights and nights writing thesis chapters. I am sure we all do.

Last time I decided to climb on the shoulders of the giant rather than fight it, now we will be going for a walk. At the end of this, we might even become friends. Right now, I am wondering what kind of a tour to make. Should it be guided tour or maybe virtual one? Before deciding this, I must consider two facts: 
- First, one of the specifics of Jewish heritage in Sarajevo is that there is no specific neighbourhood we can call 'Jewish', therefor sites are usually not within walking distance.
- Second, many buildings that are part of Jewish heritage have changed or disappeared. So, the second option seems more suitable. Personally, I would like to make an app that would help you navigate  through Sarajevo and show you what use to be there or still is, or why the certain place is important for the community. 

Sadly, the big obstacle here is that I have no idea how to make an app or web-page. The furthest my technological skills go is making an 360° photo. 

I now must think of proper methodology and how to conduct my research and then present it all. Prior to starting my work, I will also take similar walking tours in Sarajevo, to learn what is the focus of those tours and what I can offer that is different. And of course, I am not forgetting a fact it is going to (probably) be the virtual tour so I need to find examples of other best practices.

Afterwards, I can start collecting date from sources. Those can be put into two categories:

- building, sites and monuments that are still standing

- archive materials, documents and photos.

The analyses of the first category is most likely going to require less work. That is going to be the first step of my work, to collect date about existing tangible legacy consider what should be added in my 'tour'. Afterwards, I will be looking into archive documentation, during my last visit to Sarajevo I have obtained little booklet that lists said documents, plans and photographs regarding synagogues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so I already have right directions on where to look for similar documentation.

Second oldest Jewish cementry in Europe

I am not sure now how to finish this blog post, I have been very positive and excited to start writing it, believing I have a lot to say. But now, it feels like I have a lot of new issues to consider and think about. So, I will not be ending it on a very positive note, but rather just hoping that until my next blog post I will have new ideas, or maybe just new questions. I have learned that having an issue at hand to think about is better than having nothing.

Practical Matters | Eszter Jakab

It is always very nice and exciting to come up with a thesis proposal – ok, maybe not always. But sooner or later the author has to face reality. In this reality there are many limitations affecting the outcome of the thesis. In this blogpost I would like to elaborate the practical matters that can put a barrier to my objectives.

Amount of workload

First and foremost, I wish to discuss a very important issue: the amount of workload. At one point, I need to finish and submit my thesis, not to mention the preparations for its defense. There are many processes that are to be done before that, such as formulating my final research question and methodology, processing all the textual and artistic material, that I have already listed in my previous post, evaluating them and drawing conclusions, finding connections, maybe processing the interviews or questionnaires that I intend to fulfil with any group of people concerned with my chosen sites, writing, writing and writing, structuring everything, revising, adding references, inserting images, formatting text, composing the acknowledgement section, the bibliography, table of content, list of figures, revising again, etc. – I am sure that something has been left out. So the strategy in my opinion should be developing a time management plan where I list and structure all the tasks that are to be done and estimate the maximum necessary time for them.

Territorial issues

My second point is that I am in that lucky and at the same time unlucky position, that my thesis topic is connected to a faraway land: South Asia. Which immediately gives place to the question, whether there is a need of travelling there to fulfil the aims of my research. I still have not decided on this point. If I have the intention to visit the sites of my topic, should I visit them all, if not, which ones should and even more can I visit? As probably I have already noted, the four most sacred sites of the Buddha’s life are situated in two different countries, namely in Nepal and India, and even in India they are situated in different states. If I have the financial background – to which point I will come in a second – of course I would like to take the opportunity to travel there, but then again, a plan needs to be developed about the route, the time spent at different locations, the visa issues, the means of travel, the accommodation, the institutions I would be able to contact and I could continue the line. So it really needs thoughtful consideration firstly whether it worth it and secondly, whether all the four sites are feasible to visit and do research at.

Financial issues

Lastly, I come to the matters of finance. This is more of a concern if the answer to the previous question is that the travel is needed for the fulfilment of my expected outcomes. Then I need to classify my resources, which basically could be divided into two big categories: self-funding and external help. Certainly, these can be broke down into subcategories, such as savings, income, help from family, scholarships at CEU, or other scholarships. Mostly the latter ones require greater arrangements as for them serious applications should be put together which also has deadlines, at which point we come back to the issue of workload and time management. Thus I need to include this in that table as well.

However, travel costs could not be the only expenses that occur during writing the thesis, nevertheless they are far from the formerly discussed with regard to number. Smaller expenses should be calculated, because even with such a support on behalf of CEU, I could justify the need for buying certain books and albums for my thesis or the need to subscribe in another library (the Oriental Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for instance). Moreover, I would definitely print material as well as the thesis itself and we should not disregard the amount of coffee I will consume during my studies.

It is my hope that I was able to shed light on some of the most important practical matters and their possible solutions and strategies, however, if anyone has additional ideas or would like to share their own issues in this matter, I am more than happy and open to discuss them.

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Introduction of a Case Study | "Tselinny": a happy ending? Dinara Satbayeva

Today I want to tell you about a beautiful modernist construction in Almaty that hopefully will become one of my case studies. It is now a happy ending kind of story, as famous cultural nucleus Tselinny Cinema in Almaty is taking its original shapes and gets a new, but equally important role in the cultural life of the city.

Image 1: The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture

The story of the building can be viewed as a story of cinderella's magical makeover. Just like Cinderella, Tselinny cinema was for a long time like a forgotten, mistreated and dusty diamond of soviet architecture and culture, until “a prince”, or rather a new private owner of the building invited a fairy – Asif Khan – famous British architect to make it shine bright again...

Stepping a little back, I think it is also relevant to mention my progress with defining my thesis boundaries and justifications that I have for establishing these boundaries. For the purpose of feasibility and deep analysis of cases, I am thinking about limiting my cases to the buildings that are cultural public institutions (in use and in initial planning). I think that to explore participatory management in architecture, following with investigation of dynamics of communities creation around the issue of preservation and communities participation in urban development, it is justified to look at cases of close interaction between the public and the buildings themselves. As many examples of Soviet Modernism in Kazakhstan are residential, industrial and governmental buildings, these are problematic to explore, because of the diverse usage and limited public access to those buildings. However, I aspire to create a common platform to include modernist heritage in its wholeness by exploring certain cases more precisely.

Tselinny's tale

So once upon a time in 1964, Tselinny Cinema was constructed on the Masanchi street 59, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was a collaborative work of architects S. Rosenblum (author of a model project), V. Katsev, B. Tyutin (geo-tagging), engineer V. Semenov and artist E. Sidorkin. It was the republic's first widescreen cinema. It was also the most popular cinema in the city, with halls for one and a half thousand seats, which was never enough to accommodate everyone willing to attend a cinema session. In 1982 almost two million viewers were estimated to be able to attend the cinema.

Image 2: The Tselinny Cinema, 1960s

While it was a typical humble project in its form, with many siblings in other soviet cities, its open glass front facade of made it particularly and revolutionary inviting for a growing cinema-loving audience of Almaty. The facade illustrates the full glazing stylistic as we see it in contemporary architecture. The cinema was the first conceptually public space of the city and it was harmonically embedded into a booming urban landscape of Almaty. Along with the ideals of Le Corbusier against the excessive decorations of facades, many secrets of the Tselinny's beauty were hidden inside. Behind the glass facade one could see sgraffito murals of running horses by Yevgeny Sidorkin flaunting. Sidorkin made the interior reflect many national and folk tales motifs. This was a common technique of the time, where every republic's typical constructions are unique with respect to small details alluding to traditional cultures.

What is more exciting, is that if we look at the interpretation of kazakh culture as 'nomadic', modernist architecture 'function in form', harmony of space and forms, use of fundamental materials, its truthfulness and futurism are so easily put together, so it seems to be easily relatable to the contemporary historical narrative, but also to the considerations of the future, which are still modernist in many ideas of architecture.

Image 3: Yevgeny Sodorkin's sgraffito in the foyer of  «Tselinny» cinema. 2018. Photo by Yuriy Palmin

Image 4: «Tselinny» cinema in early 2000s

From a proud and welcoming center for cinema culture in Almaty, with ears, the building lost its fit. The cinema was closed and sold in the beginning of 2000s. It was harshly neglected, overrun by modern cheap looking materials, its proud handwritten name turned into something which looks more like an abrupt, cheap bright red letters of no specific aesthetic belonging.

In 2018, the long-awaited project of Center for Contemporary Culture "Tselinny", lead by Jamilya Nurkaliyeva and architect Asif Khan, gave this building another chance. In the summer, during the interior works sgraffito that were believed to be lost due to bad maintenance were rediscovered. Miraculously, Sidorkin's sgraffito in the foyer was thoughtlessly covered with drywall. One could guess that substructures hammered directly into the drawing damaged the artwork significantly. Nevertheless, this discovery was now in the good hands and will be brought back to life.

Image 5: The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture Interior

Image 6: Yevgeny Sodorkin's sgraffito in the foyer of  «Tselinny» cinema, 2018. Photo by Marat Sadykov

In an interview on the website of the center architect Asif Khan shared some of his plans on the reconstruction of the building. He sees it to be interactive in its form, where the new center will pertain its historical and architectural value, but will be ready to embrace the demands of the future, so that anyone could come there to work, learn, recreate and network. Moreover, the whole area has a potential of developing into a park zone, which will make the performance space of the center even bigger.

While the center is already closed and will undergo a final stage of reconstruction and restoration by 2020, it is already notable in the attitude of the management and the architect that this is a story with a happy ending. The center is now owned privately, which is the first private cultural center in Kazakhstan. The team held several events, many of which were talking about the importance of architectural and urban heritage, about further projects and developments. Earlier this summer they launched a book together with Moscow's GARAGE gallery on Soviet Modernism in Kazakhstan. 

Its founder Kairat Boranbayev expressed his idea of the building's future and it also makes me hopeful:

“Tselinny will not only be another attraction for citizens, but it will give

 a powerful impetus to the development of modern culture and art throughout Central Asia, and in the future will enter the list of leading world arts institutions”

Image 7: The Tselinny Cinema, 1960s

Sources:

https://www.tselinny.org/en/about

https://www.tselinny.org/en/article/18

https://astanatimes.com/2018/09/tselinny-from-old-soviet-cinema-to-modern-contemporary-arts-centre/
http://artguide.com/posts/1563

https://rus.azattyq.org/a/29491202.html

https://garagemca.org/en/news/2018-08-15-kazakhstan-to-open-its-first-center-for-contemporary-culture-with-the-support-of-garage