Book | The Person You Have Called Cannot Be Reached At The Moment

Mavi Boncuk |
The Person You Have Called Cannot Be Reached At The Moment;Representations of Life Styles in Turkey 1980-2005 by Meltem Ahıska, Zafer Yenal
Ottoman Bank Archive and Research Center Publication
428 pages 20 x 25 cm |İstanbul, Nisan 2006 | ISBN: 9789759812591

This publication, like the exhibition it accompanies, is organized around seven main headings inspired by popular song lyrics, ad slogans or common expressions from the 25 year span between 1980 and 2005. The catalogue documents, interrelates and opens for discussion the various media representations of different lifestyles and their associated products in Turkey, over the past two and a half decades. The concept "lifestyle" was redefined in Turkey with the growing professionalism of media practices after the 1980s. Everyday activities achieved through consumption such as the ways people dress, eat, communicate and enjoy themselves became the basic criteria to "differentiate" them. Just like any other merchandise, a "lifestyle" turned into something that could be purchased. However, the field of culture and consumption is also a field of conflict defined by continually changing indicators. A "lifestyle" therefore simultaneously expresses real conflicts and differences in society and is the external manifestation of perpetually shifting and transitory styles of living. Seen from this perspective, these representations hold up a mirror to both familiar and very different ways in which we see ourselves.