Orhan Pamuk: Balkon - Hardcover

Orhan Pamuk

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3958293999 ISBN 13: 9783958293991

Publisher: Steidl, 2018

Synopsis

In the winter of 2011 Nobel-Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk took 8,500 color photographs from his balcony with its panoramic view of Istanbul, the entrance of the Bosphorus, the old town, the Asian and European sides of the city, the surrounding hills, and the distant islands and mountains. Sometimes he would leave his writing desk and follow the movements of the boats as they passed in front of his apartment and sailed far away.

As Pamuk obsessively created these images he felt his desire to do so was related to a strange particular mood he was experiencing. He photographed further and began to think about what was happening to himself: Why was he taking these photos? How are seeing and photography related? What is the affinity between writing and seeing? Why do we enjoy looking at landscapes and landscape photographs? Balkon presents almost 500 of these photos selected by Pamuk, who has also co-designed the book and written its introduction.

'There is genius in Pamuk’s madness.' -Umberto Eco

About this title

Review:

Balkon's images capture one of the central cruxes of Pamuk's work: a sustained interest in distances.--Kaya Genç "Art in America "

Balkon, the Turkish word for balcony, is a mediation on the city where Pamuk was born in 1952. Taken over a five-month period beginning in late 2012, the 600 pictures of ancient monuments, wooded isles and cloud-laden skies only hint at the chaos of Istanbul, which has served as a central character in much of the novelist's work.--Ayla Jean Yackley "Art Newspaper "

The photographs, arranged often in a series of two to eight per page, convey an affective aura.--Erdağ Göknar "Los Angeles Review of Books "

About this edition

• Publisher: Steidl
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 3958293999
• ISBN 13: 9783958293991
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200