Living Rooms Occupied: Narratives on the Recontextualization of the “Museum-Salon” Practice in Modern Turkish Domesticity

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the notion of “museum-salon” and the changes in its perception and practices in the context of Turkish middle-class home cultures. Many authors have discussed the meaning of a prestigious living room allocated for guests only and addressed the existence of this room as an isolated space, detached from the household’s everyday routines. Constructing these rooms with Western-style furniture and objects has been tied to Turkish modernization and the attempts to create modern civic identities and lifestyles, especially following the founding of the Republic of Turkey. This study questioned the role of an iconic living room with unused displays as a means to modern living, arguing, in fact, that the museum-salon both sustained and negotiated traditional domestic practices. Interpretation of the qualitative data gained through fieldwork conducted in Istanbul contributes to the ongoing discussion in which utilization of the living room for everyday life was considered an objectification of modernity and an internalization of individuality. Through the rejection of the isolated living room through use and customization around notions of individuality and anti-communitarianism, it traced the changing local notions of modern living. The changes and differences are related to the idea of habitus, as discussed by Bourdieu (1984), rather than simply being viewed as generational preferences. Open living rooms that were subservient to everyday life now defined the modern habitus, whereas closed ones were associated with being traditional and local. It could be inferred that this is the result of a belated modernity in the context of Turkish living rooms as people cultivate themselves, satisfy their everyday needs, and use the largest space in their homes according to their autonomies.

KEYWORDS:

• living room
• modernization
• domesticity
• middle-class
• interiors
• practice

• SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION CODES: material culture
• ethnographic fieldwork
• qualitative analysis

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For an extensive study about the design qualities of premodern dining furniture, see Nasır (2016b).

2. Dellaloğlu (2016), a Turkish sociologist who is highly critical of Turkish Modernization, criticized the symbolic and superficial appropriation of modernity and the total abandonment of tradition.

3. Keyder (2000) correlated the insufficient cultural exchange that Turkey experienced with the maintenance of a closed economy focused on import substitution.

4. Keyder (2000) made a categorization as the ‘globalized’ and ‘local’ groups with a more general viewpoint. In fact it is really difficult to define an exact region for every social fraction or individual. It is possible to find cases to locate various intermediate zones in between these two opposite poles. But this definition prepares a proper ground for discussing many concepts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esra Bici Nasir

DR. ESRA BICI NASIR: CORRESPONDING AUTHOR. HAVING HER UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE FROM THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT AT MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN 2002, DR. NASIR RECEIVED HER MSC AND PHD DEGREES FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IN ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY. SHE COMPLETED HER DOCTORAL DISSERTATION THESIS ELABORATING ON LIVING ROOM FURNITURE CONSUMPTION DYNAMICS AND USE PRACTICES IN 2016. SHE WORKED AS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN DEPARTMENT AT MEDIPOL UNIVERSITY AND CURRENTLY IS LECTURING IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT AT IZMIR UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS. HER AREAS OF INTEREST ARE DESIGN HISTORY, MATERIAL CULTURE, FURNITURE DESIGN, DESIGN CULTURE AND DESIGN ANTHROPOLOGY. SHE HAS PUBLISHED ARTICLES IN THE JOURNAL OF THE MUKOGAWA WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY: INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING AND IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD DESIGN. [email protected]

s¸ebnem Timur

PROFESSOR DR. S¸EBNEM TIMUR: SECOND AUTHOR. DR. TIMUR GRADUATED FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AT MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (METU) IN 1994 AND RECEIVED HER MFA AND PHD DEGREES FROM BILKENT UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT OF GRAPHIC DESIGN. SHE HAS CONDUCTED A POST-DOCTORAL STUDY AS AN HONORARY RESEARCH FELLOW AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY ON MATERIAL CULTURE. SHE IS CURRENTLY TEACHING AT ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT DESIGN. HER RESEARCH INTERESTS FOCUS ON DESIGN AND OBJECTS AS CULTURAL PHENOMENA AT THE INTERSECTION POINT OF SEMIOTICS, MATERIAL CULTURE, AND VISUAL CULTURE STUDIES.

Meltem Ö. Gürel

PROFESSOR DR. MELTEM Ö. GÜREL: THIRD AUTHOR. PROFESSOR AND THE DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AT YASAR UNIVERSITY. GÜREL RECEIVED HER PHD IN ARCHITECTURE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (UIUC) WHERE SHE ALSO TAUGHT AS AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR. HER RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE ARCHITECTURAL THEORY AND CRITICISM, CROSS-CULTURAL HISTORIES OF ARCHITECTURAL MODERNISM WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SOCIETY, GENDER, AND CULTURE (ESPECIALLY IN MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY TURKEY), CULTURE-SPACE RELATIONSHIP, AND DESIGN EDUCATION.