Vedat Ozan / The Unknown Sense of the Unseen City: Smell

The city, which has been the representation area of civilization since ancient times, appears as a phenomenon whose borders become blurred with the constant change of the physical and social environment. Dynamics such as construction and infrastructure activities, population mobility, environmental sustainability concerns, economic developments and technological advances make it necessary to think about the city. The complex structure of the city shaped by different dynamics brings with it the need to redefine the city. Making this definition has the potential to both understand continuity and changes and project the future of the city while evaluating the development of the city from past to present.

"Where is the City?" by YUNT The talk program titled "Rethinking the Boundaries of the City" , which started to be prepared within the scope of the exhibition, continues throughout the "Invisible City" exhibition. Prof. Dr. In the sessions to be moderated by Eva Şarlak, it is aimed to popularize the practices of thinking about the city.

Within the scope of the speech program, speakers will discuss the city's borders from different aspects. Each session will take place under a separate subheading and a reading recommendation will be shared with the participants before the session.

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Becoming bipedal, discovering fire, switching to regular agriculture, transforming from an individual struggling to live to a community member seeking pleasure. What role can the senses play in the background of these concepts, what can they transform and what can they become? Or did we leave that "sense" concept in high school biology classes?

In this interview, he will take a short journey in the sensory world, talk about the physiological working principles of the sense of smell, which is positioned at the bottom layer of an assumed fixed hierarchy of senses, which does not have a language to talk about, or even words to describe the warnings, and will touch upon the relations between smell-memory, smell-reproduction, and how these phenomena differentiate us from other living things. will discuss the social and cultural reflections that distinguish the world, "Is there anything that is invisible?" We will look for an answer to the question.

Resume

Writer, researcher and perfumer Vedat Ozan (b. 1959) is the founding instructor of the course called "Cultural History of Smell and Senses" at Istanbul Bilgi University Cultural Studies Graduate Program. Ozan, who prepared and presented the 'Koku' program, which lasted for more than 150 weeks on Açık Radyo, and the 20-episode 'Ufkun 2 Katı with Vedat Ozan' video series on the Pena channel, also served as a project coordinator and photography instructor following the training he received on photography at İFSAK in the past. has been found.

In addition to being a professional independent perfumer, he has conducted various training programs on the senses, inter-sensory permeability, the working and perception mechanisms of the senses of smell and taste, and their cultural projections. Ozan, whose articles on the perception of smell have been published in various academic and/or popular journals at home and abroad, and who is known for his expertise on the concepts of 'smell' and 'smell in the perception of taste', continues to work as a perfumer, as well as conducting sensory training programs in which the perception of smell is discussed, and providing training on the sense of smell and training for institutions. provides consultancy.

Ozan has four books (Everest publications) named "The Book of Scents", "The Book of Scents, Perfumes", "The Book of Scents, Cultures" and "The Book of Scents, Flavors". One of these books, "The Book of Smells, Flavors", was selected and awarded in the Food Writing category by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2019.