An international glance at the tastes of Izmir
Local tastes of Izmir; “boyoz (a type of Turkish pastry)”, “Izmir köfte (meatballs)”, “artichoke”, “mastic flavored cookies”, “çöp şiş (small pieces of grilled meat on wooden skewers)” turned into art, and qualified to be exhibited at an international event. Prof. Elvan Özkavruk Adanır, Head of Izmir University of Economics Department of Fashion and Textile Design, and Assoc. Prof. Jovita Sakalauskaite, prepared 35 dishes unique to Izmir, with textile art.
Their artwork will be exhibited at the 8th WTA International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art that will take place in Madrid, Spain on 17 September – 3 November among the artworks from all over the world.
“Culinary culture reflected on art”
Prof. Elvan Özkavruk Adanır, Head of IUE Department of Fashion and Textile Design, stated that this year’s biennial would be organized under the theme of the sustainable city. Adanır said, “We represented our country and university at the festival that was held in Uruguay 2 years ago, and received an honorary award for our artwork where we told the story of evolution of woman, her ability to give life, and her death through the objects we created with felt. This year, we attended the event that occurs every two years, with our dishes, which are a common cultural component of our city involving different communities. The art pieces of artists, who participate in the event, are free to approach contemporary textile with different contexts and concepts. Our art piece, which was based on our culinary culture, has been selected by the international jury to be exhibited at the biennial”.
Prof. Adanır reported that the past biennials took place in USA, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, and the event strengthened the tie between the textile artists. Prof. Adanır indicated that this year’s theme was sustainable city, and based on that theme they aimed to reflect Izmir’s culinary culture.
“Dishes prepared with love and passion”
Prof. Adanır stated that Izmir hosted many communities throughout the history, which resulted in cultural diversity. “Turks, Izmir Greeks, Levantines, Sephardi, refugees from Western Thrace, Crete, Chios, or Lesbos during the exchange years, Macedonians, Bosnians, Albanians lived together in Izmir, married each other and formed a cultural diversity. These communities became an important part of Izmir’s culinary culture. That is why Izmir became a sustainable city of taste. We prepared 35 dishes unique to different cultures by using textile materials. We prepared them with love and passion. We created exact replica of dishes from Izmir and surrounding areas such as Arnavut Ciğeri (a liver dish), lokma (Turkish doughnuts), fig, Kemalpaşa dessert, ivy, and blessed thistle via textile art. Our artwork will be displayed among the artwork of artists from Japan, Korea, France, USA, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Argentina, Holland, Russia, England, Norway, Germany, and China,” said Prof. Adanır.
