espaço azul entre as nuvens: Istanbul

sexta-feira, 8 de outubro de 2010

Istanbul, por Jean Baudrillard

(...) With Lisbon it shares the endless river, the magic of the two shores and popular cafés, windows and laundry, narrow streets and street corners. (But Lisbon’s empire was distant, across the sea. The city itself never had this imperial grandeur. Lisbon is open to the wind, an open city facing the sea.) It is as though the worldwide exchange running through İstanbul floats in a kind of nebulous eternity. It has in common with Rabat and Marrakech the neighborhoods surrounded by the city walls, covered bazaars, refinement and the noble decadence of Ottoman culture. Of course it shares with Venice the waters, canals, mosaics, jealousy and the reign of conspiracy lasting a few centuries. (But Venice is a merchant city, a depthless lagoon, glittering and superficial with its empire never having known blood and sacrifice.) It may even have some twin implications with Rio, the archipelago city, the center of a colonial empire that did not exist. As someone who toured all these cities in two subsequent months because of an objective coincidence I believe this comparative perspective to be entirely allegorical. Yet, among these cities, İstanbul...

Jean Baudrillard - Water, empire, gold, primitive stage (1999)

Não consegui encontrar a versão francesa original

terça-feira, 21 de setembro de 2010

Mesquita azul

O espaço interior da Mesquita azul é realmente impressionante, mas porque a visita fica limitada a uma pequena parte, onde os turistas de amontoam tentando fotografar(-se) não foi o deslumbramento que estava à espera. Sobretudo, porque tinha já a experiência da grande mesquita de Damasco, essa sim marcante.