2. As the planks of Theseus' ship needed
repair, it was replaced part by part, up to a
point where not a single part from the
original ship remained in it, anymore. Is it,
then, still the same ship?
If all the discarded parts were used to build
another ship, which of the two, if either, is
the real Ship of Theseus?
3. Objects are nothing more than a bundle of their
properties, one of them being the sentiments we
attach to them.
Originator of the Bundle Theory of Objects
4. “...man's sentimental attachment to objects is
one of life's greatest consolations.”
― Orhan Pamuk
(Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2006)
5. My Dream
To visit the Masumiyat Müzesi (Museum of Innocence)
in Istanbul, Turkey
The Museum of Innocence is both a novel by Orhan Pamuk and a museum he has set up. From the
very beginnings of the project, since the 1990s, Pamuk has conceived of novel and museum
together. The novel, which is about love, is set between 1974 and the early ’00s, and describes life
in Istanbul between 1950 and 2000 through memories and flashbacks centered around two
families – one wealthy, the other lower middle class.
The museum presents what the novel’s characters used, wore, heard, saw, collected and dreamed
of, all meticulously arranged in boxes and display cabinets. It is not essential to have read the book
in order to enjoy the museum, just as it is not necessary to have visited the museum in order to
fully enjoy the book.
But those who have read the novel will better grasp the many connotations of the museum, and
those who have visited the museum will discover many nuances they had missed when reading the
book. The novel was published in 2008, the museum opened in Spring 2012.
6.
7. Why do I want to visit the museum?
Keen Interest in Art Passion for Literature
The Museum of Innocence coalesces both my favorite
avocations
8. Artists & Authors I Admire
Favorite Authors
• Philosophical Fiction – Fyodor
Dostoyevsky, Franz Kafka, Leo Tolstoy,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Magical Realism – Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Zadie
Smith
• Fantasy Fiction – J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K.
Rowling, Lewis Carroll
• Social Realism – Thomas Hardy,
Charles Dickens, V.S. Naipaul, Orhan
Pamuk
• Others – Graham Greene, Pico Iyer,
Vladmir Nabokov, Gustave Flaubert
Favorite Artists
• Baroque Art – Caravaggio, Rebrandt,
Diego Velazquez, Michelangelo
• Impressionist Art – Claude Monet,
Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Henri
Matisse
• Expressionist Art – Amedeo
Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Edvard
Munch, Wassily Kandinsky
• Surrealism – Salvador Dali, Marcel
Duchamp, Rene Magritte, Giorgio de
Chirico
• Minimalism – Dan Flavin, Robert
Morris, Eva Hesse
9. An Ode to the Museum of Innocence
Not long ago in a charming dream,
the shadows danced and the moonlight beamed.
I found myself in Istanbul,
the sky was bruised; the breeze was cool.
The cobblestone streets seemed enchanted,
the yellow lamps made the shadows look slanted.
I wandered along the Bosphorus,
soft waves whispered to both of us.
10. As I made it to her home,
I saw her in the flesh and bone.
The harsh wind blew up the dirt,
A bird is fluttering in your skirt. (I said)
She was gone, only her things remained,
On seeing her brooch, I was pained.
As I kissed the patch on her sleeve,
I had decided never to leave.
My only consolation now is her things,
Her scarf, her perfume, her clip, and her rings.
A collection of my poems and essays
11. Having spent weeks observing the works of the two most prominent
museums of renaissance and modern art, i.e., the Museum of Modern
Art, New York and the Louvre, Paris; I actually had an opportunity to see
the paintings of the great masters and savants who by the power of their
work influenced other artists and brought about a variety of movements
in art.
However I observed that large museums in their essence, present the story
of the nation (history) as being far more important than the stories of
individuals. This is unfortunate because the stories of individuals are
much better suited to displaying the depths of our humanity.
Demonstrating the wealth of Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Iranian, or
Turkish history and culture is not an issue—it must be done, of course,
but it is not difficult to do. The real challenge is to use museums to tell,
with the same brilliance, depth, and power, the stories of the individual
human beings living in these countries.
12. Museums like the Masumiyat Müzesi
Help recreate the universe individual human beings
dwell in
Tell stories of individuals revealing the depth of
humanity
Let objects be kept in their natural environs thereby
providing the full context of their existence
Honour the lives of ordinary people
Enable people to tell their own life stories
13. We Have
• Epics
• Representation
• Monuments
• Histories
• Nations
• Groups and Teams
• Large and Expensive
We Need
• Novels
• Expression
• Homes
• Stories
• Persons
• Individuals
• Small and Cheap
14. Why go see an obscure museum in Turkey?
- Former Prime Minister of Turkey
15. Istanbul - Birlikte Köprü
Istanbul is the confluence of the East & the West.
It is built on an European model of a city but has an
unique Asian flavour.
This is because it has been tossed to and fro
between empires that have eastern or western
roots (Ottoman and Byzantine).
Just exploring the melting pot that is Istanbul would
be an experience in itself, which is why it is my
dream to visit Istanbul and the Museum of
Innocence in it.
16. Budget
• Airfare (2 way) – Rs.
40,000
• Visa fees – Rs. 4,100
• Accommodation,
Internal Transportation,
and Food – Rs. 60,000
Total –
Rs. 104,100
17. “In poetically well built museums, formed from the heart's compulsions, we
are consoled not by finding in them old objects that we love, but by losing all
sense of Time.”
― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence
Thank You
For the Opportunity
Adwait Deshpande PGPM 16/18 MDI, Gurgaon
