As Genoa has been selected as the European Cultural Capital of 2004, 'ME Design: Forms of the Mediterranean' event is organized by the School of Architecture of the University of Genoa through its research center, GUD, Genoa University Design, with the collaboration of the network of SDI, Sistema Design Italia. The show takes place in the nineteenth-century Palazzo della Borsa in Genoa with related events in display spaces throughout the city, and it involves visitors with a multimedia anthology to present, with images, sounds, projects, and installations, works explicitly related to the concept of Mediterranean culture and in keeping with the themes of place, contemporaneity and design.
'The Mediterranean that unites and divides' is the central theme of the show that displays the multiplicity of aspects of contemporary life bound to ways and objects of daily life. It was intended to exhibit Mediterranean design, design for the Mediterranean, as an expression of the plurality of cultures that have developed on the edge of a sea that also bears common values and expressions. These cultures break down and come together in various ways, infecting each other and hybridizing themselves into different identities. Therefore, the objects in the exhibition are selected among commercially available daily, conventional or modern objects that determine today's Mediterranean identities and design culture.
Istanbul Technical University, Department of Industrial Product Design participates to this event with two exhibitions.
Turkish Tea Culture Exhibition
In the stand of ITU Department of Industrial Product Design where 'Turkish Tea Culture' is promoted, a series of products are exhibited including various tea glasses and saucers as an extension of Turkish tea brewing and drinking habits from past to present and teapots ranging from the most ordinary ones to the electrical tea maker. The theme of the Exhibition is based on the fact that in spite of having the same typology and performing the same function, each teapot is distinguished from the others with regard to material, technology, and design features and that all teapots are 'different'. Similarly, the variations in classical tea glasses and saucers are striking because they represent the local differences and wealth specific to Turkey in the variety-based structure of the Mediterranean culture. Ala Caydanlik, Arzum, Bayiner, Arcelik, Hisar, Jumbo, Korkmaz and Pasabahce companies have contributed to this Exhibition by sending their products.
New Packaging Design Solutions for Traditional Turkish Food Products
In the stand for 'New Packaging Design Solutions for Traditional Turkish Food Products' where student projects are exhibited, '(is)tainers (con)tanbul' slogan is used to exhibit examples of new packaging design developed for products which have been identified with local culture, such as candied chestnuts, dried fruit pulp, Turkish delight, salep, sunflower seeds, tea and Turkish coffee. The exhibited packaging designs aim to add value to these products by giving them a new identity and to reach different users in domestic and foreign markets. The particular packaging design projects that exhibited, are chosen among the designs generated in the context of a second year design studio course EUT212 Product Design IV at the Department of Industrial Product Design, Istanbul Technical University led by Associate Professor Dr. Ozlem Er, part-time instructor Ali E. Bakova and research assistants Cem Alppay, Pinar Yalcin, Turgut Cirpanli, and Sinan Odekan. The aim of the project was to generate packaging and display design solutions to some selected traditional food products of Turkey for the end users in domestic and foreign markets. The project conducted in collaboration with the Packaging Manufacturers Association of Turkey (ASD).
Apart from these two stands, ITU, Department of Industrial Product Design also participated in the Conference Mediterranean, Design and Education on November 5th-6th, 2004 with the presentation of Assist. Prof. Dr. Sebnem Timur titled 'Forms of the Mediterranean and Turkish Design Identity'.
The Exhibitions of the ITU Department of Industrial Product Design in ME Design: Forms of the Mediterranean event have been organized by the project team consisting of Assist.Prof. Dr. Sebnem Timur, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ozlem Er, Instructor Ece Ariburun, Research Assistant Turgut Cirpanli, and 7 participating students: Akin Bacioglu, Renk Dimli, Yekta Gurel, Berrak Karaca, Maral Kinran, Koray Ozsoy, and Secil Ugur.
Two basic activities organized during ME Design Exhibition;
Mediterranean, Design, and Education (November 5th-6th, 2004)
Meeting of design schools of countries on the Mediterranean with the objective of promoting a reciprocal awareness and establishing the possible research collaborations and educational exchange. Presentation of design school instructors and researchers from Mediterranean countries (Turkey, Spain, Israel, Egypt, Croatia, Serbia Herzegovina, Slovakia, Lebanon) and from Italy.
ME Design - Urban Mobility
Having been organized to review the role of design in the changes that occur in historical centers of Mediterranean, this conference shall address topics such as analyzing the contribution of design to local identities within the framework of 'Mediterranean System' and identifying the new concepts that have been formed by the changes in historical texture according to the sustainability model.
Among the speakers attending this conference are famous designers such as Vanni Pasca (moderator), Vico Magistretti, Alessandro Mendini, Ettore Sottsass, Ezio Manzini, Defne Koz, Dante Donegani and Stefano Giovannoni.