Katılımcı, Fairy Tales 2016 Architecture Storytelling Competition

DCTP – Decent Citizen Transformation Program:

Küresel dünya çeşitli tehlikelerle karşı karşıya ve bunlardan biri de tüketim çılgınlığı. Tüketim çılgınlığına sanat aracılığıyla dikkat çekmek için farklı dallarda profesyonelleşen, İtalya ve İspanya’da mimarlık eğitimini tamamlamış Ayşecan Ertin, Müge Yürüten ve mühendislik eğitimi almış girişimci Berk Yılmaz’dan oluşan ekip, bir kısa hikaye ve kolaj tekniğiyle yapılmış 5 görselden oluşan bir proje gerçekleştirdi.

DCTP – Decent Citizen Transformation Program adını verdikleri hikaye bilinmez bir zamanda Sofia adlı ünlü bir mimarın, yaratıcılığın yok edilmeye çalışıldığı baskıcı bir devlet düzeninde, yer altında oluşturduğu hayal dünyasını ele alıyor. Yeni hayat düzeninde kendine yer bulamadıkça atölyesinde özgün oyuncaklar üreten ve bunları geceleri gizlice okul bahçelerine bırakan Sofia, devlet tarafından fark edilip yakalanınca hikayeye de adını veren gizli DCTP sürecine alınıyor. Bu süreç okuyucuyu daha masalsı bir finale sürüklüyor diyebiliriz. Sofia’ya uyguladıkları özel beyin ameliyatı, mimarımızın hayatı boyunca tasarladığı eserlerin yeryüzünden tamamen yok olmasıyla sonuçlanıyor. Ekip hikayede devletin ekonomik menfaatleri doğrultusunda kültürel mirası hiçe sayabileceği bir distopya örneği yaratarak okuyucularda farkındalık sağlamayı amaçlıyor.

Meraklısına, hikayenin asıl metni:

Numbers, numbers, numbers… The scary images of numbers that I see every day has become my nightmare before I sleep every night. Once a week, I wake up at 6 am when it is impossible for the sun to touch my skin and enter an ancient building with ceilings sky-high and floors covered with dust. “Welcome home, spenders” is written everywhere your eyes are able to see. Yes, it is obvious that some people may see the bank as home because we spend more time there than our homes in order to report our monthly income and spending to the state. In the process of creating a thoughtless society by promoting the “just work and spend” policy, the government is emphasizing the feeling of sense of fulfillment and joy after shopping which is motivating and forcing people to work in order to spend more. It is also mandatory to visit the bank weekly and discuss your spending with the so called “customer representative.” I guess this is a way to control everyone to check if they are “decent citizens.” When I look at people, I just see many miserable lives in which happiness is found on possessions.

When I leave the bank, I usually walk 30 minutes to my apartment. On the way I only see billboards, or glamorous commercials on buses colored with eye disturbing redness featuring a new product that I have never heard of. Anything you buy is made of poor raw materials which easily can be deformed that results in a continuous spending cycle. If you want to keep using it, you have to buy it. If you want to buy it, you have to work for it. There is just no time for anything else. The government’s sales birds are dropping discount coupons on crowds in public areas in order to support the system and salesmen are at every step. Undistinguishable tower blocks form a new skyline where artistic structures like mines are covered slowly. I remember the day like today when I was at the opening ceremony of the Opera House as the main architect. Maybe that’s why I always find myself staring at it on my way home and feeling a sense of joy, fulfillment, and success. Opera House is one of the last of its kind, a building that is built with the sense of art and preserved its existence until now. The last and lone survivor! “Is there any room for production or creativity anymore?” I thought on my last visit. I didn’t think so and now, I know it is not so.

By the way, I forgot to introduce myself to you, my name is Sofia and I am an architect. Actually, I was an architect and now, I am a secret toymaker. I lived in this city since I was born. I received an architecture degree and designed many buildings for years until I forcibly retired. “We don’t need architects anymore” state declared. It didn’t use to be like this actually. My lovely city with its wonderful architecture turned into a shopping mall. The change was quick, inevitable, and lacked of aesthetic. You can imagine the pain I felt during this change. That’s why I only spend time in my secret basement where I make handcrafted toys and puppets for kids now.

The secret atelier in my basement is left from my father. My father used to be a toymaker and owned a shop right in the corner. Later, the shop was closed down and he moved his atelier to our basement. Of course I didn’t know why he closed his shop back then but now I try to continue his legacy by making puppets for children in kindergartens. I redesigned the basement as I can shelve some books and grow some flowers to feel like human again. I rest, read, think and produce there. That is the only place where I can keep my creativity alive and maybe secretly help future generations. As you may imagine, kids are not able to find various handcrafted and long lasting toys nowadays so they just keep buying. I design for them and introduce new characters into their dream worlds. Every evening, I finish all the puppets through midnight and then set forth. I secretly visit 4 to 6 kindergartens in an area which I mark on day light. Then I throw my puppets above the walls to the playgrounds and run for the other. I never got bored, or felt exhausted because what drives me is a single memory.  I remember the day my father gave me my first puppet. It was a princess with short hair and a horse tail. “Imagine” he said. “Without imagination, what separates us from a robot?” I was sure that those kids would not be a robot and I would do my best in order to open a window in small children’s minds despite the restrictions. That feeling of pride always filled me inside and now I can understand why I am in this situation.

It all started with the last incident I have heard from news which destroyed all my tiny hopes for the future. My favorite writer got arrested after the state observed a decrease in consumption rates and change in spending habits of people who read his books. It was not hard to assume how they realized that decrease. Surprisingly, he was released after two days but the shocking part was, when I went to bookstore to get his last book, I found out all of his books were gone just in one night! Who could have known what happened? It was like as if he had never lived or published a book.

After the writer incident, I felt that I might be in trouble, and that frightened me.

It seemed like in the process of shaping the society and transforming people to be “decent citizens” who just works and spends, next step was towards annihilating people’s urge to produce and create. So I could have been a target. It all started to feel suspicious at that time. And this morning, I woke up in this freezing cold and dark room with my hands tied to an operation bed and a giant microscope lens on my forehead.

“Whoa! What is this thing holding my head that tight? Where am I? Is there anyone out there? Why did you tie me up? Who are you? Take this thing off my head!” I remember that I tried to scream but my mouth was taped shut.

I don’t remember how many hours I stayed in that room until someone showed up.

A man appeared with a coat that is half white and half black. He had full metal framed, square glasses and a small mustache. “Sofia, you are here under DCTP” he said. “Decent citizen transformation program, is a secret government operation that aims to transform dissidents like you who are a threat to our nation into decent citizens. You are condemned because of your secret atelier in your basement and your actions during the nights to poison future generations.” He stopped for a second and wiped his sweat by a gray napkin.

He projected a live brain image to the wall and pointed a small piece with a stick. “This is the part of your brain that is related with your creativity and urges your actions. We will remove that.”

My heart started to race, my hands started to shake.

“What scares me personally is the outcome of this operation” he continued. “There is a huge possibility of the extinction of any tangible legacy that was created by you. This means any object that you created will be gone, immediately. What a pity, I watched many shows in that Opera House and always loved it.” I imagined the shocking sight of the empty landscape after the possible disappearance of my lovely opera house. It would be a loss of our cultural identity.

My head was heavier than ever. Drops of sweat were sliding down from my forehead. I began to fidget.

“The preservation of our country’s unity and power depends on this program. What has to be done, has to be done and we will no longer allow people like you to mislead. It is over Sofia.”  the doctor said. He signed the report, wore his glasses, opened the wireless set and announced “All related doctors, you are being called to the operation room. The surgery will start in 15 minutes.”

And now, I wait. I feel the dissolution of my wholeness, my being, my identity. The fear is spreading through my blood and the numbness starting from my fingertips expands to my arms. I hear my dad’s voice, “Imagine”.