The Person You Have Called Cannot Be Reached at the Moment Meltem Ahıska PDF

This publication, like the exhibition it accompanies, is organized around seven main headings inspired by popular song lyrics, and slogans or common expressions between 1980 and 2005. The book documents, interrelates and opens for discussion the various media representations of different lifestyles and their associated products in Turkey in this period. The concept “lifestyle” was redefined in Turkey with the growing professionalism of media practices after the 1980s. Everyday activities achieved through consumption such as the ways people dress, eat, communicate and enjoy themselves became the basic criteria to differentiate them. Just like any other merchandise, a “lifestyle” turned into something that could be purchased. However, the field of culture and consumption is also a field of struggle defined by continually changing indicators. A “lifestyle” therefore simultaneously expresses real conflicts and differences in society and is the shallow manifestations of perpetually shifting and transitory styles of living. Seen from this perspective, these representations hold up a mirror to both familiar and very different ways in which we see ourselves.