13 May 2021, Eda:

The day I started pacing Luzern, I had the chance to visit the “Wochenmarkt” as one of my first sights in the city. Wochenmarkt is installed along the banks of the Reuss two times a week; on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The market is set up with folding structures of canopies made of metal and textile and stalls made of plastic boxes. Fruits, vegetables, spices, tea herbs, oils, fresh pasta products, eggs, baked goods, fish, meat, cheese, dairy products, Mediterranean delicacies, as well as flowers and plants are on offer.

The markets installed a number of times a week is also a common phenomenon in İstanbul. Nearly every district has its own market, “pazar”, and on that certain day(s) it is installed in a certain area. However, this installation differs a bit. Instead of one private canopy for each stall, the whole market (pazar in Turkish) shares a canopy that is co-created by the stallholders. Steel poles are erected using the holes on the ground, clothes (white colored tarps mostly) are spanned to cover the area; ropes, rings, knots, and paving stones or rocks as weights are used to keep the poles standing. The ropes go through the cloth, the poles, and the existing surrounding; holding the structure together.  Although it is constructed with a technique that has a very long history; the feeling of the whole construction is very temporary and makeshift.  Under this huge canopy, there are the stalls that exhibit the products which are various vegetables, fruits, fish, dairy products, pickles, baked goods, plants, flowers as well as clothes, socks, shoes, hair accessories, cloth batches, curtains, house utensils and so on.

So we start with a collage that mixes these two. What if the same approach to constructing a bazaar took place here, in Luzern? How interesting would it be to see this temporary feeling structure, that co-constructed huge canopy along the bank of Reuss? The structure will probably be attached to the existing buildings, flagpoles, or bridge railings.

Due to the curfew in Istanbul, unfortunately, we could not have a recent image of Istanbul pazars. We would like to thank Ali Dostoğlu whose master thesis is on İstanbul Open Markets, for sharing his archive with us.