TRACES TO THE OTTOMAN ERA IN BULGARIA: A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH A SMALL LIBRARAY IN FOURTEEN LANGUAGES IN CHIRPAN

Presentation by Esra Ersen and Boris Deliradev (Chirpan) followed by a discussion.

The evening event will start with a presentation of Esra Ersen's work "When Thinking Some Play with the Mustache, Others Cross Arms" by the artist. This commissioned piece for the ISOE exhibition is linked to Leyla von Mende's doctoral research study named "Today's Neighbor - Yesterday's Subject: The Balkans between the Ottoman Empire and Europe from the Perspective of Ottoman Travelers, 1870-1918." Afterwards Boris Deliradev will give a lecture about his fascinating discovery and personal encounter with a book collection from the Ottoman area. Like Leyla von Mende, Esra Ersen did her own research tracing the paths of Ottoman travellers of the early 20th century who visited the Balkans and Bulgaria. In Bulgarias capitol city Sofia Ersen heard about the presence of historical narratives and stereotypes during her visits to museums and archives and after talking to academics and artists. During her preparations she developed an approach which brings the existing representations of history into question by building bridges of perception between emotions, experiences and the past. While in Sofia, she met translator Boris Deliradev, who in 2010 found an Ottoman-era book collection in fourteen languages compiled by the Bulgarian community in his birthtown Chirpan. The discovery changed his previous understanding of history, because as a non-historian his knowledge had been shaped by his school days and the media in the 1980s. Both Ersen and he are fascinated with the personal experiences and stories which come to surface while dealing with history.

all photos (c) André Wunstorf