a little design for everyone (most everyone)

Like most big cities, Istanbul is no stranger to the odd, the occult, the radical, or the inspiring. Walk down any street in Taksim and you'll find vendors selling not hot dogs, not pretzels, but corn (boiled or grilled to your liking). Venture through the side streets in Besiktas and you'll find several (if not countless) street people missing body parts - eyes, feet, legs, arms. Look down any street, anywhere in the city and you'll see how the homeless dogs and cats look both ways before they cross the streets. None of this is surprising in itself, though. These are the particular unique elements that comprise any big city. You don't have to go out of your way to find them.

No collar? No problem.

Oh, hey.

When I am in the mood to look for something of a particular strangess, however, a museum of modern art is generally where I turn. I'm not saying that I find modern art less credible or important than other types of art, I'm saying that I don't always understand it, and it's in my lack of knowledge that I find myself adventuring into some of the most thought-provoking pieces.

This was the case when I recently went to the aptly named Istanbul Modern. The temporary exhibition featured clothing designer and film director Hussein Chalayan. The individual pieces of clothing were intriguing - they looked soft and delicate, yet durable and structural at the same time.  His films, however, were admittedly over my head. Shots of a woman dressing another, or of a man blotting a woman's face, or a girl posing with a gun. There's context there, there has to be, right? So I'm sure the difficulty I find in trying to understand these pieces has more to do with my lack of knowledge than with the art itself.

Either way, it was weird and I liked it.

Also on temporary exhibit was a piece called "Discover Manga!" (I've never seen an exclamation point more accurately placed). Let's be honest here, I've never gotten into the whole Japanese cartoon thing. I understand there's a huge following, but I'm just not that intrigued to delve any deeper into it. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm willing to deal with that potential loss, though. At any rate, the employees dressed in Manga-inspired clothing were the quirky icing on top of my odd day.

Those kids from high school. Remember them?