Pinned to a wall like ten thousand twisted butterflies, an overwhelming display of lipsticked filters. As you enter, the first wall you encounter is dedicated to the butts of the 4213 cigarettes smoked by Fusun. The novel even contains a printed ticket that grants entry to its museum-proper. In 2012, Pamuk opened an actual Museum of Innocence in Beyoglu, Istanbul – in a building precisely as described in the novel – filled with the objects that feature in the text, from a quince grater (notable subject of a particular chapter) to handbags, ashtrays and a child’s tricycle. These talismans of their short-lived affair keep his passion alive, and on the death of her parents he buys the house she grew up in, transforming it into a museum of their love, creating a home for his collection. Set in Istanbul from 1975 to today, the story is woven from memories catalysed by objects that Kemal, the protagonist, has taken or stolen from Fusun, his love. In 2008 Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk published his novel The Museum of Innocence. It has been developed out of workshops with Brian Kuan Wood, one of the editors of e-flux, and I am also on the editorial board. This is a text being developed for submission to a publication associated with the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, this year.
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