Ceramic murals in public space in Ankara

Entitled "Ceramic Murals in Public Spaces in Ankara", is a thesis research for the M.A degree in Art History at the Institute of Social Sciences, Hacettepe University. The aim of the thesis is to - as artistic and urban aesthetic elements - document ceramic wall panels that are made in 1960s -1970s and placed in public spaces in Ankara and to analyze their significance in the development of contemporary ceramic art in Turkey. The ceramic panels which are located in public buildings in Ankara, dated t112o 1960 and 1970 are documented, their artistic characteristics, an evaluation of as to whether they could connect with their physical and socio-cultural surroundings, whether their subject matter could be considered public or not, if they contained elements of new public art practices that transform the viewer to a participant and whether they have contributed to the image of the city they are located, as well as if they carry the traces of changing political processes are presented. Through these Ankara -ceramic wall panel- examples, the effects of the modernization paradigms that started with the Republican period in Turkey on the contemporary ceramic arts and the interdisciplinary interactions of contemporary ceramic art in Turkey are explored. In particular the connection of ceramic art as a plastic element with architecture is examined and both as a material and technique potentials embedded in ceramic art is assessed in relation to artistic expression.