Kent Melankolisi
Özet
Cities have developed together with the history of humankind throughout the ages.
The cities, centre of the social relationships, have experienced a turning point after
Industrial Revolution. In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution was a precursor of a
great depression while promising easiness and abundance in production. People started
to abandon the countryside and natural life to form population centres in developing sites.
The cities, centre of modern life, have not only affected social life, but also the art. The
destruction of human life caused by cities has been one of the themes handled by the
artists since the Industrial Revolution. Human beings were dragged into consumption
culture and anonymization with every passing century. The consumption culture created
commoditised people and deep loneliness. The uncontrolled senseless urbanization and
anonymization caused by modern life caused desensitisation and introversion among the
people. Therefore, the image of city in art carries different meanings. The life of a person
in a city has become the pain point rather than the physical appearance of the city. The
artists, nowadays, interpret the city through the inner world of the individuals with new
forms, manners and technologies. Concordantly, the approach in this thesis titled “City
Melancholy” is the melancholy of the individuals created by the changing city perception.
In this study, taking into account the relationship between art branches (painting, cinema,
literature), individual city experiences take place. The data obtained as a result of
literature surveys and readings were used in the thesis. Throughout the study, with the
opportunity to observe the city-individual relationship in three different capitals (Vienna,
Berlin and Ankara), the individual's inner world with melancholy formed the basis for
artistic creation. The experiences gained as an individual living in the city are considered
as subjects.
