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Istanbul Okan University, Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture
Manifest’OU 1st International Art and Design Symposium

March 20 - 21, 2025,İstanbul Okan University Tuzla Campus

“Memory and Sensory Experiences: Reinterpreting Cultural Heritage through Creative Practices”

The 1st International Art and Design Symposium will be held as a hybrid event within Istanbul Okan University's Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture. Its goal is to explore the methods that emerge in this context and to broaden the conversations between memory, sensory experiences, and creative practices in the transmission of cultural heritage.

Cultural heritage not only carries the physical structures and records histories of the past but also embodies intangible traces that reach into the present. In this context, shaped by historical processes, environmental impacts, and social transformations, the senses emerge as an indispensable component of heritage transmission. Senses, functioning as the building blocks of both individual and collective memory, contribute to the reproduction of cultural identity and social memory through perceptions like smell, taste, hearing, touch, and sight. In the fields of art and design, the role of the senses becomes even more pronounced, enabling a richer conveyance of cultural heritage that reimagines and situates the past within contemporary experiences. Questions surrounding how sensory experiences influence memory and manifest within artistic and design practices provide fertile ground for interdisciplinary discourse, underscoring the dynamic relationships at the intersections of the senses, memory, art, and design. This dynamic enables not only the transference of the past to the present but also the reimagining of the future through cultural and artistic perspectives.

Through symposium discussions on memory, transmission, sensory experience, and cultural heritage within innovative creative practices, we aim to foster debate on the ways in which the senses function as vessels of individual and collective memory and contribute to the renewal of cultural identity. We encourage submissions exploring questions such as:

• To what extent do sensory experiences influence the design of cultural heritage transmission and the processes of artistic production, and what are their impacts?
• How does the scent of a place, the texture of a fabric, the color of an image, or the tone of a sound activate cultural memory and contribute to the revitalization of heritage?
• How can memory and sensory experiences, through an interdisciplinary approach, give rise to new artistic and design practices?
• What role do sensory experiences play in the processes of preserving and transforming cultural heritage in an increasingly digital world?
• How do diverse sensory representations across time, place, and cultures foster dialogue within art and design disciplines?

By addressing these and similar inquiries, the symposium invites academics, artists, and designers engaged in creative fields to explore the potential of sensory experiences in the preservation and transformation of cultural heritage. It seeks to deepen understanding of the role of the senses in the modern recreation of heritage and aims to develop new approaches in artistic and design expressions that bridge past and present while strengthening future directions.