In those days when Dolmuş was the heart of the public transportation, the art of getting on and off the dolmuş required some major skills. Considering the periods before the rather comfortable new dolmuş appeared on the streets, Cem Şen was talking about the art of living by expanding the meaning of the rituals of getting on and off the dolmuş. Mira Friedlaender who has recently added some more color to the streets of İstanbul with the words 'Dolacak doldu dolu dolmuş' (It will fill, it has filled, it is full) has also caught a link between art and life through the dolmuş. "In the beginning of the nineties, walking on the streets of Istanbul, I was amazed by the old dolmuş which are beautiful and characteristic examples of the Turkish culture and creativity. 'Considering my Turkish and American backgrounds, I did a whole body of work not only about the old dolmuş but also the new form it took with the minibuses", says Mira Friedlaender in describing her exhibition, 'Dolmuş', in Dulcinea Art Gallery. The other name of the exhibition is 'It is full'. In fact, the artist is more concerned with the meaning of the word in Turkish than in English. When Mira, with the help of her Turkish mother, was examining how the verb 'dolmuş' could become the name of a sort of transportation, found the main words for her exhibition: "dolacak, doldu, dolu, dolmuş".

Some people believe that Dolmuş is genuinely a Turkish invention. It is said that the dolmuş was invented on the streets of İstanbul when the economic depression of the thirties started affecting Turkey and taxis lost most of their business. The dolmuş adventure starts with Halit Bey, who was a former cook, starts losing business as a cab driver and he picks up four people going in the same direction. After this, he begins yelling Taksim for 5 pennies on the Karaköy port. The dolmuş which were put to use in the 1930s, were officially accepted by the municipality only after 24 years in 1954 and the prices were determined. There were also certain interesting rules in the business in those years; for instance single men under 25 could not work as dolmuş drivers. There were only 700 dolmuş cars in İstanbul during this period.

The dolmuş in which the ignition was turned off going downhill to save gas does not exist any more and the few cars that still do are kept for sentimental values. The Desotos, Dodges, Plymouths, Chevrolets with the stickers of a pair of blue eyes on the front window and the little toy dogs placed in front of the rare window which shake their heads when the car is in motion do not exist any more. Now, with this exhibition, we get the chance to reminisce about the dolmuş which has gone through 7 presidents, witnessed the historical and political events of Turkey and has become an inseparable part of the streets of İstanbul. During our conversation, Mira mentioned that cities do not have a memory. As a foreigner, she certainly reacts more strongly towards the abolition of the old dolmuş. There were some who said, "It was small and packed, but it had a soul", but eventually conformism took over nostalgia.

Mira Friedlaender makes a little reminder to this city with the short term memory using both the old and the new dolmuş. She describes her exhibition as, "observing the beauty of what is unique, the influence of these machines over our lives, and what the creative space they have filled transforms into." Mira who live in the United States and visits Turkey every year works with the new technologies and media. Her project which carries the exhibition outside of the gallery and onto the streets is called Dolmuş Art-Bus. This means you are likely to witness some interesting images on a bus running on the Taksim-Mecidiyeköy line these days. Some images image and its slogan have been wrapped on the bus and it has started running. In this way, the residents of İstanbul will get a chance to view this exhibition without even going to the gallery. This is what really matters for Mira; "The people who see the bus will recognise the photographs of the dolmuş even if they don't realise that this is an exhibition. This will help the people living in this city to recall some memories", she says with excitement. Another reason for her to feel excited is that this is her first exhibition in İstanbul. You are all welcome to greet the dolmuş either when it is touring around İstanbul on wheels or by going to Dulcinea until December 26th.

Hülya Polat, Istanbul Life, December 1999