Mekan Konuşmaları No: 114 - Simultaneous Space: Building Meaning After Babel

Date: December 12, 2025 - Friday

Time: 13:00

Place: santralistanbul Kampüsü, KD6 - Kazandibi

Speaker: Gökçen Ezber

The 114th session of Mekan Konuşmaları, organized by the graduate students of the Architecture Master’s Programs at Istanbul Bilgi University, will host Gökçen Ezber (Author/Translator) as our guest. Ezber will join us with a talk titled ‘Simultaneous Space: Building Meaning After Babel’.

In his speech, Ezber examines Simultaneous Space: Building Meaning After Babel looks at the interpreter's booth as a construction that answers one of humanity's oldest fears: the 'confusion' of languages. Starting with the narrative of Babel, the talk looks at the tower again, not just as a biblical structure but also as an architectural metaphor—stone rising towards the sky and speech rising towards meaning—until mutual understanding suddenly breaks down. In contrast to this old scene of linguistic confusion, the simultaneous interpreting booth appears as a modern "simultaneous space": a small, clear structure for restoration. In this small but flexible space that serves as both a studio and a sanctuary, the interpreter listens, processes, translates, and builds meaning in real time. The booth, therefore, is not simply a workspace; it is a linguistic construction site where the ruins of Babel are temporarily repaired. Here, technology and human thought come together, letting meaning move between languages, cultures, and minds. It will be argued that simultaneous interpreting is a kind of architectural poiesis, where sense, space, and understanding are always being built and rebuilt after Babel.

Gökçen Ezber graduated from Kabataş Erkek Lisesi. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of English Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He received his master’s degree from the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies at Boğaziçi University. He completed his doctoral studies at Istanbul University’s Department of English Language and Literature with a dissertation that examined the novels of contemporary English novelist Alan Hollinghurst through the lens of Queer theory. He has taught courses in English Literature, Translation, and Conference Interpreting at various universities, including Istanbul University, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and Atlas University. In addition to his book translations, his writings have appeared in various literary supplements and magazines. He is the author of the books Seni Dolaba Kim Koydu? Gizlenen Cinsellikler(2017) and Queer Okuma (2020), which focus on gender studies and Queer theory.

Gökçen Ezber, who also works professionally as a conference interpreter, currently teaches in this field at the university level and continues his research on gender studies, Queer theory, and posthumanism.

The talk is open to everyone.