Ekrem Arslan's photography exhibition, "Modus Vivendi: Necropolis," will open today at Yüksel Sabancı Art Center in Beşiktaş. The exhibition, which is composed of 46 photos in total, is a first in the world regarding its theme. The artist Ekrem Arslan presents residences that are the places of the dead. The 1,500 year-old Necropolis, which is home to tombs and cemeteries, makes us question the importance and the meaning of human activities. There is a separate city in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, which is full of tombs. The unnamed city hosts the poor of Cairo. The poor people of the city earn the right to live there as long as they protect the graves. Some of the graves in Egypt are composed of underground rooms. People of the same family are buried in one of these rooms. There is another room above the tomb that is used to grow certain plants and flowers. The poor and homeless of Cairo receive permission from the tomb owners to live in this place and in return, they protect the graves. As the rooms are tombs, the state does not offer any service of electricity, water or sewer. Electricity and water are provided illegally by the residents. The region has a long history, and the story of the tombs is said to date back to the Mamluk Sultanate. Geographically, the former sultanate was located inside the borders of present-day Egypt.