Tag: Contemporary Istanbul

  • The Istanbul Art-Boom Bubble

    The Istanbul Art-Boom Bubble

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    Istiklal Caddesi, the central pedestrian artery of Istanbul. More Photos »

    By SUZY HANSEN

    Earlier this winter, the giant 120-year-old Ottoman bank building in Istanbul reopened as a multimillion-dollar contemporary art space called SALT. This was surprising. Turks were never big on contemporary art, and for years rich people didn’t visit that part of town. When I moved to the neighborhood five years ago, it was all electrical-supply stores and abandoned buildings and men smoking. My building didn’t have heat; girlfriends wouldn’t visit after dark; a neighbor once attacked another neighbor with a small sword. I don’t see swords in Istanbul anymore. I do see a lot more art.

    One evening in November, Turks and foreigners traipsed up the cobbled sidewalks to SALT’s huge, heavy doors for the opening-night party. The headline exhibit featured thousands of old black-and-white photographs taken by a dead Armenian studio photographer and carefully assembled by the young artist Tayfun Serttas. Another exhibit was an installation by Gulsun Karamustafa, Turkey’s doyenne of contemporary art. Another was about archaeology and Europeans looting the Ottoman Empire.

    But the space overwhelmed the art. It was too magnificent. Nothing like SALT existed in Istanbul. Inside, the building was five floors and 100,000 square feet of carved white marble. Curators, bankers, interior designers, writers, musicians, academics, artists and wealthy wives craned their necks to take in the soaring ceiling as they climbed the grand staircases. They gaped at the stylish library, and the plush movie theater, and the smoking terrace that was also a restaurant. The great imperial bulk of SALT loomed over the Golden Horn and the forlorn rooftops below.

    Foreigners and expats gushed with approval. Even the fatalistic Turks, skeptical of Westerners’ enthusiasm, couldn’t help admitting that this strange art institution was awesome.

    It appears that Istanbul, which went from a cosmopolitan wonderland in the 19th century to, in the Nobel-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk’s words, a “pale, poor, second-class imitation of a Western city” for much of the 20th, is having its moment of rebirth. These newly wealthy corners of the East seem full of possibilities, but what kind of culture will the Turks create?

    On my way out, I ran into Mari Spirito, a longtime director at 303 Gallery in New York. Spirito had just moved to Turkey to set up a nonprofit called Protocinema. Above our heads, Arabic script was etched into the marble: “He who earns money is God’s beloved servant.”

    “In New York it feels like the best years are behind us,” she said. “In Istanbul it feels like the best years are yet to come.”

    Those best years might be a long way off, many Turks would joke, but still, it is a heady time to be young and talented in Istanbul. One summer night I accompanied a group of women as they finished their dinner at a meze tavern, put on red lipstick and stopped for a bottle of raki (Turkey’s national liquor) and cigarettes on their way to a party not far from SALT. Especially on muggy evenings, Istiklal Caddesi, the central pedestrian artery of the city, swarms with people, bodies colliding as Turks and tourists race to shops, cafes and bars. Arms around one another, the women maneuvered through Istiklal’s traffic into Rumeli Han, an Ottoman-era arcade building that exudes a faded, dingy glory, with sooty stone staircases and crumbling ceilings. Up a few flights, past the Communist Party office, music drifted out of an artists’ studio. Beer bottles and cans covered the table and floor; a stack of easels leaned against a wall; the girls poured their raki into tiny plastic cups and found a seat with their friends.

    “This place has become a meeting point,” one gallery owner said. “It’s feeding the underground scene.”

    In a long room, about 40 Turks were watching the performance group Ha Za Vu Zu play music. The 20- and 30-somethings sat on the floor and listened quietly. Some women wore retro styles, ’40s hair and cigarette pants. Men with poofs of black curls lounged in T-shirts. A pretty girl in a sundress thrust an invitation into my hand. “I’m having my first show!” she said. The venue was the prominent exhibition space Arter. “Please come.”

    The artists then began dancing to old Turkish rock, a hybrid of Western and Anatolian music, joining together in a modern version of traditional Turkish dancing: arms spread wide, women and men dancing together in pairs. The vibe was anything but self-conscious; it felt like a safe place to go nuts. Shoes came off, feet turned black. After a few hours, sweat pouring down their faces, the men took off their shirts, shouting, laughing, stamping. Someone danced into a heart-shaped ashtray, spilling cigarette butts on the floor; a woman took off her shirt, too.

    via The Istanbul Art-Boom Bubble – NYTimes.com.

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  • Lost Paradise In Istanbul

    Lost Paradise In Istanbul

    On the 23rd of March, Istanbul opens with “Paradise Lost,” a brilliant new exhibition centred around the notion of the innocence and purity of nature in the context of contemporary art. The work of 19 artists will form the examination of the conflict between nature and today’s technological society.

    paradise lost istanbul
    paradise lost istanbul

    A key element of the show is the idea of an ancestral nostalgia for “paradise lost” in the face of culture, industry and technology. The investigation into the concept of nature makes Romanticism as its starting point, placing special emphasis on the artistic point of view; and how it is effected by the artifices of todays culture, and the current postmodernism.

    With this in mind, some of the questions which the show asks are about whether natural innocence still exists in this day and age, or whether the notion is a purely romantic one. Unsurprisingly, there is also reflection upon the ecological future of the planet – and whether we have arrived at a point of no return in terms of the destruction of nature. And even if some form of natural innocence still exists – will the growing dichotomy between the natural and the technological eventually render it unrecognisable?

    This is an interesting project which has collaborated with some of today’s most exciting contemporary artists, such as Belgian Francis Alys, acclaimed video-artist Pipilotti Rist, Kiki Smith Bill Viola, Pae White, Ulrike Ottinger, Armin Linke, and Guy Maddin.

    More information about this fantastic work:

     

  • Art Sales: Turkey is looking hot this winter

    Art Sales: Turkey is looking hot this winter

    By Colin Gleadell 10:59AM GMT 30 Nov 2010

    art1 1774458bAt Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul’s contemporary art fair, which closed on Sunday, one of the star attractions was a tall 1962 abstract painting by Mubin Orhon. An artist who trained in Paris in the Fifties and died in 1981, he is one of the half dozen most sought after modern Turkish painters. The piece was not for sale, but was there for promotional purposes: it had been sold at a local auction house, Antik AS, earlier in the month for a record $965,000 (£618,400).

    Art fairs in the West don’t normally promote auction highlights, but in Turkey, it seems, auctions and galleries are united in promoting Turkish art. Orhon’s painting, which had been bought by the Turkish billionaire food manufacturer Murat Ulker, was there as a symbol of the country’s emergence as a force in the international art market.

    It was perhaps no accident that, as the art fair opened, two of the world’s biggest auctioneers made announcements about their activities in the Turkish market. Sotheby’s is to hold its third contemporary Turkish art sale in London next April, to be headed by Elif Bayoglu, who has been promoted from within the company after the suicide, reported in May, of Ali Can Ertug, the young expert who had led the company’s drive into the Turkish market.

    Ertug had been a huge success. At his first sale, in March 2009 while the world was in deep recession, he met his target with a £1.4 million sale. Omer Koc, a member of one of Turkey’s richest families who credits Ertug with inspiring him to collect contemporary Turkish art, bought eight lots, including a hyper-real self-portrait as a bloody-nosed boxer by the rising artist Taner Ceylan, for £71,000. At Sotheby’s second Turkish auction, this April, Ertug raised the bar with a £2.4 million sale, and looked set to continue the upward trajectory next year. The Sotheby’s announcement was made to reassure all and sundry at Contemporary Istanbul, where Bayoglu was trawling for business, that the sale was in safe hands.

    Within hours of the Sotheby’s statement, a new player was launched on to the scene when Bonhams announced that it was opening an office in Istanbul and would hold its first modern and contemporary Turkish art sale in London during the same week as Sotheby’s. The office is to be run by Erdem Sontur, a graduate of Istanbul University with a degree in art history and archaeology, with back-up from London. Bonham’s will be aiming, at least, to eclipse Christie’s, which for the past two years has included modern and contemporary Turkish art in its twice-yearly sales in Dubai, which account for an average half a million dollars at each sale.

    But the target for all three Western auction houses is to rival Antik AS in Istanbul. Founded in 1981, Antik AS holds about six auctions a year and had a turnover last year of $45 million, of which $25 million was for modern and contemporary Turkish art. This month it launched its new season with a $10 million sale in this niche market.

    In the past few seasons, Antik AS has been setting the pace at the high end, fetching record prices for the top group of Turkish moderns, mostly artists born in the early 20th century who studied in Paris in the post-war era and are no longer alive. These would include Mubin Orhon, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Turkey’s leading female artist (who reached $910,000 – though Sotheby’s improved on that price in April), and Erol Akyavas (whose massive The Siege holds the record for modern Turkish painting at $1.75 million). Last September it sold Symphony in Blue, a swirling abstract painting by Buhran Doganacy (born 1929), for $1.85 million to Marat Ulker, making Doganacy the most expensive living Turkish artist. In 1995, the painting had sold for $50,000, which gives some idea of the price increases that have been taking place. This month, Antik AS sold another work by Doganacy, Blossom, for $277,500.

    Olgac Artram, the CEO of the family-owned auction house, says that the rises are due to demand outstripping supply for great works by these artists. This demand comes primarily from Turkish collectors, private museums and investment funds. In a new development, Yapik Kredi Bank and Akbank are bringing in new buyers by providing loans for art purchases. Far from seeing Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams as rivals jumping on his bandwagon, he welcomes their initiatives. He will even advise his clients on buying and selling through them. Ultimately, he believes, these initiatives will globalise the market, helping Turkish artists to gain their rightful place on the world stage.

    via Art Sales: Turkey is looking hot this winter – Telegraph.

  • tehran times : Tehran galleries taking part in Contemporary Istanbul exhibit

    tehran times : Tehran galleries taking part in Contemporary Istanbul exhibit

    Tehran galleries taking part in Contemporary Istanbul exhibit

    Tehran Times Art Desk

    TEHRAN – Tehran’s Asar and Etemad galleries will participate in the fifth edition of the Contemporary Istanbul exhibit, which runs from November 25 to 28.

    The Asar Gallery will be displaying selected works by seven Iranian artists with the central theme of population.

    Alireza Adambakan, Samira Alikhanzadeh, Reza Azimian, Mohammad Ghazali, Ahmad Morshedlu, Babak Roshaninejad, and Sadeq Tirafkan will be displaying their works.

    The name of the artists attending the event from Etemad Gallery was not released in the news.

    For four days, Contemporary Istanbul will be hosting national and international galleries, artists from all over the world, collectors, museum directors, curators, art critics, members of the press and art lovers at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC).

    As the most extensive “modern and contemporary art” event in Turkey, Contemporary Istanbul aims to promote the cultural and artistic life of Turkey.

    via tehran times : Tehran galleries taking part in Contemporary Istanbul exhibit.

  • Contemporary Istanbul hosts Iranian and Armenian artists

    Contemporary Istanbul hosts Iranian and Armenian artists

    contemporary istanbul hosts iranian and armenian artistsWith its mission to become a fair with a regional agenda, Contemporary Istanbul focuses on the art of neighboring countries. Last year it began to do this within the framework of a program entitled New Horizons. The first country to be featured under this appellation was Syria. The selection of artists reflected the diverse trends in Syrian contemporary art with the latter two, Ahmad Moualla and Sara Shamma, standing out as internationally recognized artists.

    This year the focus is on Iranian art. Exhibited in five different booths, the selection again will illustrate the richness and diversity of the works of these renowned artists. Parallel to its emerging cinematographic successes in the last few years, Iranian artists working with a vast array of media have begun to attract the attention of global art lovers. A case in point is that of the five booths in the fair featuring Iranian art – three are from the U.K. and Germany. Beginning with the widely acclaimed Shirin Neshat, the artists featured in the fair are Afsoon, Ali Adjalli, Jamshid Bayrami, Simeen Farhat, Mahmoud Kalar, Ali Rahbar, Mehdi Saeedi, Zolaykha Sherzad, Maliheh Afnan, Ayman Baalbaki, Fathi Hassan and Susan Hefuna. Viewing the resulting kaleidoscope of the works of these artists will certainly be an awesome experience for all art lovers.

    Looking at this lively art from Iran, a country that is host to one of the oldest civilizations in the world, one cannot but ponder the recent history of this country and how art has flourished in that context. It is a fact beyond doubt that during the reign of the late shah an elite, even if of a limited size, began to collect artwork of world masters as well. This trend of collecting was further spurred by the establishment of a state collection of world modern art under the guidance of the empress.

    Today Iranian art is flourishing both in the country as well as in the post-revolution diaspora. What is remarkable in these works is the subtleness of how the artists come to terms with the various dichotomies of style and content such as those related to contextualism and traditionalism versus the new and universal.

    Another country that the fair will turn its attention to this year is Armenia, a country so close yet so far away. Once again art will become a conduit for rapprochement. The works of contemporary artists such as Armen Gevorgyan, Karen Aghamyan, Tigran Kirakosyan and Feliks Eghiazaryan will be featured in a booth specifically allocated for these artists.

    The surprises in this year’s edition are not limited to these remarkable sections; don’t miss the other novelties.

    The fair starts Nov. 25 at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (Lütfi Kırdar) Rumeli Hall.

    via OPINION: Contemporary Istanbul hosts Iranian and Armenian artists – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.