Aiming at bringing the best of a city’s contemporary culture to London, a four-day event titled “Istanbul INN London” in Victoria House in Central London’s Bloomsbury square started on Friday.
The event will focus on a different city from five countries; Brazil, Russia, India, China and Turkey. “It’s focused on the BRICT nations. The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world,” explains the curator of the art side of the event, Isabella Kairis Icoz, during an interview with Today’s Zaman.
“Istanbul INN London is a stunning four-day showcase of Istanbul’s contemporary culture, art, architecture, literature, food, fashion, film and design. It is the first of a series of annual events celebrating some of the world’s most compelling and intoxicating foreign cities and will offer visitors the chance to immerse themselves in the city’s culture, discover emerging creative talent and sample authentic food and drink,” Icoz explained.
The Istanbul installation of the event has four main parts based on art, design, food and fashion because these are the parts that make up Istanbul’s contemporary culture, according to Icoz. “For this event we decided to focus on Turkish galleries that show a strong mixture of emerging and established artists, the majority of whom are well respected and widely collected locally, but not yet outside of Turkey, and who we feel are the next generation of Turkish artists who will become increasingly known and sought after internationally, while at the same time showcasing several artists that have already exhibited and entered collections in the US and the Middle East, but who are keen to enter the European market. And with London being such an international hub, it seemed the perfect fit to push this dual agenda,” she elaborated noting that, for this project, her role as curator was more about selecting the galleries and making suggestions to them about which artists and works they felt would work well in London and would showcase their wider portfolio in the best light.
From the art aspect of the event, Icoz encourages visitors to look at Mehmet Ali Uysal’s mono prints, Gulay Semercioglu’s wire work at Pi Artworks, Gozde Ilkin’s fabric piece at artSumer, Ansen’s photograph at X-ist, Ahmet Dogu Ipek’s drawing from Sanatorium, Erol Eskici’s work on paper at Merkur, Kezban Arca Batibeki’s photograph at Leila Heller, Yusuf Sevincli’s photograph at Elipsis, Halil Vurucuoglu’s work on paper at Dirimart and an Azade Koker’s work on paper at Cda-Projects. “I have a much more extensive wish list than this, and will be happy to share my recommendations with visitors at Istanbul INN London,” she also stresses.
There is something for all Londoners at this event that will go until Monday explains Icoz. “For press, trade, collectors, fashionistas, foodies and more!”
Today’s Zaman
