‘I wonder if this poster has featured in any of your issues,’ writes Gray Standen.

‘It shows the life cycle of a Turkish businessman who lives to the age of 100 and is accompanied by a complete life cycle poem by the Anatolian poet Karagaoğlan, who was rediscovered in 1923. I purchased it last August and have been trying ever since to find about the artist, when he created it and for what purpose.

‘It may have been made not only to celebrate the rediscovery of the poet, but also to teach people about the new modern state. If you know anything about the poster, I would be most grateful to hear it.’

Unfortunately it hasn't ever appeared in Cornucopia. So we turned to Orlando Calumeno, an expert and collector of late Ottoman and early Republican ephemera, who instantly replied:

The ‘poster’ is commonly seen in Turkey in media, postcards and posters. Very typical of the 1940s when the state was trying to ‘teach’ Turkish people the virtues and various steps of life. This theme was heavily used in 1940s and 1950s, though we also see some earlier copies in the mid-late 1930s. The copy attached is definitely late 1940s (the print colours, method and design, along with the Adam and Eve portrayal). The general concept was copied from France, which used similar slogans and designs in the 1920s and 1930s (steps in the life of man). The addition of a Turkish poet’s poem is the only matter added to the French design; the people illustrated are of European (French) origin, from the game played by the young child to the robe worn by the old man and the Adam and Eve design.

Comments welcome: feedback@cornucopia.net

Pera Museum’s film programme always features interesting, diverse and internationally aware cinema events and this season is no different, with the first programme of the year focusing on the cinema of Azerbaijan.

Although Azerbaijani cinema has always been popular across the Turkic world, little is known about it in the wider cinematic context. Organised in collaboration with The European Azerbaijan Society, which has recently opened a branch in Istanbul, the programme aims to introduce audiences to the history of Azerbaijan's cinema. 

Still from ‘The Cloth Peddler’

The festival began on January 23 with a gala screening of the 1945 classic Arshin mal alan (The Cloth Peddler), touted as one of Azerbaijani cinema’s greatest triumphs. It has recently been digitally restored and colourised (main image) and features the dashing Rashid Behbudov, Azerbaijan’s legendary lyric tenor. The film is based on Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s (the composer of Leyli and Majnun, the first Muslim opera) world-famous 1913 operetta, and features some wonderful melodies which combine Russian lyrics with Azerbaijani mugham (a type of folk music composition which draws on the Iranian-Arabic-Turkish makam melody system). I watched the original black-and-white version, which elicited a certain Soviet nostalgia. The narrative is simple: a successful bachelor in the 1900s wishes to marry but wants to choose and see his wife before the wedding, which was an unlikely scenario at the time. He disguises as a fabric peddler and falls in love with a woman yet hilarity ensues when the woman’s wealthy father won’t allow his daughter to marry a cloth peddler. But it isn’t the narrative predominantly which makes this film such a classic. The rich, poetic script with every sentence full of intent, superb singing, national dress and dances, and most of all the over-the-top comic sequences which underline much of Soviet comedic cinema are all delightful reminders of a time long gone.

A postcard promoting ‘The Oil Gush Fire in Bibiheybat’

The history of Azerbaijani cinema dates back to 1898, with a documentary entitled The Oil Gush Fire in Bibiheybat, filmed by Alexandre Michon, a French entrepreneur, photographer and cameraman who had close ties to the Lumière brothers. Following this, Azerbaijan’s film industry mirrored its political and economic milieu: pre-Soviet films focused on the lives of labourers, oil fields and revolution; during Soviet times, the country nationalised its cinema; and after regaining independence in 1991, cinema has come under the spotlight. The country has produced over 1,000 films after the early 1990s and since the creation of the Azerbaijan Film Commission in 2010, things are looking even more positive for the industry.

Comprising eight films, screenings began on Friday, January 24 and will continue until this Sunday, February 2. The Cloth Peddler closes the festival with a screening on Sunday at 4.00pm. It is in Russian with Turkish subtitles. The remainder of the programme focuses on the country’s recent successes and explores the current social and personal issues faced in the country, as well as highlighting modern village life. The programme includes The Bat (1995), a homage to silent cinema, which screens on Saturday at 6.00pm and Sunday at 2.00pm.

Still from ‘Buta’

There’s Buta (2011), a modern-day fairy-tale – rich in music, an emotive script and long, ponderous shots of the Azerbaijani countryside – about an orphaned boy who lives with his grandmother, and whose encounter with local bullies propels him to confront adulthood. It screens on Saturday at 4.00pm.

Still from ‘40th Door’

40th Door (2009), named after a fairy-tale in which a princess is trapped in a house with 40 doors, tells the story of teenager Rustam who tries to provide for himself and his mother without resorting to petty crimes after his father is killed by the Russian mafia. There’s a screening on Friday at 5.00pm.

Still from ‘Holy Animal’

Holy Animal (2011) is an allegorical tale of an adolescent shepherd in a remote region of the country. There’s screenings on Thursday at 7.00pm and Saturday at 2.00pm.

Still from ‘Steppe Man’

Steppe Man (2012) is a contemporary love story and Azerbaijan’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards (it didn’t make it to the nominee list, unfortunately). It screens on Wednesday at 7.00pm. All films are screened in Azerbaijani with Turkish subtitles.

Click here for the full screening schedule and to book tickets.

A call out to our readers: do you or anyone you know look after a public collection of Islamic art and material culture in the UK or Ireland?

The newly established Subject Specialist Network (SSN) for Islamic Art and Material Culture is extending an invitation to participate in their Islamic Mapping Project. This looks like an important and wide-ranging survey, with the aim of gathering comprehensive data on the contents and locations of public collections of Islamic art and material culture around the UK and Ireland, however large or small. Through the survey, the SSN will also be able to identify the types of support that may be needed among the collections, especially those with limited resources, staff or specialist curatorship. This will result in the network being able to develop targeted workshops and seminars which will support the relevant museum professionals. Results of the survey will be published on the SSN’s new website, to be launched later this year.

The deadline for survey completion is end of March 2014. Support with filling in the questionnaire and assistance with identifying any Islamic material in the collections will be readily available. Contact Jenny Wright on islamicmappingproject@gmail.com to be sent a direct link to the survey questionnaire or for further information.

Main image shows a lamp from Turkey ca. 1557, part of Victoria and Albert's Islamic Middle East collection which holds over 19,000 items from the Middle East and North Africa, ranging from the early Islamic period (7th century) to the early 20th century (photo courtesy of the V&A website).

Although there is not a large number of galleries around the Taksim and Cihangir areas specifically – before you get deeper into Pera, Galatasaray and Tünel where there is plenty – the ones that are there are immensely good. All the action happens on Sıraserviler Caddesi, which runs just off Taksim Square (above) parallel to İstiklâl Caddesi and links Taksim with Cihangir. The street is unremarkable except for the galleries covertly housed in 19th-century buildings, as well as a few notable bars and restaurants.

Ali Taptık, ‘Untitled 11’, 2013, C-print Mat Dibond

ALİ TAPTİK'S SURFACE PHENOMENA

At No 10 Sıraserviler Caddesi, The Empire Project is hosting the latest solo exhibition of Istanbul-based photographer, Ali Taptık. The artist, who is very much concerned with urban landscapes in his work, presents his latest series, Surface Phenomena, a sequel to two other series, Kaza ve Kader and Nothing Surprising. All series have one thing in common: a fragmented narrative encompassing a number of themes. In the current exhibition, Taptık explores technology, sustenance and flora, amongst other seemingly unrelated ideas.

Ali Taptık, ‘Untitled 7’, 2013, C-print Mat Dibond

The gallery’s director, Kerimcan Güleryüz, can’t pick just one or two of his favourite pieces from the show: ‘This is probably my favourite Taptık show to date and all the images sort of lock into one another perfectly,’ he says. All the works are for sale and are available in four sizes, with the price depending on the size (for example, 30 x 30 cm. Ed. 1-2: €700; 60 x 60 cm. Ed. 1-2: €1.750; 90 x 90 cm. Ed. 1-2: €2.600; 120 x 120 cm. Ed. 1: €3.250 + VAT).

Güleryüz founded The Empire Project in 2011. After a long career in Istanbul’s contemporary art scene (he helped set up Nişantaşı’s x-ist and the now-closed Shooting Gallery in Galata), Güleryüz decided to go out on his own and open a gallery which showcases contemporary art from the regions which have historical links with Istanbul. Geographically, this includes most of the Mediterranean region, the Arabian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, Anatolia, the Black Sea region and Central Asia. The gallery’s portfolio is a mixture of established and emerging artists from said regions: there’s veteran painter Mehmet Güleryüz (Kerimcan’s father); British-Iraqi artist Athier Mousawi who explores the Iraqi diaspora in much of his work; and Berlin-based artist Esra Rotthoff known for her bright, pop-art style photographs, just to name a few.

Looking back on 2013, Güleryüz cites Mehmet Güleryüz’s show, as well as the first and second editions of the group show, Bashibazouk, which introduced fresh talents such as C.M. Kosemen and Can Pekdemir, and exhibited works by more established artists such as Banu Birecikligil and Sena, as the standouts. Outside of Istanbul, the Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam was also a highlight. The 2014 programme has some fascinating exhibitions in store from Burhan Kum and emerging artist Cemil Batur Gökçeer, who has been selected as British Journal of Photographers’ Ones to Watch in 2014 and nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award. But before all that, Güleryüz Senior will represent The Empire Project at Art14, London’s new contemporary art fair (in late February), with a selection of his vintage and new drawings.

Běla Kolářová, ‘Hledačky vší II (Lice Seekers II)’, 1976, artificial nails and cosmetics on paper, assemblage and drawing, framed 76 x 57 cm

BURN THESE EYES CAPTAIN AND THROW THEM TO THE SEA

At Rodeo Gallery, No 49, it is the last chance to see the current group exhibition, Burn These Eyes Captain and Throw Them to the Sea, which runs until next Saturday, February 8. The exhibition was previewed in another gallery walk (click here to read more), in which Sylvia Kouvali, the gallery’s owner, picked as her favourites the San Francisco ceramicist Ron Nagle’s tactile pieces and the ‘feminine’ works by the late Czech artist Běla Kolářová, who used a variety of unusual materials, including cosmetics, in her work. For prices contact the gallery.

Kouvali opened Rodeo in 2008 in a former tobacco warehouse down by the docks in Tophane, but then relocated to Sıraselviler Caddesi in 2012. One of the most impressive galleries in Istanbul today, Rodeo has a mixed roster of local, regional and international artists. They  include a few renowned Greek artists such as Apostolos Georgiou, Christodoulos Panayiotou (who has an eclectic background in dance, performance and anthropology) and Eftihis Patsourakis; the veteran Turkish artist Gülsün Karamustafa (who had an exhibition at SALT Beyoğlu last autumn and currently has an installation at Rampa); and such emerging British talents as Mark Aerial Waller and James Richards, who exhibited at the Venice Biennale last year. Kouvali’s inventively curated (and titled) shows are not only a treat, but also a window on future talent in Turkey and beyond.

For Kouvali Rodeo's 2013 highlights were shows by Christodoulos Panayiotou, Emre Hüner, and the New York-based artist Joey Frank. Also exceptional was TROY X // SCUM TAPES , which brought together works by the Architectural Association students Peter Karl Becher and Matthew Barnett Howland and Janet Burchill and Jennifer McCamley's video piece SCUM. Looking ahead, Kouvali  has lined up a screening of Banu Cennetoğlu and Yasemin Özcan’s piece What Is It That You Are Worried About? This will be followed by a ‘very simple and elegant show’ of the painter Apostolos Georgiou, whose work has not previously been shown in Istanbul.

Co-Pilot

Our usual final stop on Sıraselviler Caddesi, Pilot Gallery at No 81, does not currently have an exhibition, but do stop by if you are in the neighbourhood to check out the 700-square metre space, a former 1970s nightclub. Besides supporting emerging Turkish and international artists, Pilot also aspires to chart the history of contemporary art in the country. The gallery has a number of spaces, including the main exhibiting hall, as well as a foyer, a showroom and a separate space next door to the main gallery, Co-Pilot, which aims to provide a multi-disciplinary platform where not only exhibitions but also discussions, screenings, performances and workshops are held. Pilot’s roster of artists is also formidable: there’s Halil Altındere, the artist behind one of the most talked-about works from last year’s Istanbul Biennial (click here to read more); Şener Özmen, the flamboyant Kurdish artist who is enjoying his time in the spotlight with his works full of brilliant humour and biting irony; Kuwait-born artist Hamra Abbas, who has exhibited at worldwide biennales including the Istanbul Biennial in 2009; and Batman-born video artist Fikret Atay, some of whose work has been purchased by Tate Modern.

Key: Blue – The Empire Project, Red – Rodeo, Yellow – Pilot

Click here to see the interactive map. 

All images, except the main image, courtesy of the respective galleries. Main image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.

The jury of the Eighth Ancient and Modern prize for original research submitted its votes last weekend. We are pleased to announce that the winner of the £1000 Ancient & Modern award is Dr Peter Andrews (76), doyen of Asian tent studies, with Harriet Rix (23) taking the £500 Godfrey Goodwin prize.

Dreamt up by the art historian, sculptor and author John Carswell a decade ago, the prizes are awarded to scholars under 25 or over 60 (John Carswell tells the story in his article ‘Smashing the Age Barrier’). Cornucopia, Halı Magazine and three distinguished London auction houses, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams all contribute to the prize.

This year's winner, Peter Andrews (76), is pictured with his wife, Mügül Ataç, in a photograph taken appropriately at the first Yurt-Makers’ Conference in the Ardeche, with a children’s structure by Bill Coperthwaite (died 2013) in the background, ‘which we helped to build there’ (photo: Spirits of Intent). The Andrews have, as he writes, ‘spent much of our lives studying nomadic and urban tents from Morocco to Mongolia’. Trained an architect, his survey of tents began in 1966, prompted by a remark by the pioneering Persian art expert Arthur Upham Pope: ‘no one has ever considered tents seriously as architecture’.

The award will support a project to examine and record two tents ‘of unique importance’: the tent of Tipu Sultan (1725–50) at the National Trust's Powis Castle in Wales and the 1535 Tienda de Campaña in Toledo – ‘the first is the only complete tent attributable to a major Indian ruler, and the second as probably the oldest surviving Indian tent in the world… No technical details of either have been published. They should be documented in their entirity, and placed in context. Most Indian tents survive only as panels dispersed in collections.’

The data will be published in part 2 of Peter Andrews’ comparative study of historic Indian tents, initiated by the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad – the first phase, the tents in the museum itself, is now in press. It is illustrated with colour plates and the beautiful drawings executed by his wife, a granddaughter of Atatürk's famous finance minister. Part 2 will be devoted to tents outside the museum. The fieldwork is nearly complete.

This drawing by Mügül Ataç is of a ceiling panel of the Shah Jahan tent at the Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad (inv. CMT 654).

Harriet Rix (23), winner of the Godfrey Goodwin Prize, set up in memory of the great Ottoman architectural historian, one of the prize’s early judges, has just graduated from Oxford, where she read Biochemistry. She will set out in the ‘obscure and ill-fated footsteps of Francis Vernon’, a 17th-century Levantine traveller, who made his way across the Ottoman Empire c1676: ‘I intend to sail where Vernon sailed, and to ride a horse for the rest of the time, as Vernon did – one or other of these, however, may have to be replaced by its more practical (though less picturesque) modern equivalent.’

The winners of the two prizes emerged from a scintilating field of 29 entries, each worthy of a book, an exhibition or a film, or perhaps all three. We hope they will all find their way into the pages of Cornucopia or Halı Magazine in the coming years. The closing date for the Ninth Ancient & Modern award is April 2015. All entries and enquiries to Julie Witford, the award’s secretary: secretary@ancientandmodern.co.uk

If you are in London, don’t miss the Wael Shawky exhibition at Kensington Garden’s Serpentine Gallery.

There is a lot to like about this exhibition, which focuses on Shawky’s films, two part of his Cabaret Crusades series and his latest offering, which premiered at the exhibition, Al Araba Al Madfuna II (2013). Born and based in Cairo, Shawky melds different mediums and techniques to bring truly multi-layered historical reconstructions that force audiences to navigate the territory between truth and myth, stereotype and cliché.

In the Cabaret Crusades films, The Horror Show (2010) and The Path to Cairo (2012), Shawky uses marionettes to enact key events that occurred during the Crusades. The stories are told from the Middle Eastern perspective in classical Arabic. Full of detail, well-crafted backdrops, dazzling music and an involving storylines, both films are a great feat and reveal Shawky’s talents as a storyteller. The use of marionettes is also important: traditionally, storytelling with puppets (as was the case with Karagöz and Hacivat in Ottoman times) was used to narrate stories with strong moral messages. 

The Horror Show (above) recounts events from the First Crusade and was shown in Istanbul as part of the 2011 Istanbul Biennial. The screenplay was taken from The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, written by the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf in 1984. Maalouf collated a number of medieval Arabic texts to chronicle this period from the Muslim perspective, but also had input from Christian scholars.

The carved wooden marionettes used in this film, many of which are over 200 years old, come from the legendary Lupi collection in Turin. Shawky adapted the marionettes’ costumes and make-up specifically for the film. Choosing to use these exact puppets was also intentional: Shawky wanted to highlight that European-made figures are re-enacting the Crusades using Muslim stories.

‘Asphalt Flag 13’, 2010 and ‘Cabaret Crusades Flag 13’, 2010

The film is accompanied by a series of flags (above), created by the artist. Shawky based the designs on the real flags belonging to the Christian provinces that joined the First Crusade.

The Path to Cairo (above) follows on from the events depicted in The Horror Show and covers the 50-year period between the First and Second Crusades. The screenplay incorporates Maalouf’s text as well as the medieval French ballad ‘Le Chanson de Roland’, translated into Arabic. Because of this, the script is sung as often as it is spoken, adding an emotive edge.

The film looks considerably different as well. The backdrops were based on Muslim illuminated manuscripts to create a flattened, pop-up book effect. As for the marionettes, Shawky designed 110 especially for the film and these were produced by ceramicists in Aubagne, France, where there is a local industry focusing on this craft. The marionettes’ limbs and eyes are emphasised which allow for a wide range of movement and expressions. Some resemble humans, some animals and some hybrids of both. Shawky was inspired by the short story The J-B-R’s by the late Egyptian writer Mohamed Mustagab, which tells of a community living so closely with animals that its people begin morphing into them.

The film is accompanied by a room-sized glass cabinet of the marionettes used in the film. So wonderful, so detailed the marionettes that you may find yourself admiring the cabinet for as much time as you watch the films.

Everything from the detail of the skin to the costumes to the hair is painstakingly thought-out. The craftsmanship is astonishing, as the above image shows.

The above image shows another marionette, one of the hybrids described earlier, used to depict Alice, daughter of Baldwin II.

There is a also a collection of drawings inspired by the imagery in The Path to Cairo, which Shawky created especially for the exhibition. The drawings are marked by fantastical shapes, characters and landscapes, giving a glimpse into Shawky’s ingenious imagination. His interest in hybrids is again evident as the above drawings demonstrate, in which humans and animals grow body parts resembling Islamic architecture.

Shawky’s new film, Al Araba Al Madfuna II (above), is in a different flair. Filmed in monochrome and using children dressed as adults and with narration in adult voices (the deep, male baritone is particularly effective), the film re-tells two parables written by Mustagab. In The Offering, a whole village loses their inability to speak, while Horsemen Adore Perfume tells of the failed attempts of successive horsemen to overthrow a despotic ruler.

The combination of the two stories alongside the techniques Shawky employs is critical to understanding his work. ‘It is typical of Shawky to layer one imaginative gesture onto another so the spectator is left enlightened yet giddy by the pyramid of shifting expressions,’ writes Rachel Spence in the Financial Times. This is particularly true of this film. The marionettes are left behind and viewers are asked to let their own imaginations do the work.

The exhibition closes on February 9. Shawky’s video installations, ‘Dictums’, can be seen at the Lisson Gallery until March 8.

Photo credits:

Main image, images 2, 3, 7, 12 and 13: Wael Shawky, installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London (29 November 2013 – 9 February 2014) © 2013 Hugo Glendinning

Images 4, 10 and 11: taken by Victoria Khroundina at the exhibition

Images 5 and 6: Wael Shawky ‘Cabaret Crusades: The Path to Cairo’, 2012, video still, single channel HD-video, color, sound, dolby surround system, 59 min, courtesy Galerie Sfeir-Semler
© 2013 Wael Shawky

Images 8 and 9: Wael Shawky, ‘Cabaret Crusades: The Path to Cairo’, Figures 2 and 3, 2012, inkjet print on Crane Museo Max paper 62 x 42 cm (paper size), courtesy Galerie Sfeir-Semler 
© 2013 Wael Shawky

If the world press were to be believed, the Black Sea has become a cesspit of flithly politics laced with grubby speculation on a mega scale. Kiev speaks for itself. A horrendous nuclear power station project is steaming ahead a stone's throw from a well-known earthquake fault line at Sinop on Turkey's Black Sea coast (the Japanese and Russians are involved – both have spotless reputations for nuclear leaks). Last weekend the BBC quoted a Russian politician calling the Sochi games as 'a monstrous scam'. You can imagine the field day they would have had if Istanbul had won the Olympic Games. Sadly Olympics or no Olympics, it seems it's business as usual on Istanbul's northern front. On the day the great leader himself descends on Berlin, Deustche Welle has published a scathing report on his plans to reshape Istanbul's northern Black Sea littoral.

The !f Istanbul Film Festival, now in its 13th year, lands next Friday, February 13 for ten days of pure cinematic pleasure whether you are a die-hard cinephile or just an occasional filmgoer.

Still from Good Vibrations

As in previous years, the programme is divided into various categories. Some of these overtly disclose what sort of films are included – ‘!f Music’ offers musically themed documentaries and features (last year’s Good Vibrations about the punk scene in 1970s Belfast is a standout), ‘Dark and Edgy’ is reserved for midnight movies, and ‘!f Cult’ will feature a screening of – you guessed it – a cult film. This year, the 1955 horror classic, The Night of the Hunter, will be screened. Others are not so obvious: ‘Play’ brings together quirky or alternative films, ‘Love and Change’ celebrates activism in cinema, ‘Art and Life’ focuses on portraits of artists and ‘Rainbow’ is a dedicated section for LGBT films.

!f has a partnership with the Sundance Institute, which culminates in screenings of Sundance favourites, as well as additional workshops. This year, the Sundance Screenwriters Lab will be led by Zeynep Dadak and Merve Kayan, directors of The Blue Wave (Mavi Dalga) (main image), which won big at last year’s Golden Orange Film Festival in Antalya and made it to Sundance and Berlinale this year. The workshop will be held at SALT Beyoğlu on February 22 at 2.00pm.

Still from Dallas Buyers Club

Over 80 films are being screened from most corners of the world. Much anticipated is Dallas Buyers Club (2013), one of those ‘small’ American indie films which sweeps awards at every festival and becomes a mainstream sensation. British filmmaker Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant (2013), which is participating in the ‘!f Inspired’ competition that celebrates emerging new talent, is a beautiful film about two teenagers in a poor English town loosely inspired by Oscar Wilde’s tale of the same name.

Still from The Grandmaster

New films from master directors come under the spotlight: there’s The Grandmaster (2013) from China’s Wong Kar Wai, who strays away from his usual intense dramas to bring us a kung fu movie; whimsical French director Michel Gondry’s latest Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?: An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky (2013); anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises (2013), which will be the last film of his career; and the two-part Nymphomaniac (2013) from controversial Danish director Lars von Trier. 

Still from Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013), about the now world-famous Russian band that landed in the Siberian gulags after staging a prank at a church, and Cutie and the Boxer (2013), about the artist duo Shinoharas which has been nominated for Best Documentary at the upcoming Academy Awards, are two of the most hotly anticipated documentaries.

Still from The Children Of Müslüm Baba (Müslüm Babanın Evlatları), one of the films in the ‘Home’ category

There are ten Turkish films in the festival, with more than half of them belonging to the ‘Home’ category, which specifically focuses on the notion of family in Turkey and nearby regions. This genre seems to be profoundly favoured by the country’s industry and I wonder if it is high time that film financers embrace other topics pertinent to modern Turkish life. The rest of the Turkish programme features the aforementioned The Blue Wave (2013), as well as Ladybug (Böcek) (2013), a wacky mockumentary about Uğur who runs a DVD store in Istanbul and decides to make a superhero movie. There’s also Koray Kaya’s Anarchic Harmony (Anarşik Harmoni) (2014), which features renowned Turkish musicians such as İlhan Mimaroğlu, Aydın Esen, İlhan Erşahin and Arto Tunçboyaciyan, and Voltrans (2014), a documentary about being transgender in Turkey. Mainstream cinema simply would not be interested in these latter three films so my above rant aside, it is a positive thing that festivals like !f exist. In addition, !f Shorts is dedicated to short films exclusively from Turkey.

Still from The Square

There will also be a plethora of other events, including workshops, talks, concerts and panels. To complement the newly created ‘Love and Change’ category, a programme has been developed directed at politically and socially minded filmmakers, artists, musicians and activists who wield their camera or microphone for good rather than evil. A full day of talks on February 16 at SALT Beyoğlu is a highlight. At midday, Ali Kazma will talk about the body ‘as a platform for resistance’. At 4.15pm, the director and producer of The Square (2013), a film about the revolution in Egypt which has been nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 Academy Awards, will talk about the roles of the activist, the director and the producer during the filming. All talks on this day will either be in Turkish with simultaneous English translation or vice versa.

For a film festival so rich in independent and alternative cinema, the venues where screenings will take place are anything but. The giant cinema complex, Cinemaximum, is holding court with screenings taking place in three of its venues:  Fitaş in Beyoğlu, Istinye Park and Budak at the Caddebostan Cultural Centre. Each film will be screened a number of times and usually at more than one of the three venues. Tickets are available through Biletix and pre-booking is strongly recommended. All screenings will have Turkish and English subtitles.

Following the festival in Istanbul, there will also be four days of screenings in Ankara (at Cinemaximum Armada) and Izmir (at Cinemaximum Konak Pier) from February 27 to March 2.

The thriving hub of the European Quarter – Beyoğlu – never sleeps and while it may be true that it is the place to go to have a meal, hear some music, watch a show or peruse the shops, it is also fast becoming the place for contemporary art. When Koç Contemporary opens in 2016, it will be in very deserving company.

Marc Quinn, ‘Self’, 2011, blood (artist’s), stainless steel, perspex and refrigeration equipment, 208 x 63 x 63 cm, courtesy of Marc Quinn Studio, photo: Prudence Cuming Associates

MARC QUINN’S THE SLEEP OF REASON

Let’s start at the Tünel end of İstiklâl Caddesi (main image). Backtrack down the street and at No 211, you will find art space, ARTER, an exemplary player in Istanbul’s contemporary art scene. Last summer, ARTER hosted an excellent retrospective exhibition of British artist Mat Collishaw, who belongs to the loose group known as the Young British Artists. This year’s season begins with an exhibition by another Young British Artist, Marc Quinn. The Sleep of Reason is Quinn’s first solo exhibition in Turkey and brings together 30 of his works – spanning a number of media – which he has produced since 2000. Quinn’s oeuvre displays an obsession with fluctuations in the body and the dualisms which define human life: spiritual and physical, surface and depth, cerebral and sexual. He is known for using ice, blood and other bodily excrements to make sculptures, sometimes referring to his pieces as science experiments. The above work is part of his Self series, the first of which Quinn made in 1991. The works consist of casts of the artist’s head made from his own frozen blood. Sometimes, though, he paints flowers.

Marc Quinn, ‘The Creation of History’, 2012, Jacquard tapestry, 250 x 160 cm, courtesy of Marc Quinn Studio, photo: Marc Quinn Studio

The exhibition also includes Quinn’s six new tapestry ‘paintings’, which show ‘images of nameless insurgents whose faces remain anonymous in the shadow of their hoods. These are iconic images captured by journalists reporting on the recent uprisings in Brazil, Greece, Egypt, India and the UK,’ says ARTER’s Idil Kartal.

Looking back on 2013, the highlights for Kartal were the aforementioned Collishaw show, as well as the group show, Envy, Enmity, Embarrassment. Coming up is a solo exhibition of Füsun Onur, one of the pioneers of Turkish contemporary art, curated by Emre Baykal.

Installation view of ‘The Spirit of Paper’ exhibition

THE SPIRIT OF PAPER

Head down İstiklâl Caddesi back towards Tünel and turn right down Asmalı Mescit Caddesi. At No 5, ALAN Istanbul is hosting a group exhibition, The Spirit of Paper. Showcasing works by 27 Turkish artists – some established, some emerging – the exhibition, true to it name, pays tribute to the medium of paper. Some artists to look out for include Hüseyin Rüstemoğlu, İnci Furni, Nejat Satı and Ramazan Bayrakoğlu.

Serkan Özkaya, ‘The Bust of the Unfortunate Man’, 2014, fibreglass and paint, piece unique, 30x 3 2x 52 cm

SERKAN ÖZKAYA’S TODAY WAS REALLY YESTERDAY

On perpendicular Meşrutiyet Caddesi, at No 67, Galerist is hosting the latest solo show of Turkish artist Serkan Özkaya. Today was really yesterday showcases the artist’s recent sculptures and installations, accompanied by photographs and videos. Özkaya often adds a touch of humour to his work, such as the above ‘The Bust of an Unfortunate Man’, which was inspired by a joke. The gallery’s Associate Director, Eda Berkmen, picks the work #davidandgoliath as one of her favourites. ‘The installation consists of a boy with a slingshot in hand and there are pieces of a helicopter suspended in the air as if it has just exploded. This work triggers shock, fear and wonder; it makes political, historical and art references, and manages to capture the zeitgeist in Turkey,’ she says. The works are for sale and prices range between $US500 and $US35,000.

Berkmen’s 2013 highlights include the Kendell Geers exhibition, which opened in late May when the events at Gezi erupted. ‘The artist was in Istanbul and it was a unique experience to see his involvement with, and response to, the movement and to witness how his show seemed to anticipate the events,’ she says. The publication of a comprehensive book on Nil Yalter’s career was also memorable. The 2014 programme has exhibitions by Merve Morkoç and Istanbul-based artist duo :mentalKLINIK, who are known for their reactionary art, in store. And, Nil Yalter has been given a ‘carte blanche’ to curate an exhibition featuring works by Hélène Hourmat, Birgit Jürgenssen, Sigalit Landau, Parastou Forouhar, Youssef Nabil, Yasemin Özcan, Didem Erk and Dilek Winchester.

Fredrik Nielsen, Sweden, ‘Ferrari Carpaint Pitcher’, 2011, blown glass

AURORA AND PICASSO

Next door at No 65, Pera Museum has two new temporary exhibitions to feast on. The travelling exhibitions at Pera Museum are often a treat – and this season is no different. First up is Aurora, a group exhibition bringing together 51 works from 25 artists from Nordic countries, all working in the medium of glass. As leaders in the contemporary glass art field – due to their long traditions in the art form – Nordic countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, claim a large proportion of some of the most popular artists working with glass today. The works as part of this exhibition see glass being interpreted in interesting ways, as in the above work – a mobile phone number in neon. A piece like this holds just as much significance in the Nordic contemporary glass scene as graceful long-necked vases. 

Pablo Picasso, ‘Yan’s Black Headband / Yan’s Little Heads
Vallauris’, 1963, red ceramic jug with black painting, edition Picasso; Madoura Plein Feu, 1/300 27.1 x 11.5 x 15 cm, FPCN: 2072 © Succession Picasso 2014

On the third floor, there is an exhibition focusing on the engravings and ceramics by the master of Cubism himself, Picasso. Selected from the Museo Casa Natal Collection, namely the house in which Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, there are 56 engravings and eight ceramic works on display. Besides that, the artist’s childhood belongings – including his baby smock, shoes and toy soldiers – are also showcased, giving a unique glimpse into his personal life.

If you still have it in you, there are some excellent permanent exhibitions at Pera. The Intersecting Worlds: Ambassadors and Painters exhibition on Level 2 is a fascinating look into the relationship which existed between the Ottoman Empire and Europe for over three centuries through the eyes of court painters. Meanwhile, on Level 1, there are ceiling-to-floor glass cabinets displaying Anatolian weights and measures, and Kütahya tiles and ceramics, all from the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation, the founders of the Museum.

Key: Blue – ARTER; Red – ALAN Istanbul; Green – Galerist; Yellow – Pera Museum

Click here to see the interactive map. 

All images, except main image, courtesy of respective galleries. Main image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Sismanoglio Megaro, Istanbul’s Greek Cultural Centre, is hosting a captivating photography exhibition of American artist, J. Joshua Garrick until March 9. Curated by art historian Iris Kritikou and with the installations designed by Marios Voutsinas, the exhibition focuses on photographs that Garrick took of ancient sculptures and artefacts at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The photography series was exhibited at the museum last autumn, making Garrick the only American photographer to exhibit photos of artefacts at the museum itself in 124 years.

Garrick, who has a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University, took the photographs over many visits to the museum, which he says ‘holds the greatest treasures in the world’. Indeed, the museum has a collection of the nation’s most important archaeological finds, which includes Agamemnon’s gold mask, Cycladic figurines, Minoan frescoes and remarkable ceramics and statuary. Garrick is completely fascinated with Greece. ‘I have always had the desire to walk where Socrates and Pericles and Phidias walked,’ he says. On his very first trip there, he realised the aesthetic potential of what he could achieve with a camera and began photographing the country’s treasures, from the acropolises of Tiryns, Mykinis and Athens, to the artefacts and sculptures displayed in museums. 

‘I had never seen the colour blue as brilliant as the blue of the sky in Greece and I had never experienced the majesty of eagles flying over Mt. Parnassus in Delphi following a thunderstorm,’ remembers Garrick. The above photo is perhaps named after such a memory: it is entitled ‘Thunder Thrower’ and shows the arm of a statue of Zeus, dating from the High Classical period (450–400 BC).

‘I knew those statues and sculptures needed to be seen in a new way – outside of the ‘slide shows’ of dusty college classrooms – in order to be placed in a new context of appreciation,’ says Garrick. Rather than just capturing them in the style in which artefacts in museums are often portrayed, Garrick chooses a certain angle, highlights a specific aspect, or bathes them in shadow or light to bring out the detail and uncover the authenticity of the raw materials from which they are made. This is certainly true in the above image. Entitled ‘Sophocles Remembered’, it shows a close-up of a head sculpture from the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) on which you can see every detail, every bit of wear and tear.

The titles of Garrick’s photos, as noted by Alexandra Christopoulou of the National Archaeological Museum, underline how important history is to Garrick’s art. He draws on important quotes from history, philosophy and drama, naming the images after certain momentous events. The above image, for instance, is called ‘Olympic fame’ and is a close-up of a marble statue (a copy from about 100 BC of an original from the High Classical period) of an athlete binding his hair, found in Delos, Cyclades.

The above shows Garrick’s take on the extraordinary 2nd-century BC bronze sculpture of the Horse and Jockey of Artemesium, found in the sea off Cape Artemesium, north Euboea, circa 140 BC.

‘My works are not meant to be political,’ says Garrick. ‘Rather, they show my desire to remind contemporary society of the artistic debt we owe to the ancient world. The Ancients managed to place an emphasis on thinking about and creating art – which equalled beauty – that seems to be lost to us today.’ The above photo, ‘Beauty that never fades’, taken of the bronze statue Marathon Boy, from the Hellenistic period, seems to be a testament to this.

The above image, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ is of a marble statue of a sleeping Maenad, produced in Athens at the time of Emperor Hadrian (117–138 AD). Measuring 136cm in length, the statue presumably adorned a luxury residence.

A few more of my personal favourites: the above, ‘Medusa in Stone’, is a floor stone mosaic, probably from the Roman period, showing the head of Medusa with her winged brow and serpent locks.

‘Aphrodite’s smile’ brings us up close and personal with the goddess of love herself. Made from Parian marble, it is a Roman copy done in the 2nd century modelled on a Greek original from the 4th century. Her neck, head and left arm (which isn’t visible in Garrick’s photo) are restorations by Antonio Canova, an 18th-century Italian sculptor.

The photography series will next be displayed at the Greek Consulate in New York from April 10, 2014. In autumn, there will be an exhibition in Garrick’s hometown, Orlando.

The main image shows the marble bust of Antinous, dating from the period of Hadrian’s rule. All images courtesy of Sismanoglio Megaro.

Time is again approaching for this year’s London Turkish Film Festival. Founded by Vedide Kaymak in 1993, the festival has grown over the past 20 years and what began as a three-day event has flourished into two weeks of screenings of the best in Turkish cinema spread across various venues in London. The festival will open with Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s musically themed drama, Yozgat Blues (above), which was released in Turkey last year and has enjoyed success nationally, as well as being selected by festivals in Hamburg, San Sebastian, Sarajevo and Warsaw.

This year, there are two competitive awards sections for feature films. The ‘Golden Wings Digiturk Digital Distribution Award’ is awarded by a jury of industry professionals and offers a distribution contract which will aid the release of the film in the UK and Ireland. The ‘Golden Wings People's Choice Award’ will be awarded to the film most enjoyed by audiences, based on audience votes, and will be announced a week after the festival’s completion. Entrants can take part in both competitions. Submissions close on March 31, 2014. Click here for the submission form.

The ancient Lycian city of Phaselis, an hour's drive west of Antalya, is one of the most truly idyllic of Turkey's classical ruins. Surrounded by three picturesque natural harbours and marvellous pine forests seen against the backdrop of the Taurus Mountains, the setting has always been dreamy beyond belief, epitomising everything the 17th-century French landscape painter Claude Lorrain ever conjured up in the hills around Rome; thousands of visitors come to imbibe the beauty of this untrammeled corner of the Mediterrean. In her classic travel book The Lycian Shore, Freya Stark wondered: 'who can weave, to repeat it, the spell of Phaselis in her solitude at dawn?'

Sad to report, even this legendary beauty spot is to fall to the developers. Permission has been granted from on high for a giant hotel complex to be built over parts of the ancient city. The perpetrators of this act appear to be the 'well-connected' Rixos Hotel chain – the guest list of the Bodrum Rixos reveals just how 'well-connected'.

It beggars belief, really. How the 180,009-square-metre project could be contemplated is beyond us. Not only will the new complex stand within the sacrosanct borders of the Beydağları–Olympos National Park, but it will occupy almost 20,000 square metres of the ancient city itself, an area the size of roughly three football pitches.

Phaselis was designated a 'First Degree Archeologic and Historical Preservation Area', to give the most untouchable of protected zones its rather clunky title – in other words it is on a par with the Topkapı Palace itself. Any traces of what may lie below the ground will be destroyed, along with the entire timeless beauty of the place... 

Anyone who cares about antiquities or Turkey's Mediterranean coastline should lend their voice to the campaign to halt this project. An online campaign in English, Turkish and German has been mounted.

The name of the project is 'Dream of Phaselis'. The imperative is a piece of nice irony.

Phaselis with its twin ports is among the most atmospheric of classical sites in Turkey. And it seems incomprehensible that a development of so substantial a kind should be permitted whether within the site of the ancient city or in its immediate vicinity, when other much less sensitive sites are available in the area.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean such a project would be taken as evidence of either deep corruption or gross incompetence in the administration of the planning system. Turkey owes it to itself to preserve the integrity of a magical site within a millipark which is already popular with tourists and should be regarded as a most precious and irreplaceable asset for the future.

We continue our tour of the Beyoğlu galleries this week, hoping that a culture fix will, at least for a little while, take our minds off Phaselis. Galatasaray may be best known for its football club and lisesi (high school), but there’s plenty to like about this lively neighbourhood. Start at the gate of the Galatasaray Lycée (above) – a popular meeting place – where crowds gather whenever there is a football match or a protest. These days, it is also the hangout of the police who mill around in high numbers, trying to intimidate. Do not let them.

Bruce Nauman, ‘Dance or Exercise on the Perimeter of a Square (Square Dance)’, 1967–1968, video stills, 8’24”

BRUCE NAUMAN’S DANCE OR EXERCISE ON THE PERIMETER OF A SQUARE (SQUARE DANCE)

Head down Istiklâl Caddesi towards Tünel and within a few minutes, you will reach SALT Beyoğlu at No 136. Stop by for 10 minutes to see experimental American artist Bruce Nauman’s famous video work, Dance or Exercise on the Perimeter of a Square (Square Dance). Made during the winter of 1967–68, it is one of the four studio films that Nauman produced in which he used his body to explore movement, space and the camera’s view in a variety of predetermined actions performed in the confines of his studio.

Bernd Oppl, ‘Sick Building’, video, 7’00”

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

Go back down Istiklâl Caddesi towards the Galatasaray Lycée and in one minute, the famous Mısır Apartment building, home to some fine galleries, will be on your left. On the second floor, Galeri Zilberman’s first space (previously CDA Projects) is hosting a group exhibition entitled Inattentional Blindness. Borrowing its name from a psychological term, the works in the exhibition explore how the media, the advertising industry and politicians bend the public’s perception to feed them specific information. The gallery’s founder, Moiz Zilberman, particularly likes the works by Aylin Tekiner, Claudia Larcher and Bernd Oppl. In his video, Sick Building (above), Oppl shifts the viewer’s perception of the architectural space. All works are for sale and prices range between €800 and €8,500.

Seçil Erel, ‘Safa Sokak’, oil on canvas, 207 x 180 cm

SEÇIL EREL’S TERRITORY

On the third floor, Galeri Zilberman’s second space is hosting the young Turkish artist Seçil Erel. In Territory, Erel presents her new series of geometrical paintings, in which she explores her own personal history by rendering architectural structures of the places in which she has lived using mathematical models. The beautiful textured paintings almost look like patchwork. Zilberman particularly likes the above work ‘Sefa Sokak’ and ‘Dere Apartmani’ is another favourite. All works are for sale and prices range between 3,000TL and 18,000TL.

Looking back on 2013, Zilberman picks Turkish artist Şükran Moral and Austrian artist Valie Export’s joint exhibition Despair & Metanoia, and the solo shows of Zeren Göktan and Azade Köker as the standouts. The 2014 programme has exhibitions by Kay Rosen, İz Öztat and Walid Siti to look forward to. As well as that, the Young, Fresh, Different group exhibition, focusing on new artists, will take place during the summer.

Osman Dinç, ‘The Table’ and ‘The Feast’

OSMAN DINÇ’S THEOREM

On the fourth floor, Pi Artworks is hosting the solo exhibition of Turkish, Paris-based artist, Osman Dinç. Entitled Theorem, the exhibition focuses on the artist's minimalist sculptures and accompanying photographs. The gallery’s founder, Yeşim Turanlı, chooses the above works as her favourites. ‘These museum-quality works were made by Dinç in the 1980s and have never been shown in Turkey. He created them at a time of great unrest in the country. The technique he has used is not a new one, but one he has carefully perfected,’ she says. All pieces are for sale and range between €2,000 and €20,000.

‘It is hard to pick only one, but without a doubt, opening our new branch in London with Pi: Housewarming last October was definitely a highlight,’ Turanlı says, reflecting on 2013. ‘We are the first Turkish gallery to open a space in London and I am extremely proud,’ she adds. ‘It was also great to see the introduction of a new art fair, ArtInternational. Alongside Contemporary Istanbul and the biennial, it is great that the Istanbul arts scene is seeing artists of such high calibre.’ Mehmet Ali Uysal’s ‘mind-bending but absolutely fantastic’ Paintings exhibition was another standout. Looking ahead, Osman Dinç will follow his current exhibition with a special one-month long sound installation. German-Egyptian artist Susan Hefuna and Gülay Semercioğlu will exhibit at the Istanbul space later in the year.

Murat Morova, ‘Untitled’, 2013

MURAT MOROVA’S NATURE-MORTE

Across the hall, Galeri Nev is opening a new exhibition today of Istanbul-born artist, Murat Morova. In Nature-Morte, Morova presents multi-layered figurines, tar drawings and installations that, as in much of the artist’s work, explore a myriad of themes. With his art-nouveau-like statuettes (above), Morova wants the audience to consider the grim prospect of our future – environmental denigration and the list of engendered species growing by the minute. In his tar drawings, Morova stains animal-like figures to evoke the hunting scenes depicted in Ottoman miniatures.

Installation view of ‘Trocadero’

TROCADERO

On the fifth floor, Nesrin Esirtgen Collection presents a group show inspired by the Trocadero Theatre, which stood on the land where the Mısır Apartment building now stands, and operated throughout the second half of the 19th-century. But the exhibition is not concerned with the history of the theatre or Istanbul’s urban development. Instead, it takes the myth of the Trocadero and brings together works which question notions of repetition in the creative process.

‘This is the first time we have collaborated with a young curator, Nazlı Gürlek, and the exhibition turned out very well. Rather than specifying a favourite work, I would say the exhibition should be considered as a whole,’ says the gallery’s manager, Berçin Damgacı. Although not a selling exhibition as the gallery is a non-for-profit space and was launched to share Nesrin Esirtgen’s collection with the public and support emerging artists, Damgacı says the works can be purchased by getting in touch with the galleries which represent the exhibiting artists.

For Damgacı, the collection exhibition No. 3 and Koray Kantarcıoğlu’s show Landscapes made a great impact in 2013. An installation exhibition of Boston-based artist Bahar Yürükoğlu will follow.

THOMAS FRONTINI’S DESIGNED HEAVEN

Keep heading down İstiklâl Caddesi, go past the Galatasaray Lycée and turn down the first street on your right. On Turnacıbaşı Caddesi, a narrow street full of interesting art boutiques, vintage shops and the 18th-century Galatasaray Hamamı, at No. 21, the tiny Gama Gallery is hosting the solo exhibition of Thomas Frontini. In Designed Heaven, Frontini presents a series of his abstract paintings in which he uses soft colours and elements from nature to depict allegories of loneliness.

Installation view of ‘Autonomous and Beautiful’

AUTONOMOUS AND BEAUTIFUL

If you still have it in you, and are brave enough to face the frenzy of the rest of İstiklâl Caddesi, come back onto it and head towards Taksim Square. At No 8, Akbank Sanat is hosting a group exhibition highlighting how new art emerges through changes in institutional structures. Curated by Hasan Bülent Kahraman, the works in the exhibition, true to its name Autonomous and Beautiful, are concerned with two fundamental concepts: autonomy and beauty. Some important artists are exhibited including some we have mentioned in this walk: Şükran Moral, Gülay Semercioğlu and Osman Dinç. There are also works by celebrated fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, photographer Murat Germen and Bursa-born painter, Inci Furni, amongst others.

Key: Blue – SALT, Red – Mısır Apartment (Galeri Zilberman, Pi Artworks, Galeri Nev, Nesrin Estirgen Collection), Green – Gama Gallery, Yellow – Akbank Sanat

Click here to see the interactive map.

Main image courtesy of Sami Altınay (www.gezipgordum.com). Image 1 courtesy of Electronic Remix Archive. All other images courtesy of respective galleries. 

The works of the ten Jameel Prize finalists are meticulously placed around the Porter Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Curated by Tim Stanley, V&A’s Senior Curator in the Middle East department, with help from the Curator of Middle Eastern Contemporary Art and Design, Salma Tuqan, the dimmed lighting in the gallery only adds to the stunning display. We already know that Turkish fashion label, Dice Kayek, took the £25,000 prize for their gorgeous dresses (above) – inspired by the robes of Ottoman rulers, Byzantine mosaics, and the domes of Istanbul’s mosques and palaces – and they hang majestically in the far corner of the gallery, inspiring awe from every angle.

Dice Kayek, courtesy of Emre Dogru

Dice Kayek was launched by Bursa-born sisters Ece and Ayşe Ege in 1992, and today they have studios in Istanbul and Paris. The three dresses submitted for the prize come from their Istanbul Contrast Collection, which was the focus of an exhibition at the Istanbul Modern in 2010. The idea behind the collection was to pay homage to Istanbul’s architectural and sartorial treasures by designing pieces in which the fabric was sculpted into interesting shapes. As Nilgin Yusuf writes in Cornucopia No 44, ‘Dice Kayek’s designs are more akin to intricate origami or complex modern buildings than fashion’, with Ece herself making comparisons between dressmaking and architecture. ‘The dress is like a building,’ she says. ‘You put it on and you are all dressed up – all you need is shoes,’ she says.

Dice Kayek, ‘Caftan’, 2009, courtesy of Dice Kayek Archive

‘Caftan’ (above), made from hand-woven lamé brocade, is a reinterpretation of the robes worn by Ottoman rulers.

Dice Kayek, ‘Dome 2’, 2010, courtesy of Dice Kayek Archive

In ‘Dome 2’ (above), lightweight cotton organdy was folded to echo the ribs of lead-covered domes of Istanbul’s mosques and palaces.

Dice Kayek, ‘Hagia Sophia’, 2009, courtesy of Dice Kayek Archive

For ‘Hagia Sophia’ (above), the sisters created a white satin coat on which complex, hand-stitched embroidery, incorporating ancient glass beads, was woven. This exquisite dress was inspired by Byzantine mosaics (hence the name) and for me was the most impressive. I can’t imagine wearing it (it looks heavy), but haute couture doesn’t get much better than this.

The other finalists produced some fine work but it was Dice Kayek who took the prize for their ability to ‘use Islamic inspiration in a completely secular context, taking into a new world, that of contemporary fashion,’ as according to Martin Roth, Director of the V&A and the Chair of the panel of judges. Besides ingenuity, I would bet that craftsmanship had something to with Dice Kayek’s success, be it in the attention paid to detail, the quality of the textiles or the ability to meld fashion with architecture. Unlike many of the other finalists, the Ege sisters did not so much have a political or social message in their work and instead presented pieces that were artistically and aesthetically accomplished.

Carpets, textiles and typography featured heavily in the works of the other nine finalists. Four finalists presented works concerned with calligraphy or typography. The inclusion of Huda Smitshuijzen Abi Farès, the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation at the Center for Arabic Typography, on the judging panel might or might not have had something to do with this.

Mounir Fatmi, ‘Technologia’ 2010, video projection, courtesy of the artist and Paradise Row

Moroccan artist Mounir Fatmi entered the competition with two works, both concerned with manipulating Arabic calligraphy. The main video installation takes almost one wall inside the gallery but I really like his work, ‘Technologia’ (above), which greets audiences at the entrance to the gallery. In it, Fatmi links circular Arabic calligraphy with Marcel Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs, which were the first example of kinetic art. The mad black-and-white shapes moving with lighting speed have an almost hallucinatory effect.

Laurent Mareschal, ‘Beiti’ (spices), 2011, detail of the installation, CAPC, Bordeaux, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Marie Cini, photo: Tami Notsani

French artist Laurent Mareschal is interested with the impermanence of life. He often uses Palestinian sources for his work as a way of acknowledging the particular impermanence of Palestinian life. Mareschal has created the above work, ‘Beiti’ (My house), in which he used spices such as turmeric, ginger, zaatar, sumac and white pepper to create ephemeral patterns made to look like decorative floor tiles. The detail Mareschal managed to achieve using just spices is astounding.   

Nada Debs, ‘Concrete Carpet’ (Detail), 2010, concrete, mother-of-pearl, stainless steel, courtesy of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, photo: Marino Solokhov

Lebanese furniture and product designer Nada Debs presents her 3.5 x 9 metres ‘Concrete Carpet’, which combines a new, lightweight form of concrete with contemporary Arabic font design (which was designed in collaboration with another finalist, Pascal Zoghbi). This reinterpretation of a carpet is divided into 28 panels, one for each letter of the Arabic alphabet. The carpet’s design was inspired by Japanese tatami mats and the Arabic script on each panel creates a kind of ‘poetry’, inspired by Japanese haiku. Debs also add a little sparkle with mother-of-pearl inlaid into some of the letters, calling to mind an old marquetry art form typical of Lebanon and Syria. By applying ancient practices to a modern medium, Debs fuses culture, tradition and design to produce something totally unique.

Awarded every two years, the Jameel Prize was in its third instalment last year with the winner announced in December. It was founded in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) after the renovation of the V&A’s Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which opened in July 2006, to ‘present the rich artistic heritage of the Islamic world’. Almost 270 nominations from leading curators, designers, artists and cultural figures were received in 2013, including first-time entries from Algeria, Brazil, Kosovo, Norway and Russia. The panel of judges, chaired by Roth, included Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the new Routemaster bus and the London Olympic cauldron; the 2011 winner Rashid Koraïchi; Nada Shabout, Associate Professor of Art History and the Director of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute at the University of North Texas; and the aforementioned Huda Smitshuijzen Abi Farès.

The exhibition runs until April 21, 2014.

Main image: Dice Kayek (c) Victoria and Albert Museum, London

There's just over two weeks left to apply for the 18th annual Intensive Ottoman and Turkish Summer School, again taking place on the beautiful Cunda Island (Alibey Adası). Run by the Ottoman Studies Foundation and sponsored by Koç University and the Turkish Cultural Foundation, the programme is open to anyone interested in continuing their study of Ottoman and Turkish for the purpose of academic research, with priority given to qualified doctoral students. Students will be taught to read and translate Ottoman Turkish texts in both manuscript and printed forms, and will also be able to develop skills in paleography. Styles covered include dîvânî, siyâkat and rık’a. The programme also provides tuition in Persian (including Persian and Arabic elements in Ottoman) and in Modern Turkish (conversation, reading and translation, differences between Ottoman and öztürkçe).

This year’s programme runs from July 7 to August 15. Applications close on March 7. Click here to download the application form which provides further information. 

Cunda Island, located just off the Ayvalık harbour, retains a village atmosphere and is easily navigated on foot. Some grand Greek houses are peppered around the village centre, but the atmosphere is very low-key and enchanting. Cunda is renowned for its wonderful fresh fish restaurants along the quayside. Inside the village centre there are many quaint eateries serving delecious mezes and bars open well into the early hours. In Cornucopia No 41, Berrin Torolsan tells of how she found inspiration for her book At Home in Turkey while visiting the ‘deliciously distressed house’ of antiquarian, Selden Emre. 

Main image shows the Sevgi-Doğan Gönül Ottoman Research Building, where classes are conducted. 

We are back in the city’s gallery hub, Karaköy/Tophane, for our walk this week, where our favourite galleries have a concentration on solo shows of Turkish artists. Whether exploring personal narratives or the universe, there should be something to tickle everyone’s fancy.

Barbara and Zafer Baran, ‘Moon Drawings 0757, 0795’, 2013, archival pigment print, 101.6 x 152.4 cm each, photo: Mehmet Ömür

BARBARA AND ZAFER BARAN’S STAR AND MOON DRAWINGS

The Istanbul Modern is hosting a retrospective exhibition of London-based artists Barbara and Zafer Baran and now the excellent Galeri Mana just down the road is showcasing the couple’s Star and Moon Drawings. Catch the tram to Tophane, cross the road to the Kılıç Ali Pasha complex and behind it, you will find the narrow Ali Paşa Değirmeni Sokak. Galeri Mana is at No 16, next to coffee favourite Karabatak. The gallery’s director, Arzu Komili, can’t pick a favourite as ‘each piece is so special and unique’. The above work, however, is one the masterpieces in the exhibition. ‘The idea of drawing through photography is incredible. It really pushes these very set mediums of drawing, painting and photography into new areas,’ says Komili. Pieces are for sale and prices range from €1,800 to €9,500.

Looking back on 2013, Komili says the two-part Sarkis exhibition was definitely a standout. ‘It was the biggest opening we have ever had. We took over the entire street! Sarkis’ ‘Rainbow’ neon piece, which can now be seen on the exterior of the Istanbul Modern, has become an iconic piece both for the artist and that moment in contemporary art in Turkey,’ Komili adds. Looking ahead, there’s a group show featuring works by Francesco Vezzoli, Adrian Paci, Gregory Crewdson and Jonathan Monk, among others, as well as the much-anticipated solo show of emerging Turkish artist, Hera Büyüktaşçıyan.

Seza Bali, ‘Sunrise at Fly Geyser’, Nevada, 2008, 70 x 56cm

SEZA BALI’S LANDSCAPES

Less than a two-minute walk straight down the street – past the handsome red-brick Virgin Mary Orthodox Church – the gallery devoted to the medium of photography, Elipsis Gallery, is hosting young Turkish artist Seza Bali. Landscapes comments on representation in landscape photography and presents photos the artist shot in the USA and Finland. The works possess an understated, almost unsettling beauty.

ASLI NARIN’S SPIN

Navigate through the backstreets back onto Kemeraltı Caddesi (where the tram stop is) and head west. Then, when you come to the hustle and bustle of Karaköy Square (main image), it’s a steep right onto Bankalar Caddesi. Pop into Sabancı University’s downtown arts and culture centre, Kasa Galeri at No 2, for the last few days of the first solo exhibition of Turkish artist Aslı Narin, who presents her very personal monochromatic, abstract images in Spin.

Installation shot of ‘Dismantling the Archives’

DISMANTLING THE ARCHIVES

Down the street at No 11, former HQ of the Ottoman Bank, SALT Galata, is hosting an exhibition focusing on the family archives of Mehmed Said Bey (1865–1928), a veritable ‘caricature of a bourgeois Istanbulite’, in the words of French historians François Georgeon and Paul Dumont. Dismantling the Archive incites a historiographical study on daily life of the early 20th century by presenting an ordinary family’s records.

Kerem Ağralı, ‘The Seeker’ 2013, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 170 cm

KEREM AĞRALI’S HOME EVOLUTION

Back onto Kemeraltı Caddesi and head towards the Tophane tram stop (this is a much easier route than trying to navigate through the steep, winding and often confusing Galata streets, yet the walk is not as interesting). Just past the tram stop and park, you will come to Boğazkesen Caddesi on your left, a long street that leads all the way to Istiklâl Caddesi. At No 45, big and brash industrial space Mixer is hosting the latest paintings and sculptures of Turkish artist Kerem Ağralı. Homo Evolution explores evolution – on a wider human scale and in terms of the artist’s own artistic process. The gallery’s director, Bengü Gün, particularly likes the above work, ‘The Seeker’. ‘We are all seeking to make our dreams a reality in other worlds. For me, this work is very revealing of humans,’ she says. Works are for sale and prices range from TL 1,500 to TL 15,000.

One of Gün’s standout 2013 projects was the launch of Mixer Editions in October. ‘In Mixer Editions, we host those Turkish and international artists who might have limited exposure otherwise.’  The 2014 programme has an exhibition of Meltem Sırtıkara and an international group show in store.

Buğra Erol, ‘Safe’, 2014, lightbox with 238 slides, 99 x 50 cm

BUĞRA EROL’S GOOD LUCK

Just down the street at No 65D, one of the cosiest galleries in the neighbourhood Daire Gallery, is hosting the solo exhibition of artist and environmental activist, Buğra Erol. In Good Luck, Erol creates a narrative in which he presents his views on economic interdependence, environmental denigration and the new world order created by the power elites. ‘Buğra has a very distinct style of drawing and this is reflected in his paintings. However, what is even more special about his works is that they are based on a constructed story,’ says the gallery’s director, Selin Söl.  ‘I think his most striking works are the lightboxes,’ says Söl. The above image shows one of these, in which slides showing images from Greenpeace archives are places to reveal a hidden word commenting on the environmental situation. All the works are for sale. Please enquire directly with the gallery for prices.

Raziye Kubat, ‘Yusuf's Dream’, 2012, linocut print, 72 x 53 cm

RAZIYE KUBAT’S ‘YUSUF WHO WAS NOT CALLED’

Continue heading up Boğazkesen Caddesi and in a minute you will reach Çukurcuma Caddesi, known for its excellent antique shops. At No 19, opposite The Museum of Innocence, is Hayaka Artı, a new addition to our gallery walks. Calling itself a ‘platform’ rather than a gallery, an increasing trend in the Istanbul contemporary art scene these days, Hayaka Artı is hosting Raziye Kubat’s Yusuf Who Was Not Called. ‘The exhibition includes works spanning different media and is a reflection on our history through the life of a fictitious family. The works are very much integrated with one another, sort of like an installation with many pieces. My favourites change every day: one day it is a linocut print (above), the next, a diasec fine art print or a painting,’ says Hayaka Artı’s founder, Dilara Akay. Prices for the works range from TL 900 to TL 6,000.

Reflecting on 2013, Akay says the exhibition curated by Deniz Erbaş as part of the interfacegallery.com initiative was a highlight. The project was launched online in 2010 and relies on ‘user generated content’ to democratically showcase artists and generate a virtual archive of artists. The next interfacegallery.com exhibition, curated by Ferhat Ozgur, will take place in April.

All images, except the main image, courtesy of the respective galleries. Main image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.

Key: Blue – Galeri Mana, Red – Elipsis Gallery, Green – Kasa Galeri, Purple – SALT Galata, Yellow – Mixer, Magenta – Daire, Light Blue – Hayaka Artı

Click here to see the interactive map.
 

This November the first-ever Conference on Levantine History will take place in Istanbul. Last month I attended an interesting – and timely – lecture by the historian Dr Philip Mansel on this very subject at the British Museum. Dr Mansel focused on the three Levant cities he covers in his book Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean – Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut. (Jason Goodwin reviews the book in Cornucopia 45.)

These three cities, Dr Mansel told us, have the same appeal for the inhabitants of the Middle East as pre-1930 Berlin had for Berliners: ‘They symbolise the lost paradise… friendly to minorities, devoted to pleasure, which flourished before they were gutted by nationalism.’ People from Beirut and Alexandria, said Dr Mansel, have described those cities to him in ways that chime with a quote from Christopher Isherwood about Berlin: ‘Always in the background was Berlin. It was calling me very night and its voice was the harsh, sexy voice of the gramophone records.’ Smyrna was described as ‘a lighthouse illuminating every corner of the Ottoman Empire’. ‘If Smyrna is the eye of Asia,’ it was said, ‘the quay is the pupil of the eye.’ Alexandria was ‘the Queen of the Mediterranean’, compared to a European ship moored off the coast of Egypt. And Beirut was ‘the Paris of the Middle East’.

Dr Mansel framed his lecture on the eight important characteristics shared by these cities: geography, diplomacy, trade, multilingualism, hybridity, pleasure, modernity and vulnerability. Fascinating titbits of information were accompanied by paintings and photographs of key places and faces.

The name Levant, he told us, means ‘where the sun rises’ – that is, the Eastern Mediterranean. ‘It is a geographical word, free from associations with race or religion. It is defined not by frontiers but by the sea.’ The main image above shows the Gulf of Smyrna, seen from the northwest, painted by A Wilmore in 1855.

The above anonymous painting from the late 17th or early 18th century is a clear example of diplomacy that existed between the cities and their European counterparts. It depicts the presentation of the Dutch consul Jan Baron Daniel de Hochepied in Smyrna. The Netherlands was one of many countries who developed positive diplomatic relationships with the Ottoman Empire, alongside Italy, Poland, Sweden, Britain, Germany and especially France.

Was it any wonder then that French was so widely spoken in all three cities? The Alexandrines preferred French to Arabic, while Beirut was thoroughly French – not just in its language; and some 5,000 words were accepted into the Turkish language way before Atatürk came long. Turks and Arabs learnt French as well as other European languages in order to communicate with Europeans, and Smyrna had more than ten common languages. Multilingualism was good for business and diplomacy.

The above image shows Jean-Baptiste Vanmour’s 1724 painting of the reception of the French Ambassador, Comte d’Andrezel, by Sultan Ahmed III, at a dinner hosted by the grand vizier, Ibrahim Pasha. This was at the height of the Ottoman-France alliance, when the grand vizier himself said that ‘the only difference between Turkey and France is religion’.

Trade was perhaps the most important characteristic of the Levant cities – providing the link between Europe and Asia. ‘Alexandria exported cotton, Beirut immigrants and Smyrna opium and dried fruit,’ Dr Mansel explained. While Smyrna was the most important of the Levant ports, Alexandria also boomed, and the Alexandria Stock Exchange was the largest outside Europe and North America. Beirut was once known as the ‘republic of merchants’.

The above image shows the Bourse, formerly the house of the Greek Consul, home to Alexandria’s Stock Exchange which thrived in the late 1800s the early 1900s. The writer Ian Foster famously described walking past the Bourse and hearing a sound ‘like devils screaming in hell’.

Where there is business, there is pleasure. All three cities had many after-hours haunts. Theatres, hotels, dance and sporting clubs, cafés, watering holes – the choices were endless. Norman Douglas described Smyrna as the ‘most enjoyable city the world’. Few people know it, Dr Mansel told us, but Smyrna was the place where rembetiko (urban folk music) was born. The music of rebels and ‘toughs’, its lyrics talked of the ‘torments of love and the pleasures of hashish’. All the action happened on Vue Principal du Quais (above image). Especially popular was the Café de Paris. The great Cairo novelist Naguib Mahfouz, who like many spent his summers in Alexandria, described the city as thoroughly European before 1936. ‘The city was beautiful and so clean that one could have eaten off the streets.’ Similarly, evebody who knew Beirut before 1975 always used the same phrase to describe it: ‘the best years of my life…absolute paradise!’ 

Dr Mansel also discussed the characteristic of hybridity. There were no ghettos in the Levant cities and tourists were attracted by the ‘variety of dress and costumes’, and the juxtaposition of mosques, synagogues and churches – inconceivable in any European city at the time. While Beirut’s population was half-Christian, half-Muslim, Alexandria was about three-quarters Muslim, the rest Christian and Jewish, and Smyrna was about 60 percent Muslim, 20 percent Greek and the rest a mix of European, Jewish and Armenian. People not only had the ability quickly to learn new languages, but also to switch between identities. Houses and families, as well as cities, were hybrids.

The above painting shows Mrs George Baldwin (Jane Maltass, 1763–1839), painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1782, wearing the smart Greek dress of Smyrna and Constantinople. Maltass was the daughter of a merchant of the Levant Company. Born in Smyrna, she married George Baldwin, a merchant of Alexandria who later became the British consul there. Maltass epitomises the way Europeans would adopt local dress and local customs, including languages and even accents.

Dr Mansel moved on to the characteristics of modernity, mostly evident in the growing number of international schools in these cities, usually run by French or US missionaries. The above photo shows Latife Hanım, wife of Mustafa Kemal, one of the first, if not the first, Turkish woman to appear unveiled in public. She began her education at a French high school in Smyrna, then moved to a boarding school in London and later attended the Sorbonne in Paris, where she studied political science and law.

Despite such seemingly positive characteristics, the Levant cities were also highly vulnerable, with ‘looting and burning… race and religious hatred ready to erupt’. Some saw them, Dr Mansel says, as ‘urban Titanics, doomed for disaster’. None had a real municipality, with a real national guard or an effective police force which could resist disorder. There was dissatisfaction coming from the hinterland over the wealth of the cities, and kidnappings of merchants’ sons in return for ransom were rife.

Things did not end well for any of the three cities: Smyrna was burnt, Alexandria was Egyptianised and Beirut was ravaged by civil war. The above photo shows how Alexandria looked after the Royal Navy ‘had done its work’ in its 1882 bombardment.

Dr Mansel rounded off his lecture by pondering on what kind of message the Levant cities might have for today's mixed cities – repeating the pattern of the Levant cities – such as London, Paris, New York and Dubai. They too are ‘putting deals before ideals’ and welcoming people from every corner of the world.

The above photograph shows Alec Issigonis from Smyrna, creator of the British Mini, whose family had British passports and could leave when they chose. ‘If the cities of the Levant have a warning for us,’ Dr Mansel concluded somewhat pessimistically, ‘it is perhaps that even the richest cities depend on armed forces.’  

Watch the entire lecture below:

Those who wish to make a presentation at the First Conference on Levantine History are asked to submit the title and a brief synopsis of their intended papers by March 31, 2014. Click here for more information.

We are back in fashionable Nişantaşı this week for a mix of solo and group shows that focus on various disciplines: photography, architecture, performance art, sculpture and even contemporary art jewellery. There are a few new additions to our walks as well.

Installation view of Hadiye Cangökçe’s ‘Somebody else’s art’

HADIYE CANGÖKÇE’S SOMEBODY ELSE’S ART

Start on Maçka Caddesi. Opposite Maçka Park and right next to the Istanbul Technical University (main image), the veteran Maçka Art Gallery, founded in 1976, is hosting the first solo exhibition of the photographer Hadiye Cangökçe, entitled Somebody else’s art. Cangökçe is well known in the Istanbul contemporary art scene – she photographs installation views of exhibitions at numerous galleries and museums. This is also what Cangökçe is exploring in her show. By photographing people standing in front of art holding a grey card photo at Maçka gallery, the artist is offering insight into an art photographer being yet another actor in the field of contemporary art.

Alptekin Yüksel

ALPTEKIN YÜKSEL’S I FELL ON THE MIRROR

Next door at No 29, the small Galeri Eksen is hosting the Turkish painter Alptekin Yüksel’s colourful, abstract paintings in I fell in the mirror. In his works, Yüksel combines faces, places and feelings to present frenzied collages. The above is his interpretation of Istanbul.

Ahmet Polat, ‘The Other Kemal’ series, 2006–2012, photo ‘Street Dance at Night (Diyarbakir)’

AHMET POLAT’S THE OTHER KEMAL

Make your way to parallel Abdi Ipekçi Caddesi and once you pass the park and the hospital, you will come to the consistently good x-ist at No 42 (in the Kaşıkçıoğlu Apartment building). The gallery is in its last few days of displaying the group show A Universe Supplementary to this One, which we covered in a previous walk (click here). From this Thursday (March 6), an exciting new exhibition opens, showcasing the black-and-white photographs of Dutch-Turkish photographer Ahmet Polat. In The Other Kemal, Polat presents photographs he took while travelling around the Black Sea region, Gaziantep and the south east Aegean region, interviewing Turkish youth. With this series, rather than being concerned with the subject matter, Polat is more interested in his chosen medium.

Hande Şekerciler, ‘The Lunatic’, 2013, epoxy and acrylic, 100 x 30 x 30 cm

BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED

Further down the street, in the midst of the appetising eateries and exclusive boutiques, one of the younger galleries in the neighbourhood, Galeri Linart at No 24, is hosting an exhibition of three artists who, in their artistic practice, question the system in which we live. Batteries Not Included features the above work by the emerging Turkish sculptor Hande Şekerciler, who is interested in the fine line between fantasy and insanity. Her realistic looking sculpture comments on the emotional violence people inflict on themselves in today’s society.

Murat Germen, ‘Disarchitecture’, 2014

IMPOSSIBLE STRUCTURES

Next door, at No 22, the more established Kare Gallery has another conceptual group show for us to feast on. Impossible Structures, opening this Tuesday (March 4), will look at the links between architecture and contemporary art, and takes its conceptual idea from the works of Baudrillard and the French architect Jean Nouvel. All the exhibiting artists are concerned with architectural elements in their practice. The gallery’s director, Fatma Saka, particularly likes the works by Murat Germen (above), Arda Diben, Seçkin Prim and Ali Alışır. Works are for sale and prices range between TL 2,500 and TL 50,000.

Asked to comment on Istanbul’s current art scene, Saka says it ‘is very colourful, both at the museums and the galleries’. The standout shows for her presently are the Marc Quinn retrospective at ARTER and the Aurora exhibition (contemporary glass art from Nordic countries) at the Pera Museum (covered in a previous gallery walk). ‘Unfortunately, less people are following and buying art these last few months. The impending elections and the uncertainty of our political situation puts the cultural environment in chaos as well,’ Saka adds.   

Hermann Nitsch, ‘Untitled’, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 300 x 150cm

HERMANN NITSCH’S ACTION PAINTINGS

Further down the street at No 7, the exemplary Dirimart is showing the latest Action Paintings by the renowned Austrian artist and member of the Viennese Actionism movement Hermann Nitsch. The majority of the paintings have been created at the 66th Painting Action that Nitsch performed during Contemporary Istanbul last year. The above work is one of Dirimart’s favourites. Works are for sale and prices range between €55,000 and €75,000.

Asked for her opinion on Istanbul’s contemporary art scene, the gallery’s associate director, Burcu Fikretoğlu, said: ‘Istanbul is a cultural hub for many reasons; a constant source of curiosity. There is a growing profile of collectors, which is very encouraging. New NGOs, galleries and initiatives by young art professionals are very exciting. Although we cannot make certain predictions, we can say that the figures in the Istanbul art scene are becoming more and more conscious and the current scene promises new developments to come.’

One of Ziyatin Nuriev’s bronze sculptures

ZIYATIN NURIEV’S WHERE ARE YOU?

Make your way to parallel Teşvikiye Caddesi and past the monstrous City’s shopping mall, the Feyziye Mektepleri Foundation’s art space Galeri Işık is hosting the solo exhibition of the renowned Turkish sculptor Ziyatin Nuriev, who hasn’t exhibited in his homeland for over a decade. The artist presents his sculptures made from a variety of materials, such as bronze, marble, basalt and wood, in Where are you?

Leyla Taranto, necklace from the ‘Silhouettes’ jewellery collection

LEYLA TARANTO’S SILHOUETTES

Go down the perpendicular Ihlamur Nişantaşı Yolu Sokak. Turn right down the second street you come across, Şakayık Sokak, and at No 37, the contemporary art and design space SODA is showcasing jewellery artist Leyla Taranto’s Silhouettes collection for two days only. If you miss it, don’t despair. It will be added to SODA’s collection and be available for purchase.

Key: Blue (dot) – Maçka Art Gallery, Red – Galeri Eksen, Green – x-ist, Light Blue – Linart, Yellow – Kare, Purple – Dirimart, Magenta – Işık, Blue (no dot) – SODA 

Click here to see the interactive map. 

All photos, except the main image, courtesy of respective galleries. Main image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons.