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.
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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.