The biggest week for contemporary art in Istanbul lands exactly a week from today. The four-day Contemporary Istanbul fair takes place at the Istanbul Congress Centre, in Harbiye (between Taksim and Nişantaşı), which has this year been given a makeover by Tabanlıoğlu Architects.
Bigger than ever, this ninth Contemporary Istanbul has 108 galleries from 23 countries participating (as compared to 95 last year), 42 of them Turkish. Last year, around 50 Turkish galleries participated and this drop could be a warning sign of the art world’s current climate. The newer fair ArtInternational is providing competition for the veteran Contemporary Istanbul and as participation in art fairs is expensive, most galleries have to chose just one. The spike in Turkish galleries at this year’s ArtInternational has no doubt contributed to lower numbers at Contemporary Istanbul. Another factor could be the closure of some galleries, such as Tophane’s excellent Galeri Mânâ and the photography gallery, Elipsis, both of which close down this month.
One Istanbul gallery to watch is Krampf Gallery, which will showcase Marc Quinn’s fabulous bronze and gold-leaf sculpture ‘Maquette for Siren’, modelled on the supermodel Kate Moss contorted into an extreme yoga position (2008, dimensions: 34 x 24 x 18.5 cm).
Tophane’s hip industrial space Mixer, which calls itself ‘an accessible art space’ rather than a commercial art gallery, is participating for the first time this year in the ‘Emerging Galleries’ section. It will show various works, including the one above depicting a rather gloomy view of the ‘Haliç’ (Golden Horn) by the young Istanbul-based artist Berkay Buğdanoğlu (mixed media on metal, 2013, 135 x 100 cm).
Galerist celebrates a very important addition to its roster – the prima donna of the Turkish opera and painter Semiha Berksoy. Her magnificent 1970 oil painting ‘Voice’ will be shown alongside works by Rasim Aksan, Arik Levy and others. The Plurivocality exhibition, in its last few weeks at Istanbul Modern, has a room dedicated to Berksoy and her opera-inspired paintings.
In the lead-up to the Mehmet Güleryüz retrospective at Istanbul Modern in February, some of the artist's recent works will be showcased by The Empire Project, which is owned by Güleryüz’s son, Kerimcan. The above is a colour ecoline on paper work entitled ‘Graffe and the Swimmers’ (2013, 55 x 77 cm).
London’s Kashya Hildebrand gallery will have works by the Moroccan feminist artist Lalla Essaydi. Her chromogenic print, ‘Harem 1’, from the Harem series (2009) is shown above (102 x 229 cm – triptych).
The New York-based Galerie Lelong will showcase works by Joan Miró (don’t miss the excellent exhibition currently on at Sakıp Sabancı Museum) and a fellow Catalan artist, Jaume Plensa. The above is one of his mixed-media-on paper works entitled ‘Shadow study XXXIII’ (2012, 158 x 112 cm).
The New Horizons programme will focus on China this year, though curiously there’s only one Chinese gallery participating. Island6, an artist-run space and creative platform, will present works by the multidisciplinary art collective, Liu Dao, who have been working out of Island6’s Shanghai headquarters since 2006. The above is a laser work entitled ‘All you remember’, 2014.
There is also a programme of side events focusing on art in the digital age. A new addition, ‘CI 90 Minute Shows’, curated by Dr Marcus Graf, will see a new solo show performed by a different visual artist every 90 minutes. Unlike previous years, the accompanying festival, Art Istanbul, will not take place this time.
Last year Contemporary Istanbul welcomed 72,000 visitors, reportedly with ‘a total value of exhibited works amount[ing to] 92 million dollars of which 67 percent, the equivalent of over 3,000 works’ being sold. It will be interesting to see what this year will bring.
The website has more.
Main image shows ‘The Parade’ a 2014 work by Armen Gevorgian, oil on canvas, 145 x 170 cm (Galeri 77, Istanbul).
