Delving into Turkey’s past, present and future is on the docket this month as we explore three exhibitions in Istanbul – truth be told, we like our art with a dash of history.
The first stop is at The Empire Project in Cihangir to see Burhan Kum’s solo show Unofficial (ending April 9). This exhibition, which features Kum’s oil paintings and mixed media works, tangles with the question of painting’s role in public debate. Kum comes to the conclusion that, like banned books and films, paintings which undermine or threaten the dominant system are hidden away – a practice that was prevalent in both Ottoman and European lands, and still persists today.
Burhan Kum, ‘One Hundred and Fifteen Years’, 2015–2016, oil on canvas, curnice pole and curtain, 217 x 153 x 10 cm
Kum takes as his main subject Osman Hamdi Bey’s 1901 painting ‘Genesis’, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. The painting depicts a pregnant woman sitting on a Koran stand in front of a mihrab with holy books, including the Koran, scattered at her feet – a clear challenge to Ottoman religious norms. Having recreated the lost work, which is titled ‘One Hundred and Fifteen Years’, Kum reminds us that Ottoman taboos were indeed questioned by the artists of the time. He even covers the underside of his painting with a curtain to hide the religious books strewn about, which is how Mehmet Güleryüz recalls first seeing ‘Genesis’ when visiting the house of a private collector (a titbit from the small yet informative exhibition book).
Burhan Kum, ‘The Last Copyist’, 2015, mixed media on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
In ‘The Last Copyist’ Kum employs his unique mix of oils and ink – his best works marry the two – to show an Ottoman painter copying from Jean-Léon Gérôme’s famous Orientalist painting ‘The Slave Market’ (1866). Yet the Ottoman painter’s copy is a close-up of the naked woman’s torso with two fingers in her mouth, highlighting the most erotic aspect of Gérôme’s work. It is a nod to the ways in which Orientalist paintings were a vehicle for displaying the illicit.
Just a short stroll down from The Empire Project is another exhibition that shines the spotlight on the Ottoman past and its meaning for today. Until March 27, Tophane-i Amire is hosting Ottomans and Europeans: Pasts and Prospectives, curated by Beral Madra. The show is a key component of Ottomans and Europeans: Reflecting on Five Centuries of Cultural Relations, a year-long project supported by various big-name institutions.
On display are six works made by artists from Europe and Turkey who took part in a residency in Biella, Italy, during the summer of 2015. Collaborating with senior artists and curators, the six participants reflected on the relations between Ottomans and Europeans, and the impact – if any – of historical cultural exchange on the present cultural interaction between Europe and Turkey. Such questions may come across as a bit unwieldy, but the resulting works are cohesive and demonstrate close collaboration – a positive sign for establishing lasting cultural relationships.
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Leone Contini, ‘Undigested-Gallipoli’, 2016, videos, objects
The video installations steal the show. Leone Contini’s ‘Undigested-Gallipoli’ immediately grabs your attention with periodic high-pitched beeps amplified by the vaulted ceilings of the old armoury – the video shows Contini sweeping the shores of Gallipoli with a makeshift metal detector. By investigating the ‘skin’ of the former battlefield in an attempt to find the metallic leftovers of war, the artist has created his own way of remembering a past that still affects the present.
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Driant Zeneli, ‘Venezia’, 2016, single channel HD video, sound, music, colour
Driant Zeneli’s ‘Venezia’, hidden in one of the two makeshift screening rooms, is dizzying and discombobulating. The artist uses moving images and sound to represent the architecture of Venice, although it quickly becomes clear that it’s not the Venice we know and love. Instead, Zeneli filmed a newly opened resort in Antalya, Turkey, named ‘Venice’. The resulting work questions the power of the imaginary and how image factors into our understanding of history.
Moving beyond the weight of history and what it means for the future, Ahmet Polat’s exhibition at x-ist in Nişantaşı, titled A Bridge Too Far (ending April 2), is firmly rooted in Turkey’s present.
Ahmet Polat, ‘Presence, Karaköy’, 2015, fine art print on Hahnemühle paper, 33 x 50 cm
Polat has a knack for catching Istanbul’s residents with their guards down. In his work ‘Presence, Karaköy’, a man is portrayed slightly out of focus, which adds to the impression that he has been caught unawares. Within this moment there is a brief glimmer of vulnerability, an opening and honesty that keeps your eyes glued to the photograph.
Ahmet Polat, ‘Mashattan, İstanbul’, 2015, fine art print on Hahnemühle paper, 160 x 240 cm
When he widens his lens and takes in the bigger picture, the artist captures the city mid-change. In ‘Mashattan, İstanbul’, the artist presents in the foreground an idyllic scene – people swimming in a pool on what looks to be a hot day – which is contrasted with the construction of future skyscrapers in the background. The spectre of urban sprawl looms over the fun.
The main featured image is from ‘Ottomans and Europeans: Pasts and Prospectives’, which ends Sunday, March 27. ‘A Bridge Too Far’ ends on Saturday, April 2, and ‘Unofficial’ ends on the following Saturday, April 9.