The Erimtan Archeological Museum turns an unflinching eye on the terminal consequences of modernity
By Mina Turunç | July 6, 2023
At first glance,
Where Are We? (
Neredeyiz?) appears out of place in an archaeology museum. The Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum’s first two floors are occupied by the permanent collection, laden with ancient objects recovered from the Hittite, Urartu, Assyrian, Achaemenid and Byzantine sites. Delicate ceramic fragments, votive statues and white-washed...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions
By Monica Fritz | July 1, 2023
Paris has its Centre Pompidou. There’s the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; in Athens, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). And now Istanbul, too, has a major contribution from Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano. After a wait of five years, the Istanbul Modern – the...
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Contemporary Art, Main Featured Turkey
A play of fragility and strength
By Monica Fritz | June 10, 2022
Don't miss the last days of 'Billur', Yasemin Aslan Bakiri's Glass Art exhibition in Nevmekan Selimiye. The show has been prolonged till June 20 and is well worth the ferry ride over. Intricately crafted kaftans woven with metals and glass hang in Sultan Selim III's historic hamam, now a library,...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Highlights Turkey
By Thomas Roueché | March 18, 2020
Marina Abramović is one of the world’s most famous living artists. Her iconic 2010 retrospective at MoMA in New York,
The Artist Is Present, is perhaps one of the best-known exhibitions of the past decade; one of very few that can be said to achieve such a level of fame....
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Contemporary Art
The Istanbul Art and Antiques Fair is back, and a good thing too
By Cornucopia Connoisseur | February 22, 2020
Back in the naughty 90s, the Istanbul antiques fair was a highlight of the Istanbul arts calendar. Çigdem Simavi's Küsav foundation served up a brilliant blend of high art and high society, most memorably in the Armoury of Yıldız Palace. It was a mix of the flash and the famous,...
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Contemporary Art, Fine Art
A Conversation With Ill
By Evin Ashley Erdoğdu | December 22, 2018
All photos copyright Evin Ashley Erdoğdu and used wıth permission Thousands of years ago, our paleolithic ancestors had the impulse to create art, adorning the Lascaux cave walls in paintings of animals, human figures and abstract signs. Their art remains on those walls today, marking the birth of the human...
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Contemporary Art
By Emily Arauz | December 13, 2018
On December 11 the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) announced the title and theme of the 16th Istanbul Biennial: The Seventh Continent. Nicolas Bourriaud, curator of the upcoming biennial, described the inspiration for the exhibition and title at a press conference held at the Lycée Français Privé Saint-Joseph...
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Contemporary Art
A visual exploration of the lesser known
By Suraya Yusof | May 29, 2018
A stone's throw away from the bustle of Istiklal Caddesi, the Pera Museum nestles among the ivory façades of Tepebaşı. With its dual focus on historical and contemporary art, the museum has embarked on a series of international collaborations since its inauguration 13 years ago. Memorable shows included
Andy Warhol:...
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Contemporary Art, Photography
By Monica Fritz | May 6, 2018
Are kilims artisan throw rugs or woven art? No one is better placed to answer this than Belkis Balpınar. Former director of the Vakiflar Carpet and Kilim Museum in Istanbul, she has continued for decades to champion the Turkish flatweave and to raise it, literally, to another dimension. Belkıs Balpınar's...
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Contemporary Art, Textiles
By Monica Fritz | March 30, 2018
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Mike Berg arrived in Istanbul shortly after the 1999 earthquake. However, our conversation started with a passionate description of his ranch and the peacefulness he felt in total silence.
Mike Berg, gouache, 2018 A father of four and newly a grandfather, Berg delights in moving between his three worlds, a...
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Contemporary Art, Design
Hale Tanger’s ‘Under’ and other highlights on Alserkal Avenue
By Tim Cornwell | March 24, 2018
The first impression of
Under, the Dubai art installation created by the Turkish artist Hale Tenger, and her long-time collaborator musician Serdar Ateşer, is that someone has put a tree in a box. The box in question lies in Alserkal Avenue, a striking but treeless zone of leading Middle Eastern...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions
From The Paper Diaries 2015, by Deborah Wargon
By Malika Browne | November 25, 2015
A work by Deborah Wargon at her recent Istanbul exhibition. Photograph: Monica Fritz In a house in Balat on a quiet street just past St Mary of the Mongols, a fish is pinned to the wall above a bed. ‘My friend, the owner of this house, tells me this house...
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Contemporary Art
‘Shah Abbas’ Gifts to the Serenissima’ exhibition
By Cornucopia UK | March 19, 2014
A fascinating exhibition on display at the Chamber of the Scrutinio in the Doge’s Palace in Venice traces the history of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Venice and the Safavid Persia under the rule of Shah Abbas the Great (1587–1629). The show specifically highlights the gifts exchanged between the two powers...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Fine Art, History, Islamic Art
By Cornucopia TR | February 18, 2011
(Ekin Saçlıoğlu,
Coelocanth (To Be Assumed Nonexistent For 65 Million Years), 2011) Until 19 March, X-ist will be showing works by new Turkish artist Ekin Saçlıoğlu. Bright, visually arresting compositions are the order of the day here, but the paintings are not terribly exciting. Extremely decorative and eye-catching, but they...
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Contemporary Art
By Cornucopia TR | February 16, 2011
It was recently announced that that Ayşe Erkmen has been chosen by IKSV to represent Turkey at the 54th Venice Biennale later this year (June 4 - November 27, 2011). Erkmen was chosen by the curator Fulya Erdemci; Erkmen and Erdemci will collaborate with curator Danae Mossman and industrial designer...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, News
By Cornucopia TR | February 15, 2011
From 16 February until 8 May, the Mamco modern and contemporary art museum in Geneva will be hosting a retrospective by conceptual artist Sarkis. Unusually for this venue, all four floors have been given over to a single exhibition, but this is no normal show. Of the two hundred or...
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Contemporary Art
By Cornucopia TR | February 10, 2011
On 11 February, as part of the series of talks being given by artists featured in their
Second Exhibition, Arter will be hosting Ayşe Erkmen. Her eye-catching piece
J, K, & H (above), which fills the windows of the Beyoğlu gallery, will be the focus of the lecture. A site-specific...
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Contemporary Art, Talks and Lectures
By Cornucopia TR | February 8, 2011
This coming Saturday, artist Ali Kazma will be giving a talk at Arter, İstiklal's largest and most visible art space. His
O.K. is one of the highlights of Arter's"Second Exhibition", which will run until 27 February. The talk will cover his artistic practices, the
Obstructions series and the production process...
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Contemporary Art, Talks and Lectures
By Cornucopia TR | February 7, 2011
The Moon and Stars Project, the Turkish Cultural Foundation and the School of Visual Arts will be offering one lucky individual the chance to study and exhibit in New York this summer. From 31 May to 1 July, the winner will work in a private Manhattan studio, have their work...
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Contemporary Art
By Cornucopia TR | February 2, 2011
(Yao Lu,
Early Spring on lake Dong Ting, 2008) Until 22 May, Istanbul Modern will be displaying 31 works by Chinese photographer Yao Lu, including 11 created exclusively for this exhibition. These images are at first almost indistinguishable from classical Chinese landscape paintings, but on closer inspection it quickly becomes...
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Contemporary Art, Photography
