“New Landscapes” - Yao Lu at Istanbul Modern

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...
Posted in Contemporary Art, Photography

Jafar Panahi retrospective at Istanbul Modern

By Cornucopia TR | February 1, 2011

On 3 and 10 February, Istanbul Modern Cinema will be running a series of films by Iranian director Jafar Panahi. A leading member of the Iranian New Wave of filmmakers, Panahi's work is often described as neorealism with a politically engaged Iranian twist. His first film, The White Balloon, won...
Posted in Film

In Memoriam - Edmund de Unger

By Cornucopia TR | January 31, 2011

It was with great sadness that we received the news of Edmund de Unger's death on Tuesday 25 January, at the age of 92. A passionate collector of Islamic art since his early years, his collection encompassed carpets and textiles, ceramics, metal, rock crystal and miniatures. For many years, the...
Posted in Islamic Art

“The Relationship between Contemporary Art and Culture and Islam” - talk at the Kunsthalle Wien

By Cornucopia TR | January 27, 2011

(Feridun Zaimoğlu, The Third Turkish Siege of Vienna, 2005) Here's one for any Viennese Arts Diary followers. On 28 January, the Kunsthalle Wien will be hosting a 'kulturtalk' around contemporary art and culture and Islam, featuring Turkish-born poet and visual artist Feridun Zaimoğlu alongside artist Olaf Metzel, architect Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi...
Posted in Contemporary Art, Talks and Lectures

“Desired” - Robert Mapplethorpe at Galeri Nev

By Cornucopia TR | January 26, 2011

(Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1983) Appearing on show in Istanbul for the very first time, the work of Robert Mapplethorpe invites you to take a walk on the wild side at Galeri Nev until 12 February. On entering the small gallery space in the Mısır Apartmanı, one is immediately confronted...
Posted in Photography

‘Vorsicht Glas!” finissage, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin

By Cornucopia TR | January 24, 2011

Due to overwhelming demand, the exhibition "Vorsicht Glas! - Fragile Art 700-2010" at the Museum für Islamische Kunst has been extended until 13 February 2011. This show, which exhibits sixty-one pieces from the Museum's glass collection alongside eight contemporary items, will end on 10 February with a talk by Turkish...
Posted in Islamic Art, Talks and Lectures

...and some bad news

By admin | January 21, 2011

The organizers of Oya Pancaroglu's talk at SOAS on Tuesday 25 January have regretfully announced that the event has been cancelled.
Posted in Islamic Art, Talks and Lectures

“Architecture on Screen” at the Center for Architecture, New York

By Cornucopia TR | January 21, 2011

For aficionados of Islamic architecture both old and new, this could be interesting. On 28 January, as part of the "Architecture on Screen" selection of highlights from the 28th Montréal International Festival of Films on Art, the Center for Architecture will be showing documentaries concerning the work of two very...
Posted in Film, Islamic Art

“Colours of the Orient, Arts and Lifestyles in the Ottoman Empire” at the Villa Empain, Brussels

By Cornucopia TR | January 18, 2011

If you happen to be in Brussels between now and 27 February, make sure to pay a visit to the Villa Empain, an Art Deco mansion which houses the headquarters of the Boghossian Foundation. Dedicated to promoting dialogue between East and West, the Foundation is currently presenting an exhibition concerned...
Posted in Fine Art, Islamic Art

“Broken Manifestos” - İnci Eviner at the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris

By Cornucopia TR | January 12, 2011

(İnci Eviner, New Citizen, 2009) From 13 January until 3 April, the Musée d'Art Moderne will be holding a major display of works by acclaimed Turkish contemporary artist İnci Eviner. A committed feminist, her work deals with the tensions and complexities of being female in a country which straddles east...

‘Dynasty and Camera: Portraits from the Ottoman Court’ at the Sadberk Hanım Museum

By Cornucopia TR | January 11, 2011


If you needed some extra encouragement to carry yourself up to Sarıyer, then the time is now. Until April 24, the Sadberk Hanım Museum is exhibiting a series of photographs of members of the later Ottoman court, alongside other related items such as medals, newspapers and lavishly embossed photograph albums....
Posted in Photography

Orientalism in Europe: from Delacroix to Kandinsky

By Cornucopia TR | January 10, 2011

(Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus, 1844) As you may have already gleaned from one of the Arts Diary's earlier articles, from 28 January until 1 May Munich's Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung will be hosting an extraordinary selection of nineteenth and early-twentieth century Orientalist art. Beginning with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt...
Posted in Fine Art

In Memoriam - Oleg Grabar

By Cornucopia TR | January 10, 2011

Historians of Islamic art across the world were united in grief on hearing of the death of the noted scholar Oleg Grabar on Saturday, 8 January, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. The author of more than fifty books and countless articles, professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced...
Posted in Islamic Art

The Ultimate Guide to Istanbul

By Cornucopia TR | January 7, 2011

Istanbul is a city which has been the focus of a veritable smorgasbord of guide books, especially in the last few years. One of these, “Istanbul: The Ultimate Guide,” a new book by Pat Yale and Saffet Emre Tonguç, will quite certainly take its place in the upper echelons of...
Posted in Books

“Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from the Gelman Collection” at the Pera Museum

By Cornucopia TR | January 5, 2011

Until 20 March, the Pera Museum will be hosting the first ever exhibition in Turkey of works by those titans of modern Mexican art, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. With more than forty pieces selected from the Gelman Collection, this is a major show which avoids focusing overly on Frida...
Posted in Fine Art

Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge

By Cornucopia TR | January 5, 2011

On 19 January, Bonhams will be holding an auction of Islamic and Indian art, including thirty lots of contemporary Middle Eastern and South Asian art, at their Knightsbridge branch. Covering a wide range of materials and cultures, ranging from eighth century Persia to modern-day India, via Mamluk Egypt, Ottoman Turkey...
Posted in Contemporary Art, Islamic Art

“Here but Where” at Galeri Non

By Cornucopia TR | January 5, 2011

Following the polemical rough-and-tumble of their recent Extrastruggle show, Galeri Non have come up with something a little more understated. "Here but Where" is a gentle, delicate show, with no apparent aim other than to make the viewer think more about what they see, and how they see it. The...
Posted in Contemporary Art
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