Experience the exhibition celebrating Melek Celâl, a trailblazing artist working during the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic, at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM). Generously sponsored by Sabancı Holding with contributions from Gilan, this immersive showcase has been extended until Sunday, 23 June.

A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: The Many Ways of Melek Celâl offers a poignant exploration into the life and legacy of Melek Celâl, a distinguished female artist who left an indelible mark on the intellectual landscape of the early Turkish Republic. From her pioneering display of nudes at the Galatasaray Exhibitions in 1924 to her groundbreaking solo exhibition in 1935, her journey is chronicled through an extensive array of paintings and sketches, as well as patterns inspired by Anatolian motifs, articles on urban planning, calligraphy, and Turkish embroideries. The exhibition also features a rich archive, including photographs, postcards, memoirs, and letters, offering profound insights into Melek’s remarkable life.

The scientific research project titled Melek Celâl: Beyond Vision is also featured in the exhibition, shedding light on her artistic technique, the restoration processes her works have undergone, and the&nbsp;structure, colour, paint layers, and texture of the materials that she used.

Visit A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: The Many Ways of Melek Celâl at SSM Gallery -2, open daily except Mondays, from 10:00 to 18:00, until 23 June 2024.

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Exhibition on Melek Celâl at the SSM extended untill 23 June

Dive into the world of Republican intellectual Melek Celâl at the SSM until 23 June



The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum continues its series of monographic exhibitions, offering an in-depth exploration of significant artists and their contributions to Turkish painting. A Forgotten Woman of the Republic:The Many Ways of Melek Celâl focuses on a pioneering female artist of the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish Republic. Sponsored by Sabancı Holding and with contributions from Gilan, it can be visited at the SSM from 26 December 2023 to 28 April 2024.

The exhibition is centred around the life and art of Melek Celâl, the first female artist to show nude works at the Galatasaray Exhibition in 1924, as well as the first woman to open a solo exhibition in 1935. Featuring a diverse array of the artist's paintings and sketches; as well as patterns inspired by Anatolian motifs; articles on urban planning, calligraphy, and Turkish embroideries, the exhibition also features a rich archive, including photographs, postcards, memoirs, and letters providing a comprehensive view of Melek’s life.

Melek stands out as a trailblazing female representative of the first generation of modern artists, born in the late nineteenth century in the Ottoman Empire and continuing their lives in the newly established Republic of Turkey. As well as presenting an in-depth exploration of Melek's life and works, the exhibition also delves into ways in which modernisation was experienced in a nation undergoing radical change. Like many artists of the early Republican period, Melek Celâl, raised in Istanbul amidst the cultural heritage of a wealthy Ottoman family, is approached not only as a forgotten painter of the period, but also as a poignant reminder of the profound societal changes taking place throughout her lifetime. The scientific research project titled Melek Celâl: Beyond Vision is also featured in the exhibition, shedding light on her artistic technique, the restoration processes her works have undergone, and the structure, colour, paint layers, and texture of the materials that she used.

Sabancı Holding CEO, Cenk Alper, stated, " We believe that the exhibitions we have previously organized in collaboration with Sakıp Sabancı Museum, featuring Feyhaman Duran, Selim Turan, Avni Lifij, and Abdülmecid Efendi, are not only significant for art enthusiasts but also serve as important art historical resources. In the centennial year of our Republic, it brings us great joy to present this exhibition on the life and art of Melek Celâl, a multifaceted female artist embodying all the values of the Republic. We extend our heartfelt thanks to dear Nazan Ölçer and the SSM team for presenting the life and art of this influential female artist to the public, through such intensive research and dedication."

Director of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Dr. Nazan Ölçer, said, "Our monographic exhibitions, concentrating on an artist's oeuvre and delving deeply into their stylistic nuances and contributions to the cultural and artistic landscape, always demand thorough preliminary research. This year, under the sponsorship of Sabancı Holding, we have chosen to shine a spotlight on a remarkable female artist. Regrettably, Melek Celâl, a versatile individual born into a prestigious family, navigating the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, has been overlooked in contemporary narratives of the Republic. In commemorating Melek Celâl, a true embodiment of Republic ideals, we see it as our responsibility to revisit this pivotal epoch in Turkish history and its aspirations on the occasion of the Republic's centenary.

Melek, raised in an educated and affluent family, received an exceptional education within the confines of her home. Although her name doesn’t appear in the official records of the School of Fine Arts for Women and the Académie Julian, it is likely that she attended these institutions as a guest student and continued her education by attending the studios run by prominent artists during her frequent travels to Paris. Residing in Moda and establishing her own studio, Melek played an active role in the cultural and artistic milieu of Istanbul, hosting numerous artists and intellectuals of her time at her house, Villa Wohl.

Beyond her work as a painter and sculptor, Melek Celâl was also an accomplished writer and critic. Her articles and books on traditional Turkish arts and calligraphy, coupled with her talks on the subjects, are as noteworthy as her identity as an artist. Melek stands as a representative of the Republic, gazing towards the West, while maintaining a strong connection to Anatolia. We invite all art enthusiasts to explore the life and art of this exceptional female figure, whose global outlook, educational foundations, and unwavering commitment to traditional Turkish arts and architecture served as an example for the generation the Republic aimed to raise.”

The exhibition catalogue, endowing A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: The Many Ways of Melek Celâl with an enduring academic legacy, features articles by Namık Sinan Turan, Gizem Tongo, Ahu Antmen, Nazan Bekiroğlu, Mehmet Samsakçı, and Ömer Faruk Şerifoğlu, approaching Melek Celâl's life and art from diverse perspectives.

The exhibition will be supported by several educational programmes, including a “Mindfulness in the Museum” workshop hosted on 26 January, inspired by art therapy and mindfulness principles. Tailored for children aged 5-7 and their parents, the workshop will delve into the colours and compositions of Melek Celâl’s still-lifes exhibited in the galleries.

A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: The Many Ways of Melek Celâl sponsored by Sabancı Holding with contributions from Gilan, can be visited at SSM Gallery -2 every day except Monday, from 10:00 to 18:00, until 28 April 2024.

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A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: The Many Ways of Melek Celâl, is now open

A Forgotten Woman of the Republic: Melek Celâl in All Her Aspects at SSM between December 26, 2023 - April 28, 2024


Agnes Denes' site-specific work, The Living Pyramid, which has been growing and evolving with the seasons in the SSM garden for a full year, will be on view until Monday, October 30.

In line with the artist's philosophy, the life cycle of The Living Pyramid will continue in the homes, offices, or gardens of the SSM community. Visitors coming to the SSM on Saturday, October 28, are encouraged to collect plants from the pyramid using a container or vessel of their choice.

Originally constructed in 2015 at the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York and subsequently in 2017 at Nordstadtpark in Kassel as part of documenta 14, The Living Pyramid can be thought of as a living sculpture, with a natural life cycle. Sponsored by Sabancı Holding and with communication sponsorship by Çimsa, the work has been on view in the SSM garden since September 13, 2022. It consists of approximately two thousand plants and flowers of around six hundred species, selected from the urban flora of Istanbul and positioned on the pyramid based on the amount of sun and shade falling on each façade.&nbsp;

The Living Pyramid by Agnes Denes, on view in the SSM Garden until October 30

The plants and flowers that make up The Living Pyramid will continue their life cycles in new settings.



Variantology and Travelling in a Time Machine - The Work of Art in the Age of its Infinite (Re)Producibility

The research project conducted by the digitalSSM Archive and Research Space, titled "VARIANT. Documenting New Media Art," hosts an online lecture by Prof. Siegfried Zielinski (the European Graduate School).

The conference moderated by Osman Serhat Karaman will be held online on Wednesday, May 31 at 15.30 (GMT+3). In his lecture, Prof. Siegfried Zielinski will focus on the archeology of the relationship between art and media along with his Variantology project in this field. He will discuss the dynamic network of relations between art, sciences, technologies, and question the originality of a work of art in the age of its infinite (re)producibility.

The conference will be held online, in English, on Wednesday, May 31, at 15:30, free of charge. For registration, please visit <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/event/300">Sakıp Sabancı Museum's website</a>.

The programs conducted as part of the conference series can be accessed through SSM's VARIANT. Documenting New Media Art <a href="https://sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/collections-and-research/archive-and-research-area/19838">project page</a>.

About Prof. Siegfried Zielinski 

Siegfried Zielinski is Michel Foucault Professor of Media Archaeology and Techno-Culture at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee (CH), honorary doctor and professor of the Budapest University of Arts. He was chair of media theory at Berlin University of the Arts, and director of the Vilém Flusser Archive (till 2016). He was founding rector (1994–2000) of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and rector of the Karlsruhe University of Arts &amp; Design (2016-2018). Zielinski has published numerous books and essays mainly focusing on the archaeology and variantology of the relations between art and media. In cooperation with Peter Weibel he is also a curator of large format exhibitions at the ZKM Karlsruhe, such as ‘Vilém Flusser and the Arts’, ‘Allah’s Automata’ (both 2015), ‘Dia_Logos - Ramon Llull and the Combinatorial Arts’, ‘Art in Motion - 100 Masterpieces with and through Media’ (both 2018). Zielinski is a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts and the North-Rhine-Westfalia Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Variantology and Travelling in a Time Machine

Prof. Siegfried Zielinski will be speaking in the "Variant. Documenting New Media Art" program on May 31. 



Sponsored by Sabancı Holding and with all communications sponsorship by Çimsa, the work consists of plants and flowers selected from the urban flora of Istanbul, determined by the amount of sun and shade falling on each of the pyramid’s façades.

First built in 2015 for the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, then at Nordstadtpark in Kassel as part of documenta 14 in 2017, The Living Pyramid can be conceived of as a sculpture that has a natural life cycle. Consisting of wooden stepped terraces filled with four tons of earth, the pyramid curves nine metres into the sky. The terraces of the pyramid contain two thousand plants and flowers belonging to approximately six hundred species, selected meticulously with input from the artist. Having spent the autumn in Istanbul and now experiencing the winter season, the work has gone through various phases, with some of its plants sprouting and blooming while others have run to seed.

The Living Pyramid, Agnes Denes’ first work to be exhibited in Turkey, will continue its environmentally sensitive approach after its residence in the SSM garden is over, by inviting visitors to adopt its plants. 

Agnes Denes’s Manifesto, written in 1969 and specially produced for this exhibition, is exhibited alongside the pyramid, and will become a part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Workshops for adults and children, conferences, and other events on the environment and ecology will continue to be held at the SSM in conjunction with the exhibition of The Living Pyramid in the garden. &nbsp;

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The Living Pyramid’ by Agnes Denes Will Complete Its Cycle of Four Seasons at SSM

The Living Pyramid, a site-specific work by Agnes Denes, began its life cycle in the garden of the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) on 13 September, 2022, where it will continue to be on view throughout the spring and summer.

The research project of the digitalSSM Archive and Research Space, titled “VARIANT. Documenting New Media Art” continues with a conference and artist talk in January.

On Wednesday, January 25, at 17.00, Olivier Zeitoun, the curator of the Department of Design at the Paris Centre Pompidou, and Anna Mladentseva, a researcher in the Department of Art History and Information Studies at University College London, will be the speakers of our online conference.

On Thursday, January 26, at 15.00, artist Ali Miharbi will have a conversation on digital preservation through his own works, with the digitalSSM Archive and Research Space Manager Osman Serhat Karaman, at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

How Can Net Art Be Conserved?

In the first part of the conference on January 25, Olivier Zeitoun will focus on the role of networks in artistic practices within the context of the group exhibition titled Worlds of Networks, held at the Centre Pompidou in 2022 and named by Artforum as one of the ten most influential exhibitions of the year. The talk aims to retrace the archeology of the network concept and explore the history of “networked” art. In the second part of the conference, Anna Mladentseva will focus on the artistic exploration of technology through Sinae Kim's net artwork, Genesis (2001). In her presentation titled On the Conservation of Flash-Based Net Art, Mladentseva will discuss migration as a strategy for conserving Flash-based net art, which is often perceived as the more laborious and radical solution —when compared to alternative strategies such as virtualisation/emulation— for restoring access to obsolete artworks.

The sessions will end with a Q &amp; A session moderated by digitalSSM Archive and Research Space Manager Osman Serhat Karaman.

The conference, which will be held in English, is open to participation upon <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/event/299">registration</a> on Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s website.

Can Documentation Replace the Artwork?

In the conversation to be held at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on January 26, artist Ali Miharbi will seek an answer to the question, “Can documentation replace the artwork?” as he discusses the concepts “re-enactment” and the “second original” in digital preservation, based on his network-based Reversing the Conditions (2002) and his physical work Rüzgar (2017), which uses live data. 

The conversation will be held in Turkish, at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s conference hall. We expect your <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/event/298">registration</a> for participation. 

“VARIANT. DOCUMENTING NEW MEDIA ART” PROJECT, JANUARY 2023 PROGRAM

25 January, 2023 

Conference

17.00 

“Réseaux-Mondes” (“Worlds of Networks”)

Olivier Zeitoun

17.40

On the Conservation of Flash-Based Net Art

Anna Mladentseva

18.20 

Q + A

26 January, 2023 

Artist Conversation

Ali Miharbi and Osman Serhat Karaman

15.00

“VARIANT. DOCUMENTING NEW MEDIA ART” PROJECT, FEBRUARY 2023 PROGRAM

The conference series will firstly host Siegfried Zielinski, the Michel Foucault Chair at The European Graduate School / EGS, where he teaches as a professor of mediology and technoculture. His online talk to be held on February 15, 2023; focusing on the archeology of the relationship between art and media along with his Variantology project in this field. On February 24, 2023; Tate Modern’s conservationists and researchers Patricia Falcao, Ana Riberio and Francesca Colussi will discuss the institution’s strategies for documenting media art in an online conversation. 

For the upcoming programs, please follow the <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events?activeCollection=events&amp;sort=current&amp;page=1">events</a> page of SSM.

How Can Net Art and Artworks be Conserved?

 Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s digitalSSM's "Variant. Documenting New Media Art" Project continues.

Restored and converted into a museum and art gallery by the Sabancı Foundation, Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum - Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery opened its new exhibition titled “Walls and Beyond” to the public on December 10th. 

Walls and Beyond traces the historical development of humankind’s natural impulse to decorate walls, beginning with cave paintings and continuing with various architectural decorations such as frescoes and mosaics, culminating in the art of tapestry weaving, one of the oldest forms of textile production. To this end, the exhibition consists of over one hundred and ten tapestries from various public and private collections.

The exhibition was formally opened with a ceremony on Friday, December 9th, 2022, attended by the Governor of Mardin and other ranking members of his administration. 

At the opening ceremony, Member of the Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees, Dr.h.c. Dilek Sabancı said: “We opened the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery in 2009 with the desire to contribute to Mardin’s cultural landscape, developed through the centuries. Since its inception, our gallery has hosted ten exhibitions. This new exhibition, Walls and Beyond, takes us on a journey through the history of weaving, from antiquity to the present. We are very pleased to bring this exhibition to Mardin, the ancient Mesopotamian city in the cradle of civilization.”

General Manager of the Sabancı Foundation, Nevgül Bilsel Safkan stated: “At the Sabancı Foundation, we have been working for nearly half a century to contribute to social development and to leave an enduring legacy in almost every city of the seven regions of Turkey. We are always proud to witness the rewarding results of our projects, and their sustainable contributions to the country, the public and the field of education. Mardin, with its unique history as a cultural meeting point, has special significance for the Foundation. Our grants program has been supporting projects in the region for sixteen years and our Changemakers program has been running for fourteen years. In addition, the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and the Sabancı Mardin Girls' Dormitory are among our important, long-lasting contributions to education, arts, and culture in the city.”

&nbsp;In her statement on the exhibition, Director of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Istanbul, Dr. Nazan Ölçer added: “We are very happy to be here for this project, perhaps one of the most exciting exhibitions we have ever held in Mardin. This is a subject that not only reflects the city of Mardin, but also goes as far back in time as ancient cave paintings. While planning Walls and Beyond, we asked ourselves several questions: What makes us decorate walls, and what drove painters, sculptors, and photographers such as Picasso and Miro to produce tapestries as well? When did the unparalleled ceramic tiling in our mosques first replace their white walls? And finally, is it not true that the unique walls in Mardin’s churches transport us to a different world entirely? The desire to fill our walls is an important aspect of our artistic traditions, as old as humanity itself. Perhaps it constitutes an impulse to leave behind a mark for future generations, or perhaps it reflects the artists' desire to experiment with and see themselves represented using other materials, to reach a wider audience… These are the questions that have shaped our exhibition. We looked into many private collections and found tapestries in the houses, churches, and Yazidi villages in the Mardin region. We also have two monumental tapestries by Özdemir Altan, which usually greet visitors to the Istanbul Harbiye Radio House, and are being exhibited outside of their original institution for the first time. I believe that our visitors will be especially intrigued by the works of artists such as Vahap Avşar, Belkıs Balpınar, Burhan Doğançay, Gülsün Karamustafa, Zeki Faik İzer, Tulga Tollu, and Gültekin Çizgen, who made contemporary tapestry designs using traditional Turkish weaving techniques. 

Walls and Beyond presents traditionally produced anonymous tapestries, featuring mostly religious subjects, along with those made using more modern methods and bearing contemporary design motifs. Once again, this denotes a union, just like the city of Mardin itself… For all their support throughout the development of this exhibition, I would like to convey my thanks to the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum's young director Fırat Şahin, to the Sabancı Foundation, the lending collectors, and to Dr. Dilek Sabancı, who has always encouraged our work through her patronage.” 

Walls and Beyond is on view between Tuesday and Sunday, from 09.00 to 17.00 at the Sakıp Sabancı City Museum - Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until April 9th, 2023.

TAPESTRIES… 

In Ancient Greece and Rome, frescoes and mosaics in the villas and palaces of wealthy members of society depicted scenes from everyday life and nature, providing insight into the rich tradition of tapestry weaving as well. From about 1400 onwards, tapestries became an essential part of aristocratic life. Princes or great noblemen sent their tapestries ahead of time, to furnish their castles as they travelled through their domains. Though it has frequently been suggested that tapestries helped to heat stone-walled rooms, their main function was to display their owners’ wealth and social status. These tapestries were portable grandeur,&nbsp;taking the place, north of the Alps, of painted frescoes further south.

Tapestries constituted the most important furnishings of any grand room throughout the Renaissance. By the end of the eighteenth century, European tapestries featured depictions of famous paintings and often copied works woven in the past. In the nineteenth century, the Orientalist movement, which had become fashionable in all areas of art in Europe, also influenced the style and use of tapestries. In the 1920s and 1930s, followers of the Bauhaus movement as well as important artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró and the architect Le Corbusier had their works applied to textiles, opening a new field in art, just as they had with their interest in ceramics. In the 1950s, designers began to create works that broke away from classical tapestries, positioning themselves in contemporary art by bringing new interpretations to traditional production methods. 

Throughout history, tapestry weaving was generally an art form reserved for the upper and aristocratic classes. The notion of decorating walls by hanging textiles also found its place in the folk art of rural areas and small settlements, but in a slightly different way. Separated from the urban centres and trends, these peripheries tended towards the traditional arts, oral histories and beliefs, and the legends and heroes of their regions. As embroideries and tapestries depicting scenes from fairy tales and legends, as well as various felts, calendars and photographs, took their places on the walls, landscape paintings of sacred lands and sought-after geographies were not forgotten either. Carpets and decorations adorning the walls of houses, as well as various public spaces and buildings, have survived to the present day by adapting to social changes and reflecting changes in beliefs and tastes as well as new developments in materials and techniques.&nbsp;

New Exhibition Walls and Beyond now on view at the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum

The exhibition titled “Walls and Beyond,” in which the decoration of walls, a practice as ancient as the history of humankind, meets the oldest form of woven art; brings together over one hundred and ten tapestries from different collections.

In the first part of the conference program, which will be held online on Friday, December 16 at 17.00, Annet Dekker will present several documentation projects, demonstrating how documentation can move from a static representation to a dynamic and performative act, thereby encouraging a rethinking of what documentation means. In the second part of the program, Dragan Espenschied will give a talk proposing that specific types of documentation can become part of an artwork’s manifestation, and over time, artworks can be moved into a mixed form that is part performance and part documentation.

The Q&amp;A session moderated by Osman Serhat Karaman,The Manager of digitalSSM Archive &amp; Research Space, will investigate these questions: “Can documentation replace the artwork?” and “How can we transform documentation into a living and evolving process?” 

<a>CONFERENCE PROGRAM (GMT+3)</a>

17.00 

The Tension Between Static Documentation and Dynamic Digital Art

Annet Dekker

17.40

In Between Performance and Documentation

Dragan Espenschied

18.20 

Q&amp;A

The conference will be held online, in English, on Friday, December 16, at 17:00, free of charge. For registration, please visit <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/event/288">Sakıp Sabancı Museum's website</a>.

You can follow the upcoming programs of the conference series on the <a href="https://sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/collections-and-research/archive-and-research-area/19838">events</a> page of SSM.

Can Documentation Replace the Artwork?

Run by digitalSSM Archives and Research Space within the scope of the research project titled "VARIANT. Documenting New Media Art," the conference series continue with the online program where Amsterdam University Faculty Member Annet Dekker and Rhizome’s Digital Preservation Program Director Dragan Espenschied take part as speakers. 

A pioneering project in Turkey, digitalSSM has digitalized the entirety of the museum's collections and archives, including the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection, the Painting Collection, the Abidin Dino Archive, and the Emirgan Archive; with over 77,000 high-resolution images. In addition to the dates, dimensions, materials, and technical information of each work, digitalSSM also contains the results of academic research conducted on these collections. Moreover, with its 200% zoom feature, the software allows researchers to examine artwork details such as brush strokes, paint layers, and craquelure, usually invisible to the naked eye.

Accessed by 200,000 users so far, digitalSSM is a resource for academics, researchers, museum professionals, collectors, art history students, and anyone interested in Turkish and Islamic arts. It is also a significant digital art archive for future academic studies and aims to contribute to the recognition of Turkey's cultural heritage.&nbsp;

The collection and archives of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum are available at&nbsp;<a href="https://digitalssm.org/">digitalSSM</a>.&nbsp;

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digitalSSM Provides Open Access to The SSM Collections and Archives

digitalSSM, a tool created by the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, provides “open access” to the museum's collections and archives for academics, researchers, and students from all over the world.

Attended by designers and researchers interested in Arabic letter typography, as well as graphic artists and typographers designing in various alphabets; the topic of this year's conference was inspired by the book titled Arabic Typography: History and Practice, which contributes to the typography field by gathering historical research with contemporary design. Parts of the book analysing the culture of calligraphy were based on the works in the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

Held with the support of Google, Darden Studio, Typetogether and Glyphs, the speakers of the conference were the authors of the book Arabic Typography: History and Practice, as well as historians and calligraphy experts working on Arabic letter typography, a field that brings together different perspectives from design, research and interdisciplinary practices. 

Sabancı University Faculty Member Onur Yazıcıgil, who has undertaken the organization of ISType Conferences since its inception; has programmed, directed and contributed to this year’s conference, which began with the opening speech of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Prof. Meltem Müftüler-Baç. The first day of the conference included presentations by Reading University’s Typography Professor Gerry Leonidas, typographer and historian Titus Nemeth; Orlin Sabev, who is a professor of history at the Institute for Balkan Studies and Center of Thrachology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, typeface designer and researcher Emanuela Conidi, Sabancı University Faculty Member Onur Yazıcıgil, Reading University Lecturer Borna Izadpanah, Özyeğin University Faculty Member Özlem Özkal, linguist Thomas Milo and Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection Manager Ayşe Aldemir. The program was completed with a tour of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Calligraphy Collection.

In the last two days of the event, Reading University Lecturer Borna Izadpanah and typeface designer Rainer Scheichelbauer held a workshop focusing on Arabic script-type design to improve the practice and knowledge of the participants and provide them with interesting insights.

Detailed information about the event can be found at <a href="https://istype.com/2022/">istype.com</a>

ISType Mukaddeme Conference was held at Sakıp Sabancı Museum

In association with Sabancı University and Reading University, The Sakıp Sabancı Museum hosted the seventh international ISType conference, held between November 5-7 this year. The conference program held at the Seed in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum gathered many academicians who are experts in their fields.

How can new media art be protected against technological obsolescence?&nbsp;

Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s digitalSSM Archive and Research Area begins a four-episode program titled “VARIANT. Documentation of New Media Art," which focuses on methods of protecting works of art in the face of technological developments.

The rapid and ever-changing nature of technology impedes new media art works’ ability to be carried into the future in their initial versions. In the face of technological obsolescence; museums, which are responsible for preserving culture, continue to seek solutions to protect new media art. Technological works of art can survive by participating in and adapting to the constant change created by technology. The concept of “Variant,” which gives its name to the project, also refers to this perspective.

The research project VARIANT. Documenting New Media Art approaches the idea of documentation from a new perspective, by focusing on the practice of reinterpretation, which is perceived among digital conservators as a radical solution. The project, bringing together experts from many different fields, such as artists, curators, conservators, new media researchers and computer scientists, seeks the questions of how to protect the timeless value of art against the rapid change of technology, what can be learnt from new media documentaries and network science for documentation practices and whether documentation can replace the artwork.

In the first episode of the program, to be held online on Thursday, October 27 at 17:00; Özyeğin University lecturer Dr. Zeynep Merve Uygun will touch on the concept of “new media documentary” and address “sustainable archive practices.” Multimedia artist Deniz Tortum will share his observations as an artist working on archives and will discuss “how new media and artificial intelligence tools can affect archiving processes.”

In the round table section of the event moderated by digitalSSM Archive and Research Area Officer Osman Serhat Karaman, the following questions will be open to discussion: “What kind of a method can new media practices offer for archiving new media artworks? With a documentation practice, how can we revive artworks that have disappeared due to technological obsolescence? What kind of experience can we carry into the future if works of art are designed to disappear over time?” questions will be discussed. The attendance to conference, which will be held online on Thursday, October 27 at 17:00, is free of charge and is open to registration via Sakıp Sabancı Museum's website. You can follow the upcoming episodes of the conference series on the upcoming events page of SSM. Conference language is Turkish. Dr. Zeynep Merve Uygun

Zeynep Merve Uygun received her BA in English Language and Literature from Bogazici University and her MA in Film and Television Department from İstanbul Bilgi University. She received her PhD in trans-disciplinary documentary film from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Prior to her current occupation as an assistant professor in the department of communication design at Özyeğin University, she worked as a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul Şehir University and Koç University and has given lectures on documentary cinema, digital storytelling and video production. Zeynep Merve Uygun has taken part in many international film festivals and workshops as a mentor, tutor and also jury member. Her animated and experimental documentaries such as IN OUT and Zigzag, besides receiving many international awards, have been screened at more than fifty international film festivals including Cannes, Boston Turkish Film Festival, Golden Orange and IF Istanbul (Istanbul Independent Film Festival). Her research interests include visualization of academic research, visual representation of body and space in documentary film, digital ethnography, and new media documentaries (interactive documentary, digital storytelling, transmedia documentary etc.). Deniz Tortum His films and multimedia work have been screened in many festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, SXSW, IFFR, IDFA, Hot Docs and Dokufest. He was selected as one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Cinema" by Filmmaker Magazine in 2019. His feature documentary “Phases of Matter” (2020) premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2020 and received the Best Documentary awards at Istanbul and Antalya Film Festivals. “Our Ark,” his latest short that he codirected with Kathryn Hamilton has premiered at IDFA in November 2021 and won Best Short Film award at Istanbul Film Festival.&nbsp;

Variant. Documenting New Media Art

Sakip Sabanci Museum’s Digitalssm Begins A New Research Project Titled "Variant. Documenting New Media Art" 




The three series presented in the exhibition include&nbsp;Pre-tension, inspired by the concept of pretence that is frequently encountered and criticised in popular culture;&nbsp;Fake Celebrations, which protests our ‘digital isolation’ that increases with each passing day, and&nbsp;Post-Colonial Body, dealing with the dance and bodily movements of ethnic groups colonised by the West throughout history. For Chalayan, each object in these installations acts as a ‘prompter’, filling in the gaps within these subjects. Designed and directed by Chalayan, the film of the performance titled&nbsp;Gravity Fatigue&nbsp;deals with identity, disembodiment, migration, and metamorphosis, all areas of ongoing interest for the artist.&nbsp;

Hussein Chalayan is a unique contemporary figure with an innovative perspective, not only in the fashion world but in every discipline involving a creative process. Inspired by architecture, philosophy, science, history, anthropology, biology, and technology; he is a leading representative of contemporary art and fashion. Named Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards for two consecutive years, Chalayan was awarded an MBE in 2006. He is also the recipient of the London Design Medal and several other awards and titles and was named Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).&nbsp;

Hussein Chalayan is a storyteller. Aside from his fashion collections, he also makes installations, directs short films, designs stage performances, and designs costumes for the performing arts. Concept and execution, philosophy and wearability, theatricality and technique are all skilfully used and equally balanced in his clothing designs.&nbsp;Chalayan’s video installation ‘Absent Presence’ featuring Tilda Swinton, exhibited at the Turkish pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005, is a short film that examines the relationship between the geographic environment and the structure of DNA. Since his early years were spent between two different cultures, in Cyprus and the United Kingdom, the concepts of cultural identity, nation-states, displacement, immigration, and disembodiment are frequently encountered in his work.&nbsp;

‘Souffleur’, a collaboration between the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Pilevneli, will be on view at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum until 8 January 2023.&nbsp;

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Hussein Chalayan's New Exhibition ‘Souffleur’ is now on view at SSM

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum is now hosting Hussein Chalayan’s new solo exhibition, ‘Souffleur.’ Using new media to focus on the body and modern anthropology, the exhibition consists of three series and a video installation and opened to the public on Friday, 16 September 2022. 

Denes' artistic practice is distinctive in its aesthetics and engagement with socio-political ideas. Her art aims to inspire, and urge people to action, as well as calling attention to social concerns, and involving people from all walks of life by way of a benign, non-invasive artistic practice, that is both gentle yet forceful, without conceding artistic intent. Bringing global awareness to humanity’s most pressing issues, such as environmental pollution and climate change, is reflected in all of Denes’ works. She has spent much of the last forty years putting forth her ecological and philosophical ideas to communities throughout the world. 

The Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director, Dr. Nazan Ölçer said: “Agnes Denes, a pioneer of ecological art, is the focus of this year’s exhibition of contemporary art at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, a biannual series that began with the Blind Date exhibition in 2007. The pandemic, which has taken a hold on the entire world for the last two years, has only served to exacerbate our environmental concerns, leading us to question our relationship with the earth. Indeed, with the added responsibilities of our new, green museum certification, we have prioritized this issue even more in our programming. ‘The Living

Pyramid’ was realized in close collaboration with Denes, who has made a name for herself with her large-scale ecological interventions from the 1960s onwards and will be on display in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum garden between September 13, 2022 – January 29, 2023. Denes’ ‘Manifesto,’ which she wrote in 1969, will also be exhibited alongside the pyramid, a structure which ‘revives’ our relationship with nature by acting as a metaphor for our existence in this world.

Agnes Denes (b. 1931, Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian-born American artist based in New York, known for her conceptual work that focuses on ecological concerns. Since her exhibition career began in the 1960s, she has participated in hundreds of exhibitions at galleries and museums throughout the world. Aside from her large-scale environmental projects, her drawings, paintings and three-dimensional works are in the collections of many major institutions. 'The Living Pyramid' is her first work to be exhibited in Turkey.

The pyramid was planted, in part, by volunteer participants on September 10-11, and it will grow and change shape as thousands of seeds turn into grasses and flowers. Denes’ Manifesto, carved onto a marble slab and produced especially for this exhibition in line with the artist’s wishes, takes its place as a permanent addition to the collection and garden. It is a great source of pride that the esteemed author Buket Uzuner, who for many years has focused on ecological concerns in her work, has accepted our invitation to read the artist’s ‘Manifesto’. I am very grateful to her.

&nbsp;‘The Living Pyramid’ will be activated through accompanying educational programs, promoting environmental awareness, conservation, and sustainability. After the exhibition, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum will continue to embrace Denes’ approach, inviting visitors to adopt the plants. Though the pyramid will disintegrate when members of the community share it among themselves, it will continue to grow and prosper as small parts of the formerly monumental form Denes’ ‘Manifesto’, on the other hand, will live on in the garden as a reminder of ‘The Living Pyramid’, and the micro-community that came together to create it. I would like to thank Sabancı Holding and our communications sponsor Çimsa for their support throughout this valuable and meaningful project.”

Sabancı Holding Human Resources and Sustainability Group President Hakan Timur said: “At Sabancı Holding, we are devoted to the issue of sustainability at the highest level. The fact that we chose ‘For sustainable living, we unite Turkey with the world through pioneering initiatives' as our Community Promise is an excellent indicator of this commitment.&nbsp;With our sustainable growth model that protects nature and an awareness of our power to influence, we work hard to do our part in every issue we undertake. Among them, our initiatives regarding art have a significant place. Art brings us together and creates a collective consciousness. Thus, by supporting ‘The Living Pyramid’ exhibition, we aim to sustain a social awareness that will benefit the environment.”

Çimsa CEO Umut Zenar said: “Carrying the utmost awareness of our responsibility towards our environment and society, we consider the issue of sustainability to be part of our primary strategy and our way of doing business. At Çimsa, we are constantly trying to develop solutions to combat climate change, which is critical for a sustainable future. We also support the work done for this cause, which is why ‘The Living Pyramid’ project has been a production that we have stood behind. We aim to reduce the carbon intensity with the studies we carry out within our organisation and our investments in renewable energy sources.”

On Agnes Denes and ‘The Living Pyramid’...

Driven by an inexhaustible curiosity, Agnes Denes continually expands her ideas, forms, and processes to bring to the surface an almost prophetic vision of the future of humanity. This vision she has created boldly evaluates our reality; but, at the same time, continues to look to the future with hope. 

‘The Living Pyramid’ is a site-specific work, first constructed in 2015 at the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York and later at the Nordstadtpark in Kassel as part of documenta 14 in 2017. It can also be thought of as a living sculpture, with a natural life cycle. Made of wooden stepped terraces filled with four tons of earth, the pyramid arcs nine meters into the sky. Planted into its terraces are two thousand plants and flowers belonging to approximately six hundred species, selected in collaboration with the artist from the urban flora of Istanbul, their positions on the pyramid determined by the amount of sun and shade falling on each façade. The pyramid will evolve throughout its public exhibition: the plants will sprout and bloom, some will go to seed, some will die.

Denes’ statement, “While the pyramids are based on mathematics and thus achieve a kind of perfection, they contain all the imperfections they are dealing with or are representing and visualizing,” provides some insight into why she chooses to explore the relationship between humans and nature through the living pyramid. The artist, who has been using the pyramid form as a metaphor in different media from drawing to sculpture for nearly half a century, also uses the form to question the social hierarchies inherent in our perception of the world.

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‘The Living Pyramid’ is on view at the SSM until 29 January, 2023.

Children's Workshops

Between 1 October, 2022 – 29 January, 2023; SSM Learning Programs will hold workshops for children from different age groups. The focus will be on environment and ecology.

The programme of conferences and events for adults can be found on the SSM website.

*All children’s workshops and adult events are in Turkish.

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The Living Pyramid by Agnes Denes Begins Its Life Cycle in the SSM Garden

This fall, the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) will host ‘The Living Pyramid,’ a site-specific work by Agnes Denes, a prominent ecofeminist artist. The work will be displayed in the SSM garden between September 13, 2022 - January 29, 2023, with the main sponsorship of Sabancı Holding, and all communications sponsorship by Çimsa.

David Hockney is now on view at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum

The exhibition titled “The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” comprises Abdülmecid Efendi’s artworks, most of which are exhibited together for the first time. Apart from being a significant painter, he had taken on the patronage of many artists and institutions, and was also interested in calligraphy, music and literature. Along with his paintings, his letters, family photos, some of which remained unknown; menus and invitation cards for the numerous meals hosted in his mansion in Bağlarbaşı, rare documents and photographs, brochures and catalogues of the exhibitions he participated as an artist and art patron, concert and theater tickets of the programs he frequently attended and newspaper news about him are being showcased. 

The exhibition <a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/16">“The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi”</a> organized with the support of Sabancı Holding, can be visited at SSM until Sunday, July 3, between 10:00 – 18:00 except for Mondays, and 10:00 – 20:00 on Saturdays. 

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The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” Exhibition is Extended

Hosted by Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, under the sponsorship of Sabancı Holding, “The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” exhibition, which offers a comprehensive perspective on Abdülmecid Efendi, the last heir and the last caliph of the Ottoman Empire, and the first and only caliph elected by the Turkish Grand National Assembly; has been extended until Sunday, 3 July due to the great interest it has attracted. 

The Sakıp Sabancı Museum, in collaboration with Akbank, will host The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 by David Hockney, who is one of the most inspiring artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Istanbul will be the third museum venue for the exhibition, which was previously shown at the Royal Academy in London and Bozar in Brussels. 
 
<img alt="DH_EN_Son" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8b656689-33ab-45ee-aa36-9513457ddc08" src="https://drupal.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/sites/muze.sabanciuniv.edu/files/inline-images/DH_EN_Son.jpg" />

Hockney, who has been experimenting with new technologies and different methods of making art throughout his career, began to draw on an iPhone and iPad in the early 2000s. This exhibition, a culmination of this particular technological quest, includes 116 of the artist's iPad paintings, the sub- ject of which heralds the arrival of spring. These were all executed in Normandy in 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In these ‘paintings’, Hockney depicts a landscape filled with fruit trees, bushes, flower beds, ponds and rivers, fields, and distant hills, capturing the annual cycle of spring from bare trees to buds, flowers, and abundant green foliage. The exhibition celebrates the season from beginning to end, reminding us of the miracles of the natural world and its constant renewal.

<a href="https://sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/exhibitions-and-events/exhibition/67">The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020</a> will be at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum between 11 May – 29 July, with the support of Akbank.

<a href="https://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/bilet/kategori/cok-girisli/">The Multi-Entry Tickets</a> which are currently on sale, will also be valid for visits to The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020.

For your requests regarding the images in the bulletin, please email us at <a href="mailto:pr.ssm@sabanciuniv.edu">pr.ssm@sabanciuniv.edu</a>

Upcoming Exhibition: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

Works by David Hockney, considered one of the most influential and creative artists of our time, will be coming to Turkey for the first time as part of the exhibition titled The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020.

Known as a painter, but also interested in music and calligraphy, Abdülmecid Efendi trained himself in calligraphy by making copies of panels by famous calligraphers in the palace collections, at a time when he was forced to live under surveillance in the palace, cut off from the outside world. Many of his paintings also feature calligraphic panels. “Prince Abdülmecid Efendi and the Art of Calligraphy” exhibition focuses on the sultans who were Prince Abdülmecid Efendi’s grandfather, uncle, father and cousin; Mahmud II (r. 1808-39), Sultan Abdülmecid (r. 1839-61), Sultan Abdülaziz (r. 1861-76) and Sultan Abdülhamid II (r. 1876-1909) respectively. The exhibition presents its visitors various calligraphic examples through works by Mahmud II's calligraphic masters Kebecizade Mehmed Vasfî (d. 1831) and Mustafa Râkım (d. 1826), as well as panels and kıt’as by the calligrapher sultans themselves.

The exhibition titled "Prince Abdülmecid Efendi and the Art of Calligraphy"&nbsp;comprising selected works from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, the Sadberk Hanım Museum, the Manuscript Institution of Turkey, the Millet Manuscript Library, the Süleymaniye Manuscript Library and various private collections, will be on view until 30 June 2022.

“Prince Abdülmecid Efendi and the Art of Calligraphy” Exhibition is Now Open to Visitors

In conjunction with the exhibition “The Prince's Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi,” which is still ongoing at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) with the support of Sabancı Holding, the exhibition “Prince Abdülmecid Efendi and the Art of Calligraphy” is now open to visitors in the galleries of the SSM's Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection.

Under the sponsorship of Sabancı Holding, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum hosts the “Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” exhibition on the life and art of Abdülmecid Efendi, who had a lasting effect on Turkish art history. Apart from his patronage to many artists and institutions, he was an accomplished painter who was also interested in calligraphy, music and literature. The exhibition is open to all art lovers between 21 December 2021 – 1 May 2022.

“Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” comprises artworks from SSM’s collection, 14 official institution collections, 17 family collections, private museum and gallery collections, together with the works that arrived from France, where the Caliph spent his last 20 years, with the support and cooperation of the Institut Français Turkey and the French Consulate in Istanbul. The exhibition collection consists of 60 paintings and more than 300 documents, along with a self-portrait, dated 1926, from the Musée Massena Collection in Nice and 2 original framed paintings taken from the Pierre Loti Museum House in Rochefort and gifted to Loti by Abdülmecid Efendi.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive perspective on Abdülmecid Efendi's art. The “Abdülmecid Efendi Beyond Vision” section presents the SSM collection’s six Abdülmecid Efendi paintings, which were, for the first time ever, subject to a scientific research study. The study carried out in collaboration with Sabancı University, Koç University and Istanbul University Faculty of Forestry, illuminates Abdülmecid Efendi's painting technique, the restoration in his works; the structure, colour, paint layers and texture of the materials he used, and his artistic production conditions. &nbsp;

“We believe in the inclusive and unifying power of art. We believe in the hope it spreads.”

On his opening speech for the exhibition, Sabancı Holding CEO Cenk Alper said, “As the Sabancı Group, we remain a pioneer and set a model not only in economic terms; but also in culture, art and education, the essential areas 
for social development. In all circumstances, we believe in the inclusive, unifying and inspiring power of art. We believe in the hope it spreads. And this is exactly why, art remains our most significant, established value. Our group’s desire to convey our country’s values to a broader audience is maintained today with yet another master, with our support to the Abdülmecid Efendi exhibition. I would like to thank Sakıp Sabancı Museum for making this encounter a reality, and congratulate our museum, which will turn 20 in 2022, for enhancing our world with art and contributing to our country’s art scene.”

“We commemorate Abdülmecid Efendi with a selection of artworks, most of which will be seen for the first time”

Nazan Ölçer, The Director of Sabancı Museum, said; “We are happy that the Sakıp Sabancı Museum will host such an extraordinary artist, a versatile Prince. Abdülmecid Efendi, Sultan Abdülaziz’s first son born during his reign, experienced the tragic death of his father at a very early age and could never disremember it. He spent about fifty years of his life as a prince, four years as a crown prince, about sixteen months as a caliph, and the last twenty years in exile. In his seventy-six years of life, he witnessed three regimes: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy and the republic, and endured two world wars. Abdülmecid Efendi, the last heir and the last caliph of the Ottoman Empire, and the first and only caliph elected by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, personally witnessed the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Undoubtedly, he is one of the those most affected by the military and political affairs; yet still, we see that he was always a benevolent father and grandfather. Along with his painter identity, he was interested in music and calligraphy. With his support to the intellectuals and artists, with whom he maintained close friendships; he was extraordinary for the Ottoman dynasty ever since his princedom. Conscious of the spirit of his time and the tensions between East-West and tradition-modernity, he lived his life as an Ottoman intellectual who was open to the West while staying true to his religion and tradition. Abdülmecid Efendi, who became a modern prince, combining East and West witin his person; is commemorated in our exhibition with a selection of artworks, most of which will be seen for the first time. 
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In our exhibition, we will look at Prince’s relationship with literature and music, as well as his close friendships with the intellectuals and artists of the period, along with his painting. For the first time, we will see his three Fog paintings side by side, inspired by Tevfik Fikret's poem. We will explore Abdülmecid Efendi with more than 300 documents, including the landscape paintings he gifted to his close friend Pierre Loti; his letters, family photos, some of which remained unknown, and many menus, including the invitation card given by his close friend Abdülhak Hamit for the premiere of his play, Finten. Throughout the exhibition, our visitors will be accompanied by musical compositions by his father, Sultan Abdülaziz, who also established the first comprehensive painting collection of the palace. We invite all art lovers to our museum to get to know the extraordinary Prince better.”

&nbsp;“Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” exhibition is on view at the SSM’s Gallery on -2 between 10:00 – 18:00 except for Mondays and 10:00 – 20:00 on Saturdays; until Sunday, 1 May 2022.

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New Exhibition: Prince’s Extraordinary World. Abdülmecid Efendi

Sakıp Sabancı Musem’s New Exhibition “The Prince’s Extraordinary World: Abdülmecid Efendi” is Open to Visitors. 

The  Prince Abdülmecid Efendi, who had a lasting effect on the Ottoman art world, is on view at SSM with a selection of artworks, most of which are together on view for the first time.


New Exhibition:  Prince’s Extraordinary World. Abdülmecid Efendi 

The exhibition presents the historical journey of the art of painting in Turkey and features a total of 115 artworks from the SSM Painting Collection, by artists including Hoca Ali Rıza, Halife Abdülmecid Efendi, Hüseyin Zekâi Paşa, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Şevket Dağ, Hikmet Onat, Hüseyin Avni Lifij, İbrahim Çallı, Nazmi Ziya Güran and also the pioneering woman artist Mihri (Müşfik) Hanım.

Focusing on the relationship between masters and their apprentices, the exhibition makes visible the interaction and change between generations. Artwork by the masters and their apprentices, who acquired mastership by following in their masters’ footsteps, will be displayed side-by-side. The exhibition From the Reformation to the Republic: Master Artists, Artist Students allows us to trace the social and economic transformation of the country, via the late-discovered but quickly adopted medium of painting.

The selection of artworks, displayed in chronological order, starts with paintings by artists belonging to the generation of Osman Hamdi Bey and Halil Bey, all of whom were sent abroad for art education, mainly to France, and who attended the studios of eminent artists like Jean-Leon Gerôome and Gustave Boulanger in Paris. The exhibition features landscapes and still lifes by these artists, as well as portraits emerging from their interest in figures and figurative depictions. The portraits of women in the selection reflect the evolution of female visibility in Ottoman society, starting during the Reformation Period.

The exhibition tells the story of Istanbul via paintings by İbrahim Çallı, Nazmi Ziya, Avni Lifij, Feyhaman Duran, Namık İsmail and Hikmet Onat, the so-called “1914 Generation,” who had depicted the city with a focus on its streets, houses, historical sites, coastline and the Bosphorus, but at the same time telling the story of Turkey, a country undergoing profound changes. At this part of the exhibition, you will also find the Galatasaray Exhibitions; the primary event organized by artists from the 1914 Generation, introducing the artistic developments of the period.

Artwork created by Turkey’s painters with a focus on the nude, an artistic theme they had encountered abroad, especially during their academic training in Paris, is presented as to reflect this process. It is a process from Halil Paşa’s figurative studies, reflecting academic discipline, to İbrahim Çallı’s sensuous nudes, painted with expressive sensitivity. Examples of the whole process are to be found in the exhibition, heralding a radical shift in attitude.

The first artistic group of the Republic, called the Müstakiller (Independents), are represented in their full capacity, reflecting their fundamental importance in Turkish modern art history. The Independents were trained at the Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi (School of Fine Arts), at studios of such masters like İbrahim Çallı, Feyhaman Duran, Hikmet Onat who had been appointed to replace the foreign professors.

The exhibition From the Reformation to the Republic: Master Artists, Artist Students can be visited every day except Mondays between 10.00 and 18.00, starting from June 1, Tuesday. Visitors with reservation will will have entrance priority. The exhibition is free for teachers and health workers.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum holds a Safe Tourism Certificate from Turkey’s Tourism Promotion and Development Agency. Please find about our hygiene and safety measures for visitors at the <a href="https://sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en/page/visit">web site</a> of the museum.

From the Reformation to the Republic: Master Artists, Artist Students

New exhibition by Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) titled From the Reformation to the Republic: Master Artists, Artist Students will welcome visitors on June 1.

The talk will outline the aesthetic and conceptual evolution of net-based practices from Web 1.0 to the current wave of crypto art, chronicling their engagement with identity, data frameworks, and collaborative production. Also discussed will be the curatorial models for presenting web-based art over the decades, as well as approaches to and best practices for conserving the art form.

The event will be conducted in English and is free of charge for all participants who register at Sakıp Sabancı Museum's web site.

Christiane Paul

Chief Curator / Director of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and Professor in the School of Media Studies at The New School, as well as Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is the recipient of the Thoma Foundation's 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art, and her books are A Companion to Digital Art (Blackwell-Wiley, May 2016); Digital Art (Thames and Hudson, 2003, 2008, 2015); Context Providers – Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts(Intellect, 2011; Chinese edition, 2012); and New Media in the White Cube and Beyond (UC Press, 2008). At the Whitney Museum she curated exhibitions including Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art 1965 - 2018 (2018/19), Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools (2011) and Profiling (2007), and is responsible for artport, the museum’s portal to Internet art. Other curatorial work includes The Question of Intelligence (Kellen Gallery, The New School, NYC, 2020). Little Sister (is watching you, too) (Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NYC, 2015); and What Lies Beneath (Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, 2015)

digitalSSM: How Will Internet Shape The Future of Art?

The “Technological Arts Preservation” project enacted through the collaboration between Sabancı University and digitalSSM Archive and Research Space, is hosting a talk with Christiane Paul, Chief Curator / Director of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center and Adjunct Curator of Digital Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The talk will revolve around the methods of carrying immersive media into the future and the participants will focus on “Virtual Sculpture” (1981) by Shaw and “Memory Theater VR” (1997) by Agnes Hegedüs to explore the technical and non-technical challenges of preserving the works of new media art.&nbsp;

The event will take place on April 8, Thursday at 04:00 PM (Turkish time) on webinar. Participation is free of charge and the visitors can register at Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s website. The talk will be held in English.

PROGRAM

16.00 Keynote: the Artist’s Views on the Preservation of Immersıve Media Jeffrey Shaw, new medıa artist

The artist will share his views on the preservation of his artwork Virtual Sculpture (1981) as well as Memory Theater VR (1997) by Agnes Hegedüs.&nbsp;

16.40 Tate’s Preserving Immersive Media Project

17.00 ROUND TABLE: Non-technical and Technical Challenges of Preservıng Immersive Media • Tom Ensom, Time-based Media Conservator (Tate) • Osman Serhat Karaman, Digital Preservatıon Manager (SSM) • Jack McConchıe, Tıme-based Media Conservator (Tate) • Morgane Stricot, Media and Digital Art Conservator (ZKM) • Matthieu Vlaminck, Media and Digital Art Conservator (ZKM) • Cemal Yılmaz, Computer Scientist (SABANCI UNIVERSITY) The debate will revolve around the works referred to in the first session and focus on the time factor in the preservation of technological artworks. The participants will examine whether it is possible to conserve the effect of an artwork that has been technologically produced and preserved. They will also explore the process of selecting the elements to be saved for the future when the original technology cannot provide the means to preserve the work.

18.00 Q + A

The past events of the project Technological Arts Preservation are online on SSM’s YouTube channel.&nbsp;

Preserving Immersive Media

The Technological Arts Preservation project, enacted through the collaboration of Sabancı University and Sakıp Sabancı Museum digitalSSM Archive and Research Space, hosts the talk “Preserving Immersive Media.” The event will feature Jeffrey Shaw, a prominent name in new media arts and digital arts conservators from Tate Modern and ZKM.

Born in the aftermath of World War II, ZERO received its name from the countdown until the launch of a rocket, and soon became one of the major avant-garde movements of the mid-20th century. Drawing upon digitalSSM’s sources, the online version of the exhibition provides the viewers with a thematic framework and presents ZERO artworks through an arrangement based on the elements of fire, color, vibration and light-shadow-sky.

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer observed on this occasion that “the ZERO movement was born after the World War II, thanks to the efforts of a handful young artists with the aim of bringing hope into the world, and offering the world a bright future. This is exactly what we need today, in the times we are passing through: namely hope and freedom from anxiety... Throughout history, art always proved to be an important means in coping with issues like war and epidemics, all problems affecting the world on a global scale. During such times a great many artworks were created to express the suffering of humankind, to express the wish that similar experience may never repeat itself again. The yearning for going back to point zero, and start afresh, will be with us also in the future, as it was in the past. Doubtlessly the impact of the COVID-19 epidemics, bringing the whole world to a standstill, will be observed in many areas in the future. The ZERO movement made it possible for art to keep abreast with all the bewildering developments of the time, like the emergence of brand-new technologies, like the space-race at its full speed, and like reaching the moon or even the stars, which is no longer a mere dream. The ZERO artists laid the ground for all the new technologies to be found on the contemporary art’s agenda. Way back in 2015 when we prepared the exhibition and made an evaluation of the ZERO movement’s short-lived life of 10 years, we could not but admire the zest of the ZERO artists, their hope, their optimism and their enthusiasm. And today we humbly bow down before the artists who at the heels of World War II strived to propagate the idea of abolishing borders in both art and geography, and we remember them in joyous gratitude”.

ZERO movement took its start in Germany, where World War II had left the deepest scars, while plunging the whole of Europe into misery. German artists Otto Piene and Heinz Mack came forward with the proposal of “abandoning pessimism and starting from zero.” Another German artist Günther Uecker joined them. So together with names like Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, who were forerunners of the movement, many artists from all over Europe, and even from faraway places like Japan could find a corner for themselves around the ZERO-idea. When founder Heinz Mack announced the end of ZERO at the last exhibition in 1967, the ZERO concept had long since stamped its mark on a period of 20th century contemporary art, despite its lifespan of just 10 years.

In our online-exhibition ZER0. Countdown To The Future we display artworks by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Günther Uecker as well as artwork in different techniques by notable artists Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana, pioneers of the movement. Excerpts from the exhibition catalog, with a focus on the avant-garde position of the ZERO movement in the art and political history of the 20th century, are also offered online.

Art historian and curator Norman Rosenthal contributed to the catalog with his article on ZERO’s history, and also texts written by artists Otto Piene, Heinz Mack, Günther Uecker, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni were translated into Turkish for the first time to be published in this catalog. There you can find also the interviews conducted by Hans Ulrich Obrist with the founders of the ZERO movement: Mack, Piene and Uecker, translated into Turkish for the exhibition purposes.

The online exhibition includes children’s art exercises, as well. Inspired by the experiments with light, as conducted by the artists themselves and the materials used by them, these exercises are meant to introduce the kids to the ZERO movement.

Also a special pamphlet, the Dynamo gazette, prepared in reference to the magazine published by the artists between 1958-1961, and distributed during the exhibition, is now offered online. The gazette was edited by Cem Erciyes, with contributions of Beral Madra, Necmi Sönmez, Elif Key, Ayşegül Sönmez and Fisun Yalçınkaya. In the gazette you can also find an interview made by Cem Erciyes with the writer Ferit Edgü, who at the time of the first ZERO exhibitions had personally been in Europe. Last but not least, the story of our own exhibition, as narrated by Dr.Nazan Ölçer, is also in the gazette.

The gazette can be viewed via the online exhibition, and it also can be downloaded for free via Turkcell Dergilik application.

You can reach the online version of the exhibition ZERO. Countdown To The Future via Sakıp Sabancı Museum web-site.

 Countdown to the Future Exhibition Now Online

Today with the future being re-written all over again, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) is launching online the exhibition ZERO. Countdown To The Future. The exhibition had originally been realized September 2 of 2015- January 10 of 2016, in joint effort with Akbank Sanat, attracting a wide attention at its time.

From December 10 to March 31, Sakıp Sabancı Museum will be hosting the exhibition Şeyh Hamdullah on the 500th Anniversary of His Death, with invaluable contributions from two experts in the field, Prof. Zeren Tanındı and Prof. Muhittin Serin.

Prof. Cemal Kafadar of Harvard University Vehbi Koç Chair of Turkish Studies, will deliver a speech on “Consent, Construction, Conquest: The Options and The Choices of Bayezid II,” an online event organized by Sakıp Sabancı Museum in collaboration with Columbia University’s Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies.

Prof. Kafadar’s talk will be live-streamed by the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Columbia University’s Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies. In his talk, Professor Kafadar will take a fresh approach to Bayezid II’s reign (r. 1481-1512) and focus on Sultan Bayezid II, patron of Şeyh Hamdullah, who was the founder of the “Ottoman school of calligraphy” which exists to this day.

Prof. Kafadar will aim to reinterpret Sultan Bayezid II, independent of the shadow of his father and his son. He will also revisit the role of Amasya, outside the “Bursa-Edirne-Istanbul” triad, and reflect on the late 15th / early 16th century, independent of the Battle of Çaldıran as the typical focus. Bayezid II’s cultural patronage and palace library will also be scrutinized to better understand the ruler and his vision.

The talk will be held on Friday, 29 January 2021, at 6.30 p.m. in Turkey, and at 10.30 a.m. in New York (local time).

The conference will be in English and live-streamed with simultaneous interpretation into Turkish.

For registration, please click

About Prof. Cemal Kafadar Kafadar, Cemal (b. 1954, Istanbul), historian. He has been the Vehbi Koç Chair of Turkish Studies at Harvard University since the position was established in 1997.&nbsp;

After completing his secondary education at Istanbul High School for Boys (1965-69) and Robert College (1969-73), he studied at Hamilton College in the USA. He received an MA in Ottoman History at the Islamic Research Institute at McGill University in Canada, staying on to study for a doctorate. Prof. Kafadar was a member of the academic staff at Princeton University Department of Near Eastern Studies, transferring to Harvard University Department of History in 1990. In 1997, he was made Vehbi Koç Chair of Turkish Studies. He served as director of the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies (1999-2004 and 2009-10) and still lectures in the university’s Department of History, teaching archival research, popular culture and Ottoman historiography. Prof. Kadafar was a guest lecturer at EHESS (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) in Paris from 1997 to 1998 and at Boğaziçi University in 2005 and 2009. His areas of interest are the social and cultural history of the Middle East and Southeast Europe at the beginning of the modern era.&nbsp;

Professor Kafadar has published numerous books, including Suleiman the Second and His Time (with Halil İnalcık, 1993), Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State (1995), Kim Var İmiş Biz Burada Yoğ İken – Dört Osmanlı: Yeniçeri, Tüccar, Derviş ve Hatun (Who Was Here While We Were Not – Four Ottomans: a Janissary, a Merchant, a Dervish and a Lady; 2009) and Kendine Ait Bir Roma: Diyar-ı Rum’da Kültürel Coğrafya ve Kimlik (A Rome of One's Own: Reflections on Cultural Geography and Identity in the Lands of Rum; 2017). He received the Presidential Office Grand Culture and Arts Prize in 2010.

Seyh Hamdullah, the Founder of the Ottoman School of Calligraphy

Professor Cemal Kafadar of Harvard University Department of History will deliver an online speech as part of the exhibition Şeyh Hamdullah on the 500th Anniversary of His Death. The event will take place on Friday, January 29, Istanbul 6.30 p.m. and New York 10.30 a.m. local time

The non-local museum 
22 January, 16:00 CET Istanbul 
Prof. Peter Weibel Chairman and CEO of ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

The Panel will be held in English 
Registration <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-non-local-museum-prof-peter-weibel-tickets-134405330963">required.</a>

About Prof. Peter Wiebel 
Peter Weibel, Born in Odessa in 1944, Peter Weibel studied literature, medicine, logic, philosophy, and film in Paris and Vienna. He became a central figure in European media art on account of his various activities as artist, media theorist, curator, and as a nomad between art and science.

From 1984 until 2017, he has been a professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. From 1984 to 1989, he was head of the digital arts laboratory at the Media Department of New York University in Buffalo, and in 1989 he founded the Institute of New Media at the Städelschule in Frankfurt on the Main, which he directed until 1995. Between 1986 and 1995, he was in charge of the Ars Electronica in Linz as artistic director. From 1993 to 2011 he was chief curator of the Neue Galerie Graz and from 1993 to 1999 he commissioned the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He was artistic director of the Seville Biennial (BIACS3) in 2008 and of the 4th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, in 2011. From 2015–2017, he was curator of the lichtsicht 5 + 6 – Projection Biennale in Bad Rothenfelde.

Peter Weibel was granted honorary doctorates by the University of Art and Design Helsinki, in 2007 and by the University of Pécs, Hungary, in 2013. In 2008, he was awarded with the French distinction » Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres «. The following year he was appointed as full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and he was awarded the Europäischer Kultur-Projektpreis [European Cultural Project Award] of the European Foundation for Culture. In 2010, he was decorated with the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class. In 2013 he was appointed an Active Member of the European Academy of Science and Arts in Salzburg. In 2014, he received the Oskar-Kokoschka-Preis [Oskar-Kokoschka-Prize] and in 2017 the Österreichische Kunstpreis – Medienkunst [Austrian Art Prize – Media Art], and in 2020 the Lovis-Corinth-Preis. In 2015 he was appointed as Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow.

Since 1999, Peter Weibel is Chairman and CEO of the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and since 2017 director of the Peter Weibel Research Institute for digital Cultures at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

digitalSSM Webinar: The non-local museum

The conference series realized as part of the project 'Technological Arts Preservation'—enacted through the collaboration of Sabancı University and digitalSSM Archive and Research Space—continue with the conference titled ‘The Non-Local Museum’. The conference on the future of museums, will feature Prof. Peter Weibel.

The Akış / Flux exhibition, realized with the support of Akbank, aims to render the history of performance art legible and meaningful for audiences in Turkey and can be visited between 31 January and 26 April 2020. &nbsp; It consists of a comprehensive retrospective comprising documentations of Abramović’s performances, live performances developed through the collaboration of MAI and the artists who responded to the open call and were invited to participate in the project, the section dedicated to Marina Abramović Method, a participatory project comprising of a series of exercises developed by Abramovic through her artistic research, and the documentary viewing and video gallery to be hosted by Akbank Sanat, in tandem. 
The Akış / Flux exhibition, which aims to encourage art audience in Turkey to experience performance art, a form of art which has become increasingly popular since the 1970s and is today practiced as a non-object, immaterial and time-dependent interdisciplinary social process, covers three floors of the SSM galleries. 
The first floor of the exhibition comprises the video and photographic documentation of Marina Abramović’s performances taken during more than 50 years to represent the artist’s ground breaking career. This section prepared by the French curator Serge Le Borgne in collaboration with the artist herself, presents Abramović’s performances, including iconic ones such as Rhythm 0, Rhythm 10 and The Artist is Present where she challenges her mental and physical limits, as well as her early paintings. The Shoes for Departure, one of the artist’s energy-focused works made with semi-precious stones is exhibited together and in connection with İzzet Ziya’s painting Girl at the Beach from Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Painting Collection. This section of the exhibition provides a comprehensive view of the past and present of the performance art with a focus on Abramović’s career. 
The exhibition’s performance section consists of 15 long durational live performances by 16 artists, 12 from Turkey and 4 from around the world, who were invited by MAI to participate in the project. The performances of Arda Cabaoğlu, Bahar Temiz, Dilek Champs, Evren Kutlay, Halil Atasever, İlyas Odman, Merve Vural, Metehan Kayan and Umut Sevgül, Murat Adash, Murat Ali Cengiz, Şebnem Dönmez and the artists who were invited, namely Maria Stamenkovic Herranz, Nancy Stamatopoulou, Nezaket Ekici and Virginia Mastrogiannaki can be watched at the SSM galleries continuously for 8 hours every day the Museum is open to visitors.&nbsp; 
While most of the performances will take place at Gallery 2, a touring one will meet the public at varying sites of the Museum, and yet another will welcome the visitors at the entrance of the Gallery. The artists of this section curated by the Brazilian performance artist Paula Garcia participated in the project through an open call issued by MAI in August 2019 and by personal invitation. They developed their performance projects in collaboration with MAI and prior to the exhibition participated in a week of retreat outside Istanbul together with the MAI team to prepare mentally and physically for their long durational performances.&nbsp; 
The exhibition’s third floor at the SSM is dedicated to the Marina Abramović Method, developed by Abramović initially for artists through research and travels during her career as an educator, and later presented to the public. &nbsp;The Method section, where the visitors undergo a communal experience in which they participate through various approaches and techniques, invites the visitors to embark on an exploration on existing in time and space through experiences focusing on motion, motionlessness and concentration.&nbsp; 
In connection with the Akış / Flux exhibition, there will be a series of documentary viewings and video-gallery at Akbank Sanat. The viewings present the work of Abramović, other performance artists and artists from various branches of art within a historical and thematic context, enabling the viewers to explore the heritage of the performance art, from its birth to how it has shaped the present. The exhibitions based on the documentary aim at providing an integrated view of the performance art to the visitors who are not familiar with it.&nbsp; 
At the press conference held at the SSM with the participation of Marina Abramović and Director of MAI Thanos Argyropoulos, Chairman of Akbank Suzan Sabancı Dinçer, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, “We, as the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum are happy and enthusiastic about starting the year 2020 with Marina Abramović, one of the most famous contemporary woman artists. As you know, for many years now, Marina Abramović has not been engaged in live performances, but has continued to advocate the outlook, values and vision she represents through the films of her iconic performances which are still watched with awe as well as through the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) she has founded. 
We, the SSM have always, in historical and academic as well as modern projects endeavored to present the past and contemporary artists through careful research, innovative perspectives and unforgettable installations. With this exhibition too, we invite everyone to experience another pioneering artist in the same way, in all aspects and with her messages for the future. Preparing this exhibition constituted a new threshold for the SSM as well. The young specialists of our museum underwent an extremely valuable communications, learning and education process together with the MAI team, in Istanbul for almost two months now.&nbsp; 
The Akış / Flux exhibition constitutes a new model for MAI too. This is the first time they have undertaken to implement such a comprehensive project for such a long period under the same roof. &nbsp;That is why the MAI team worked with us at the Museum continuously for two months, prior to the exhibition. They came to know better the performance artists they selected, and they will stay in Istanbul for the duration of the exhibition. I believe that this process is also extremely important for the development of performance art in Turkey. 
Undoubtedly, we could not implement a project of this scale without a sponsor who supported us wholeheartedly. Just like our Anish Kapoor and Ai Weiwei exhibitions which we believe were extremely valuable for Turkey’s art and culture, we were able to organize our Marina Abramović exhibition with the unconditional support and trust of Akbank. Thanks to Akbank, we were once again able to provide the art lovers of Turkey with the opportunity to experience international art scene. We are deeply grateful to the Chairman of Akbank Mrs. Suzan Sabancı Dinçer, the Assistant Chairperson of Akbank’s Board of Directors Mr Hayri Çulhacı and Akbank’s CEO Mr Hakan Binbaşgil for their gracious trust and cooperation at every stage of this challenging project. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Akbank’s Corporate Communications Department Manager Murat Göllü and his team for their wonderful cooperation. ”&nbsp; 
Chairman of Akbank Suzan Sabancı Dinçer said, “We are very happy to be hosting, together with the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, prominent representatives and trends of contemporary art here in Istanbul, once every two years. The Rodin, Dali, Anish Kapoor, ZERO and Ai Weiwei exhibitions we organized in collaboration with the Sakıp Sabancı Museum have been welcomed by art lovers with great interest and enthusiasm.

We are continuing to implement such projects which contribute to creating a correct and good image of our country and our city internationally. This year we are very happy to be hosting the international performance art pioneer Marina Abramović in Istanbul. This grand project which will be presented to the public between 31 January and 26 April 2020 is Marina Abramović’s first large scale exhibition in Turkey. In connection with the exhibition at the museum, there will be a series of documentary viewings and exhibitions about Marina Abramović and performance art at Akbank Sanat. I believe that this exhibition will mark the start of a new era for performance art in Turkey.

We have been collaborating with Sakıp Sabancı Museum for many years, and we would like to congratulate and thank the Museum’s Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer and her team for the excellent work they have performed. I would like to stress once again that we are especially proud that we are contributing to creating a correct and good image of Istanbul and Turkey internationally through this exhibition. We wish a fulfilling experience to all visitors.”&nbsp; 
&nbsp;The Akış / Flux exhibition will be open at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and at Akbank Sanat between 31 January and 26 April 2020. It can be visited every day except Mondays between 12.00 pm and 8.00 pm at the SSM, and between Tuesday and Saturday from 10.30 am to 7.30 pm at Akbank Sanat. Visitors wishing to witness all of the various performances at SSM galleries throughout the duration of the exhibition can obtain tickets of multiple entry for a month or for the duration of the exhibition. 
&nbsp;

Marina Abramović + MAI at Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) and Akbank Sanat host the first exhibition in Turkey of the world-renowned performance artist Marina Abramović and the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) she has founded.

Marina Abramović   + MAI (Marina Abramović Institute) At Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Akbank Sanat Sponsored by Akbank

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) hosts the exhibition ‘Avni Lifij. The Modern of His Time,’ providing a comprehensive insight into the versatile artistic production of Hüseyin Avni Lifij (18861927) who occupies a unique position in the history of Turkish painting. At the press conference held for the opening of the exhibition, Sabancı Holding’s CEO Cenk Alper said, ‘We as the Sabancı Holding are very happy to embrace the masters of the Turkish art and to assume the sponsorship of this exhibition “Avni Lifij. The Modern of His Time,” which features a comprehensive take on the artist’s work.’ The SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer also provided information about the exhibition, and said, ‘Our Museum’s longterm project aiming to study and present the great pioneers of Turkish painting with all their aspects, continue with Avni Lifij.’

The ‘Avni Lifij. The Modern of His Time’ exhibition sponsored by Sabancı Holding will be open between the dates 15 October 2019 and 12 January 2020. The exhibition consists of the artist’s works covering a wide range of genres such as self-portraits, pochades, landscapes and compositions with figures as well as his articles on politics and culture, art criticism and photographs. Presenting Avni Lifij’s artistic personality in a holistic manner to cover all his aspects for the first time in Turkey, the exhibition aims to shed light on the 1914 Generation, to which the artist belonged, and the pioneering role he played in Turkish art history.

OUR MISSION: INTRODUCING OUR VALUES TO WIDER AUDIENCES At the press conference, Sabancı Holding’s CEO Cenk Alper said, ‘We have adopted the mission of introducing our country’s valuable individuals to wider audiences. The “Feyhaman Duran” and “Selim Turan” exhibitions we sponsored in the recent years attracted great interest. The “Avni Lifij. The Modern of His Time” exhibition, which we consider the third of the series focusing on the third important master of Turkish art, opens today. Avni Lifij is one of the most innovative figures of the 1914 Generation, he has a perspective beyond time, with his versatility and productivity. Actually, we believe that, with these aspects of his, he shares a common denominator with the spirit of progressiveness, innovation and productivity in our vision we describe as the “Sabancı of the New Generation.” The name of our exhibition is “The Modern of His Time,” defining both the artist and the Sabancı Group of Companies whose objective has always been to be a “pioneer” and an “example” very clearly. For this reason as well, we as the Sabancı Holding are very happy to be the sponsor of the first comprehensive Hüseyin Avni Lifij exhibition in Turkey.”

OUR LONG-TERM PROJECT CONTINUES WITH AVNİ LİFİJ The SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer provided information about the exhibition, and said, “We are very happy to present Avni Lifij not only as a great painter, but also as a real intellectual, a fine art critic, photographer and philosopher who is way beyond his time, whose articles include brave criticisms of contemporary artistic events, social life and education system, in this year’s chapter of our Museum’s long-term project aiming to study and present the great pioneers of Turkish painting with all their aspects.”

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION The ‘Avni Lifi. The Modern of His Time,’ which takes place between 15 October 2019 and 12 January 2020 consists of the artist’s works covering a wide range of genres such as self-portraits, pochades, landscapes and compositions with figures as well as his articles on politics and culture, art criticism and photographs. The exhibition focuses on Avni Lifij as a man of culture, providing a detailed view of his life and art with a selection of approximately 1000 pieces including oil paintings, studies, drawings, sketches,pochades, photographs, archive materials and personal belongings.

The ‘Avni Lifi. The Modern of His Time,’ the concept of which was developed by SSM’s Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer who also directed the organization of the exhibition aims to provide a detailed perspective in discussing the art of this pioneer of Turkish art history, as well as the 1914 Generation painters. Carefully preserved archival materials and personal belongings from the descendants of Lifij, and most notably, the wife of the painter, Harika Lifij are exhibited together with the artist’s masterpieces for the first time in Turkish art history. The selection reflecting Avni Lifij’s strong desire to practice his art includes the artist’s works, which are among the masterpieces of Turkish painting history from the collections of Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum, Ankara Painting and Sculpture Museum, National Library and private collections. The exhibition enables the visitors to view Avni Lifij paintings such as The Man with a Pipe: The Artist’s Self-portrait, Fevzi Çakmak’s Portrait, Allegory, The Artist’s Self-portrait which have not been exhibited for a long time or which have been in private collections and never exhibited before.

The pochades in the ‘Avni Lifi. The Modern of His Time’ exhibition which focuses on Avni Lifij’s search for a unique place, as an artist who lived in the era of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and proclamation of the Turkish Republic, will enable the visitors to track the development of the style he practiced in his depictions of Istanbul and Anatolia. In order to shed light on the artist’s largely undiscovered works in photography, all glass negatives and photographs in Sirel family archives will be presented together, and with the pochades to some of which they provided the basis. Avni Lifij’s self-portraits which played a decisive role in his artistic career and which exhibit indications of how he positioned himself during different periods of his life will be exhibited together. His drawings, proofs of his mastery will point to the importance of the figure for the artist, while his sketches depicting architectural details will reflect his interest in city planning and art history, topics he focuses on in his articles as well.

The exhibition will also include a collection of all of Avni Lifij’s articles in the family’s and private collections, providing visitors with the opportunity of discovering the writer Lifij. The artist’s writings in Ottoman and French, including art critiques, articles on city planning, cultural policies and art theory as well as philosophical texts translated by him will be exhibited in the museum. The same writings will also be published for the first time as a book edited meticulously by the art historian Ömer Faruk Şerifoğlu, to be published in tandem with the exhibition.

The exhibition will provide a comprehensive view of Hüseyin Avni Lifij’s art and life through documentary viewings, conferences, guided tours and children’s workshops, as well as the exhibition catalogue which will comprise of the biography of the artist, articles on his versatile career and a wide selection of his works, thereby constituting a reference book about him.

New Exhibition: Avni Lifij. New of the Age

SSM PRESENTS THE UNDISCOVERED ASPECTS OF AVNİ LİFİJ WITH THE SUPPORT OF SABANCI HOLDİNG

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum opens the exhibition ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’ sponsored by Sabancı Holding on 18 October 2018, open until 1 April 2019, featuring a comprehensive anthology of the Russian Avant-garde.&nbsp; 

At the press conference held on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition, Güler Sabancı, Chairman of Sabancı Holding said, ‘Thus far we have arranged for art lovers to meet with artists under the roof of our museum, trailblazers in their own field such as Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt and Miro. Today, Sabancı Holding is proud once more to support and open the doors to another important exhibition, ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’.&nbsp; Art brings people and communities together.&nbsp; This exhibition provides a very good example of coming together and of cooperation. With this exhibition we continue our tradition of cooperating with important museums around the world’.

Sabancı continued, ‘For the first time we see women very deeply engaged in art during this period of the history. And just like technology has an effect on today so has this period an effect on all areas life like textiles, cinema and the theatre. This exhibition depicts a period in life and a transition. Today technology and design go hand in hand. In Sabancı Holding we are also working for a new period.&nbsp; With our vision ‘The New Generation’s Sabancı’ we are focusing on technology, we are in transition and part of the transition,’ she said.&nbsp; 

Director of Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Dr. Nazan Ölçer says ‘The reformist activities burgeoning in Russia in the late 19th century and war and revolutions in the first quarter of the 20th century turned into a ‘full scale’ art movement that cannot be repeated. The comprehensive anthology of our exhibition, ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’ shows the importance of the Russian Avant-garde in art history which created an extraordinary momentum in music, literature, theatre, painting, sculpture, architecture, cinema, art and scientific studies.’

The exhibition is co-curated by Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Director of Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Dr. Maria Tsantsanoglou, Director of the George Costakis Collection at State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, and besides the Costakis Collection it contains a selection of 513 works from Moscow’s All-Russian Museum of Decorative Arts and Multimedia Art Museum and works from leading private collections in Europe shown together for the first time thus shedding a light upon the important place Russian Avant-garde occupied in the history of art. 

Sakıp Sabancı Museum is a part of Sabancı University and this exhibition that focuses on one of the most exciting periods of 20th century art history aims to fulfil its academic mission by presenting the political strata behind the Russian Avant-garde in such a way as to provide a source. The exhibition represents the fertile productivity of the entire period and the activities of the artists and the schools that aimed to spread their art to every aspect of life with a selection including paintings, design, literature, film and theatre. 

The ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’ exhibition does not only focus on the dramatic changes and radical developments that happened during first quarter of the 20th century and prepared the groundwork for intellectual and artistic progress, not just within the Russian artistic culture, but it is designed to hold a mirror to the effect on world art. The exhibition shows the Russian avant-garde artists that in the early 1900s tried to introduce art as a lifechanging power, the ground-breaking work of the artists in this period where the reformist atmosphere had been brought about by the October Revolution in 1917, and the social design they tried to put into practice supported by the new regime and also the wide boundaries of the future they dreamed of. The exciting technological developments and industrialisation that occurred in the early 20th century turned the avant-garde artists towards science and overcoming the boundaries of the earth, dreams of space reflected the beliefs the artists had in the future and this is very vividly reflected in the works displayed in this exhibition. 

One of the world’s most important Russian Avant-garde collections, the George Costakis Collection at Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art forms the basis of the ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’ exhibition. The George Costakis Collection of Russian Avant-garde collected with great passion by George Costakis and secured for future generations, contain works by important artists which are part of the exhibition including&nbsp; Kazimir Malevich, the creator of art history’s iconic Black Square, Vladimir Tatlin, the pioneer of a new period of artistic theory where he obscured the boundaries between art and production, Alexander Rodchenko the courageous pioneer of photography, painting, sculpture and graphic art. Again, from the George Costakis Collection are works by representatives of the many female artist of the period such as Olga Rozanova whose work was based on interaction between text and depiction, Lyubov Popova who with her set designs contributed to the transformation of plays into the language of the theatre, and Natalia Goncharova who turned towards Russian folk art and undertook a determining role in Russian Avant-garde. The exhibition, ‘The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design’ is the first time the works of all the big names representing this turning point in 20th century art history come together in Turkey. 

In the research into how the new art and society should be constructed, the applied artwork that reflect Russian Avant-garde, which also consider Russian folk art, the collection of the examples of design covering all fields borrowed from Moscow All-Russian Museum of Decorative Arts show the scope of the ideals of the Russian Avant-garde to reorganize life and the history of people’s relationship with art.

The large photo anthology of documentary character from Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, which also houses the photo archive of the great name of Russian Avant-garde Alexander Rodchenko, shows the compatibility of the Russian Avant-garde with new technology and opens a window to the private world of the artists.

The effect of the transformative cultural atmosphere of the Russian Avant-garde can also be seen in the magnificent constructions and re-animations. The model of the construction of Vladimir Tatlin’s air vehicle Letatlin, gives an indication of the breadth of Russian Avant-garde artists’ dreams of transforming life. The foundations of the modern theatre are considered by many art historians to have been laid by the Russian Avant-garde and the Russian Avant-garde theatre stage has come alive through new productions in all its glory at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum. 

Thursday 18 October 2018 at 11, a tour of the exhibition will take place guided by the exhibition’s co-curator Dr. Maria Tsantsanoglou. During the exhibition, films, concerts, literary events and workshops for children and adults will also cover the different disciplines of Russian Avant-garde in depth. A catalogue with articles about the Russian Avant-garde written by esteemed art historians and specialists will accompany the exhibition.

New Exhibition: Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future through Art and Design

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum hosts the most comprehensive exhibition in Turkey sponsored by Sabancı Holding featuring Russian Avant-garde which shaped the art world in the 20th century.

Conservation and scientific research on the six paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Painting Collection was started in 2016 and has recently been completed. The processes of the project which was carried on as part of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global ‘Art Conservation Project’ and which constitutes the most comprehensive conservation and scientific research on Osman Hamdi Bey’s paintings in Turkey will be brought to the attention of art lovers at Atlı Köşk on June 5 with the ‘Osman Hamdi Bey Beyond Vision’ exhibition.

The project entailed a comparison of Osman Hamdi Bey’s Flowers in a Vase, The Hodja Reading the Qoran, Kokona Despina, Portrait of Naile Hanım, The Petitioner and The Mosque whereby every detail from the artistic technique of this prominent name of Turkish art history to the restoration work these works had undergone was determined through scientific methods. The ‘Osman Hamdi Bey Beyond Vision’ exhibition brings the artist’s creative processes to light while also constituting a detailed narration of conservation in art and a roadmap for future projects. 

This pioneering project in Turkey proves that scientific methods can provide opportunities for studying the techniques of artists as well as giving information about methods for dating works of art. It also provides guidance for research on a comparative study of techniques and materials of paintings claimed to be by Osman Hamdi Bey. 

The first step of the project which entailed a comprehensive perspective on the scientific analyses of the works was the analysis of previous restoration work, the use of paints with heavy metal and other elements on bottom layers not visible to the naked eye with X-ray imaging methods. This process revealed Osman Hamdi Bey’s charcoal sketches prior painting, his painting techniques and the way his works evolved. This was followed by chemical analyses to determine the structure and color of the materials he used, the layers and texture of paint. The organic structure of the canvas material of the six paintings was analyzed through Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the data was classified through the primary component analysis (PCA) method to determine their characteristics.

This project showed that the artist’s paintings dating back to late 19th and early 20th centuries had suffered from cracks and fallen bits in paint as well as yellowing of the varnishes. They were cleaned and restored as part of the same project.

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, “The purpose of the ‘Scientific Analysis and Conservation of Osman Hamdi Bey’s Paintings’ project, which is the most comprehensive initiative undertaken in Turkey regarding conservation of the works of this prominent name in Turkish art history, is to provide the worlds of science and art a closer glance to the artist and his creative processes. The project carried on as part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s ‘Art Conservation Project’ entailed the analysis and conservation of the six paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey which are part of SSM’s Painting Collection. Thus, through Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s contribution, we had the opportunity to obtain additional information about these valuable works in our collection and contribute to Turkish art history studies and conservation efforts. We are happy to bring this exhibition which provides a comprehensive insight to the processes entailed in this project which is a basic source of reference for future studies to the attention of lovers of art.” 

Bank of Merrill Lynch Turkey Country Executive Banu Başar said, “Our globally run ‘Art Conservation Project’ aims at conserving works of art while at the same time contributing to the cultural wealth and education of societies all over the world. Our objective is to create a medium of harmony and mutual respect among different cultures and traditions. Therefore we are proud of our cooperation with the Sakıp Sabancı Museum regarding the conservation of Osman Hamdi Bey paintings at its Painting Collection. We believe that this project will make a positive contribution to the education and interest in art of future generations.” 

Başar added that the Bank of America Merrill Lynch ‘Art Conservation Project’ aimed at conserving works of art of artistic or cultural significance under threat, noting that more than 120 conservation projects run by museums in 30 different countries had been sponsored since its launching in 2010.&nbsp; 

The project which enabled the conservation of Osman Hamdi Bey’s paintings was executed with the collaboration of Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Sabanci University, Koç University and Istanbul Technical University and with Getty Conservation Institute’s consultative contribution in the evaluation of test results.

Exhibition: Osman Hamdi Bey Beyond Vision

A Different Glance at Osman Hamdi Bey’s Paintings at the Sabanci University Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Conservation and scientific research on six paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey which are part of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Painting Collection have been completed. The ‘Osman Hamdi Bey Beyond Vision’ exhibition relating the process carried on as part of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global  ’Art Conservation Project’  opens at the Atlı Köşk  on June 5.


In Mardin, the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum which was restored and made into a museum and art gallery by the Sabancı Foundation in accordance with Sakıp Sabancı’s will, enables the art lovers of the city to view the personal exhibition of Ai Weiwei, one of the most prominent figures of contemporary art. The “Ai Weiwei in Mardin” exhibition which opened at The Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery within the Museum on 4 May, embodies impressions from the artist’s life as well as his perspective on handicrafts tradition and art history. 

The exhibition includes a special selection from the “Ai Weiwei on Porcelain” exhibition hosted by Sakıp Sabancı Museum affiliated to Sabancı University sponsored by Akbank relates Ai Weiwei’s message on our current era via traditional Chinese handicrafts, thereby providing the visitors a perspective on the paradoxes of time.

Porcelain, which has great cultural and historical significance fulfills the function of opening a door for the basic questions the artist poses regarding authenticity, the evolution of value systems over time and art’s role in influencing social change. Ai Weiwei believes that social change is one of the basic elements of artistic creation and renders the distinction between political activism and contemporary art ambiguous through his actions related to crises in our world today. His selection of porcelain objects provides a medium whereby his work presenting the visitors new ways of looking at and interpreting the world can be discovered. 

Sabanci Foundation’s Trustee Dr.h.c. Dilek Sabancı, reminded that the founding of the Museum was the late Sakıp Sabancı’s pledge, and added, “The Sabancı Foundation restored this historic building true to the original. We opened the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery all together in October 2009.We are very happy to see that since then more than 700 thousand people have visited our museum, and tens of thousands of children and youngsters have attended our education programs and acquired a basic art and culture background. Today I wish to share with you the good news that theSakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum has been allocated to the Sabancı Foundation for a period of 49 years. We as the Sabancı Foundation will do our duty by our Museum as we did from the beginning. We are happy to be in Mardin again, we are happy to continue to be contributing to Mardin. Mardin, is one of the most magnificent cities of Mesopotamia. When we opened this museum, our aim was to be an integral part of the city’s cultural life and to promote the city’s heritage internationally. Today we are delighted to observe that the Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery have led Mardin to become an important centre of art and culture”.

Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Director of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum which organized the largest personal exhibition of Ai Weiwei said, “Ai Weiwei is one of the most prominent contemporary artists and is regarded with awe all over the world. It was a great honor for us to host the largest ever exhibition of such an artist. As you know, theSakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum was opened in 2009 with the assistance of Sabancı Foundation and hosted important exhibitions. However, it became impossible to open new exhibitions due to the ambiguities regarding the building’s ownership. After three years of this ambiguity, the Museum building was allocated to the Sabancı Foundation for a period of 49 years. We wanted to present to the people of Mardin this Ai Weiwei exhibition which has been visited with great enthusiasm since it opened in Istanbul. I hope that our guests will get the opportunity to get to know this prominent artist as they observe the works exhibited in this magical atmosphere of Mardin.” 

The “Ai Weiwei in Mardin” exhibition which will be part of the artistic activities that will take place in tandem with the Fourth International Mardin Biennial can be visited at the Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery until 29 July. 

Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 08.30-17.30.

Phone: 0482 212 93 96&nbsp;Fax: 0482 212 93 96

<a href="http://www.sakipsabancimardinkentmuzesi.org">http://www.sakipsabancimardinkentmuzesi.org</a>

Ai Weiwei in Mardin

Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum hosts the “Ai Weiwei in Mardin” exhibition



The first solo exhibition in Turkey of work by Ai Weiwei, one of the most influential figures of contemporary art, has opened at Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum with the support of Akbank. 

Ai Weiwei attended a press conference for the exhibition, which is entitled “Ai Weiwei on Porcelain.” Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer and Akbank Chairman Suzan Sabancı Dinçer both spoke at the conference, saying that in terms of the number of exhibits, this is the most comprehensive exhibition of Ai Weiwei's work, ever held anywhere in the world.

The exhibition consists of over a hundred art works displayed on three floors of the museum and focuses particularly on those made of porcelain. Over the course of his career Ai Weiwei has produced works in many media, including video, wallpaper and photography as well as porcelain, and all of these are represented in the exhibition. “Ai Weiwei on Porcelain” ranges from his first porcelain work produced in 1976-1977 to new pieces produced specially for the Istanbul exhibition, and presents an unequalled opportunity for exploring the world of the artist.

“Ai Weiwei on Porcelain” enables visitors to gain detailed insight into his art by means of arranging the works according to concepts such as "appropriation", "reproduction" and "iconoclasm". The exhibition traces the life story of Ai Weiwei, who has produced his art in line with the principle "art is life, life is art."

Ai Weiwei references both the Chinese tradition of handcrafts and Western art history in his works and his selection for the Sakıp Sabancı Museum exhibition encompasses examples that reflect these characteristics. Porcelain is the focal point of this exhibition, functioning as a door opening onto the fundamental questions that the artist asks about authenticity, the historical transformation of value systems and the role of art in influencing social change. Ai Weiwei treats Chinese porcelain as a material infused with meanings relating to both history and the present day, using its traditional form and idiom within topical debates. Works in the "Ai Weiwei on Porcelain" exhibition, which covers three storeys of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, represent all the methods that are the defining elements in his porcelain works.

Ai Weiwei’s porcelain art is represented by iconic works such as his Sunflower Seeds installation, which put him at the forefront of contemporary art debates and made him one of the best known artists of our time. This installation is an example of how he uses both the connection of porcelain production with history and interpretations of the contemporary state of porcelain as a material. One of Ai Weiwei’s iconoclastic works, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, is an example of the different transformation methods designed to question the artist's existing value systems. His Blue-and-White Porcelain Plates and Stacked Porcelain Vases as a Pillar, which he produced specially for the Istanbul exhibition, stimulate ideas about the cyclical structure of history by reflecting the crises of our time in reference to ancient Greek and Egyptian carvings and ceramics.

Ai Weiwei sees art not just as an aesthetic activity, but as an opportunity to broach new questions. In reacting to events in daily life, he frequently references this uniquely Chinese material. In his works shown at this exhibition the artist reflects on the subject of history in the light of surviving fragments of antiques, and presents a comprehensive view of the contemporary world.

Throughout the "Ai Weiwei on Porcelain" exhibition, a programme of workshops, children's educational sessions, lectures and panels will take an in-depth look at Ai Weiwei’s art. The first of these activities consists of a talk by the artist and a conversation about his art production methods with Sir Norman Rosenthal, former director of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, on Wednesday 13 September at 18.00.

A catalogue whose contributors are Sir Norman Rosenthal, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Stacey Pierson will be published to accompany the "Ai Weiwei on Porcelain" exhibition. As well as the artist's own work, the catalogue will examine the tradition of Chinese handcrafts on which he draws, and will be a comprehensive source for Ai Weiwei's work. The "Ai Weiwei on Porcelain" exhibition will remain open until 28 January 2018 at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

&nbsp;

New Exhibition: Ai Weiwei on Porcelain

Ai Weiwei Comes to Istanbul for His Exhibition at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum

The “Ai Weiwei on Porcelain” exhibition opens at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum with the support of Akbank


Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), now in its 15th year, is continuing to present work by Turkish painters and cast light on Turkish art history, with the support of Sabancı Holding and in cooperation with Istanbul University. Works by the major Turkish painter and sculptor Selim Turan (1915-1994) feature in the ‘Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ exhibition, which opens on 30 May at the SSM. 

Curated by Dr. Necmi Sönmez, ‘Selim Turan. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ is the first solo exhibition of the artist's work to have been held in recent years. Most of the works in the exhibition have been selected from the Selim Turan Collection, which was donated to Istanbul University by his wife, the ceramic artist Şahika Turan, in 2003.

From 1947 until his death, Selim Turan divided his time between Paris and Istanbul, and the over one hundred works in the exhibition reveal traces of inspiration from the cultural milieux of both cities. The exhibition also includes works by Hakkı Anlı, Nejad Devrim, Ferit İşcan, İlhan Koman, Mübin Orhon and Fahrelnissa Zeid; Turkish artists who lived and worked in Paris during the same period; and by Jean Bazaine, Henri Goetz, Léon Zack, Natalia Dumitresco and Alexander Istrati, who between 1947 and 1960 were major painters in the Paris art scene over the period of Selim Turan's close involvement.

The exhibition brings together examples of Selim Turan’s work over a long period that begins in 1935, when he was studying at the Academy in Istanbul, and focuses particularly on his years in Paris. As an artist who established bridges between Eastern and Western cultures in both his life and art, Selim Turan's works have been arranged and evaluated in the context of a conceptual framework defined as ‘thesis, antithesis, synthesis’.

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said of this latest exhibition, "Sakıp Sabancı Museum is delighted to be continuing the journey that began with Feyhaman Duran, one of the leading names in Turkish art history, with the painter and sculptor Selim Turan, whose work also casts light on a period. We are proud that Istanbul University has entrusted us with works by both artists that were donated to Istanbul University by their wives, for exhibition at our museum. Selim Turan’s most important characteristic as an artist was that his work never expressed any concern about whether his works were understood or not, and always left the last word to the viewer.&nbsp;Selim Turan's work cannot be evaluated in chronological categories such as his student years, period of exploration, maturity etc, which are traditionally used in art history. Throughout his artistic life he produced figurative, realistic, abstract and symbolic forms of expression, with a constant aim of provoking questions in the mind of the viewer. So in this exhibition curated by Dr. Necmi Sönmez, we decided to present his works in the framework of ‘thesis-antithesis-synthesis’, and to allow interpretations of modern Turkish art in the post-World War II period from an unconventional standpoint, just as Turan himself did.”

Rector of Istanbul University Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak commented as follows on the ‘Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ exhibition of work by one of the leading names in Turkish art history, the painter and sculptor Selim Turan: “Most of the works in the exhibition were chosen from the Selim Turan Collection, which was donated to Istanbul University by the artist's wife, the ceramic artist Şahika Turan. It is our aim that all the collections gathered with such dedication which are today under the guardianship of our university should become part of the world's cultural heritage. Istanbul University's Selim Turan Collection is an important result of this approach. This exhibition epitomises the value attached by Istanbul University to art, artists, cultural heritage and cooperation, and will be a significant source for researchers and all others interested in the history of Turkish painting.”

Sabancı Holding CEO Mehmet Göçmen expressed the following views: “Our holding has always believed that economic and social development can go hand in hand. Art enrichens both individuals and societies. So we are highly motivated to continue our investments in culture and art in order that the public may view life from a more optimistic angle and in a more constructive spirit. Today we are again delighted to be embracing our own values by supporting an exhibition that brings a local artist to the attention of the Turkish public."

Curator of the exhibition, Dr. Necmi Sönmez, commented, "Selim Turan’s 'Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis' exhibition presents over a hundred paintings, sculptures and prints by the artist, making it the broadest scoped exhibition of Turan's work ever to be held and so of particular importance. As one of the leading names in Turkish art history, Turan divided his time between Paris and Istanbul from 1947 until his death, and under the influence of the cultural milieux of both cities engaged in visual experiments that are not widely known. As well as displaying these visual experiments for the first time, the exhibition aims to inspire a debate about numerous unknown works by the artist in terms of their experimental approach."

The works by Turan in the exhibition have been arranged according to both their period and their place in the artist's conceptual quest. The headings for the different sections of the exhibition have been taken from Farid ud-Din Attar’s Mantiq ut-Tayr (Language of the Bird), a poetic work which influenced the artist: "How many leagues is this road?", "Here one shifts from one state of mind to another", "You know the door is closed. Walk and reach that door", "Someone said, 'I lost the key'" and “I joined the sea of mystery and vanished". The ‘Selim Turan. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ exhibition, which includes a unique presentation of mobile sculptures made by the artist in 1980-1994, will remain open at SSM until 13 August.

&nbsp;

New Exhibition: Selim Turan. Thesis- Antithesis- Synthesis

Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum continues to cast light on the history of modern Turkish art.

The ‘Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ exhibition at Sakıp Sabancı Museum presents Selim Turan's work, which was shaped by diverse experiences. 


The courses, focusing on the mark left by Byzantine Empire on Mediterranean, will commence on 9 November, Thursday. The four-week program will be conducted under the guidance of Bosphorus University’s Assoc. Doc. Koray Durak and aim at delving into how the synthesis of Byzantine empire came into being as a result of its combination of Roman state traditions, Greek language, and Christianity. Examining how the Byzantine Empire survived and prospered in the Eastern Mediterranean that was also home to Muslims, Slavs, Turks, and Crusaders in the Middle Ages, this intensive course will provide the participants with a sound introduction to Byzantine politics, economy, culture and religion.

The program will be held in English for the first time and the courses will take place every week on Thursday between 19.00 and 21.30 throughout November. 

Participation fee for the adult education programs is 600 TL.

9 November, Thursday 19.30-21.30

16 November, Thursday 19.30-21.30

23 November, Thursday 19.30-21.30

30 November, Thursday 19.30-21.30

For further information and registration please send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:aldemir@sabanciuniv.edu">aldemir@sabanciuniv.edu</a> or visit www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en

Adult Education: Glamour of Byzantium

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s ‘Adult Education Programs’ continue with courses on Byzantine history. The event, entitled ‘Glamour of Byzantium’, will be held in English.    

The Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), in the 15th anniversary of its founding, with the support of the Sabancı Holding and in cooperation with Istanbul University, is getting ready to present an exhibition of one of the leading representatives on the 1914 Generation Feyhaman Duran (1886-1970). The exhibition “Feyhaman Duran. Between Two Worlds,” beginning on January 12, will feature his life and work. 

The exhibition will shed light on Feyhaman Duran’s life and include the broadest sample of his work. Over 1,000 of his works, which tracks the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic and reveals his amalgamation of Ottoman tradition with western art; some parts of his home in Beyazıt, Istanbul where he lived most his life with his wife Güzin Duran are all included in the exhibition with presentations that reveal his daily life and studio. These presentations, with painting tools and material, furniture and Ottoman calligraphy collection, allow a glimpse into the thinking of one of the trailblazing painters of Turkish history of art and his era. There is also a compilation of paintings, which can be described as Feyhaman Duran’s “special collection,” including landscapes, still-lifes and pochades, alongside his portraits which he was best known for.

Güler Sabancı, Founding President of Sabancı University, said she was happy to support Feyhaman Duran’s first comprehensive exhibition and added: “We wanted to celebrate and begin our 15th year by upholding our own values and exhibit the work of an artist from this land. Additionally, this exhibition is important for us because it brings together two academic institutions. Feyhaman Duran was an artist who lived during both the late Ottoman and early Republican eras. Consequently, we need to see this exhibition not only as an opportunity to get to know Feyhaman Duran and his work and life but also to learn about and understand our history. As you know, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum belongs to one of our youngest tertiary education institutions of our country the Sabancı University. And this exhibition was made possible thanks to the contributions to one of the oldest the Istanbul University. Such an established institution trusted in the experience of its much younger counterpart and facilitated such a cooperative endeavor between the two academic bodies. The Istanbul University generously shared the artist’s work and personal belongings with us. I hope these two universities’ cooperation will provide an inspiration for other institutions. We, as a country, are passing through a trying period. We believe the best way to overcome such obstacles is to work harder and be more productive. In such days, art acquires a higher importance because it unites, improves and beautifies. It shows new ways to understand our history and present.”

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer, speaking on the exhibition, said: “We, as the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, are proud to host a comprehensive exhibition of Feyhaman Duran. We are especially happy to hold this huge exhibition on the 15th anniversary of our founding. We are especially indebted to the Istanbul University for being able to present the richest and broadest ever such exhibition of the painter, whose 130th birthday was last year. The artist’s decision to leave his home, including all his furniture and other belongings, to the Istanbul University for preservation, while allowing his wife the right to use, and his wife’s subsequent death a short while after his, resulted in the university to own not only the artist’s work and belongings, but also everything connected with his long life. This is why the collection we are now exhibiting also allows us a glimpse into the very private life of the artist. Hundreds of pochades which he shared with no one but his wife provide us for the first time with a guide to understand his working system.

During the preparatory stage of our exhibit, we tracked step by step Feyhaman Duran’s life, from his birth in an enlightened Ottoman family in 1886, in Istanbul’s traditional atmosphere at the time to the European world of Beyoğlu. We tried to portray the years he grew up in Istanbul through documentary footage obtained from foreign sources. To better understand his years in Paris of the 1910s, when his talent was truly developed through an academic process at École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian, was likewise tracked through footage obtained from the archives of various foreign institutions and film museums. We wanted for our visitors to truly understand how Feyhaman Duran lived and worked by also transferring his modest timbered home in Beyazıt, one of Istanbul’s most unique and oldest neighborhoods, which was inherited from the calligrapher grandfather of Feyhaman Duran’s wife Güzin Duran, and where the couple lived and worked together.”

The Rector of Istanbul University, to which the artist bequeathed all his belongings, Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak said: “Feyhaman Duran. Between Two Worlds” exhibition is a valuable project based on Istanbul University Feyhaman Duran Culture and Arts House Collection, which is an important cultural heritage for both Turkey and the world. We, as the Istanbul University, aim to ensure all collections collected by the university with incredible labor are preserved for posterity. Istanbul University Feyhaman Duran Collection is one important result of this determination. This exhibition, which demonstrates the value we attach to art, artists, cultural heritage and cooperation, will be an important resource for all those who are interested in the history of Turkish painting.”

The exhibition will include documentary screenings to shed light on the era of Feyhaman Duran’s life and work, to be supported with conferences and workshops for children and photographs. The exhibition catalogue will include various articles that assess different sections of Duran’s artistic life, a detailed research on the influence of the Hidiv family, which facilitated Duran’s journey to Paris, on the late Ottoman cultural and artistic world and will constitute an essential source material on the artist himself.

The art of Feyhaman Duran also bares all the work and developments concerning the late years of the Ottoman Empire and the changes that occurred with the coming of the Republic. The exhibition reveals how Duran left an empire tattering close to the abyss to the center of the global art Paris and finding himself in the midst of an enormous transformation when he came back home and how each of these life altering developments affected his art. It also tries to reveal how the transformation of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic shaped the history of painting of the era.&nbsp;Duran, throughout his life, articulated his perception and synthesis of East and the West through his art. The artist, who is renowned for his portraits due to the demand for the style in the formative period of the Turkish Republic, was also equally proficient and productive in styles such as still-lifes and landscapes.

In this respect, in addition to Duran’s portraits, his first nudes with models during his education in Paris, landscapes from different regions, and still-lifes using Ottoman calligraphy plaques as objects are used in this exhibition to show to the public an alternative side to this very talented artist.

“Feyhaman Duran. Between Two Worlds,” which will present one of the leading artists of Turkish art history, will begin on January 12 and will allow visitors to take a glimpse at this artist’s many achievements until July 30.

&nbsp;

New Exhibition: Feyhaman Duran. Between Two Worlds

The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, on the 15th anniversary of its founding, is hosting one of the leading representatives of the 1914 Generation, Feyhaman Duran with the exhibition “Feyhaman Duran. Between Two Worlds” 

The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum is hosting the exhibition of Feyhaman Duran, widely regarded as the founder of portraiture within Turkish art history, showcasing over 1,000 works by the artist and his personal belongings, with the support of Sabancı Holding and in cooperation with Istanbul University.


With the support of Sabancı Holding, Turkish filmmaker and artist Kutluğ Ataman is to display a major work at The Royal Academy of Arts’ 248th Summer Exhibition, which opens to the public on 13th June. THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI (2014), Ataman’s monumental multi-image video installation, was commissioned by the Sabancı family in 2011 to mark the ten-year anniversary of the passing of Turkish business leader and philanthropist Mr Sakıp Sabancı. It was selected for display by leading British sculptor and Royal Academician Richard Wilson, who is coordinating this year’s Summer Exhibition. 

THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI is one of the largest examples of video art in existence and is adapted to fit each unique space that it is presented in. It is formed of approximately 10,000 LCD panels of passport-sized photographs – each one an individual portrait of one of the tens of thousands of people who crossed paths with Mr Sabancı. It reflects the businessman’s thoughts on human beings, life and art as well as his energy; collectively the photos form his portrait. 

Through this work Ataman has created a moment of silence in honour of Mr Sabancı and emphasises his contribution to the development of technology in Turkey. The piece took three years to complete and uses state-of-the-art technology to create a work where the “raw material is, as a whole, human”. It is part of the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection, Istanbul, and was previously displayed in Okwui Enwezor’s ‘All The World’s Futures’ exhibition at The Arsenale at the 56th International Venice Biennale in 2015. The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition runs from 13 June until 21 August 2016

Speaking about “The Portrait of Sakıp Sabancı” at the RA Summer Exhibition, Kutluğ Ataman said: 
"The Portrait of Sakıp Sabancı honours nearly 30 thousand individuals who contributed anonymously their own images in the construction of the work as much as it honours Mr Sabancı himself. &nbsp;He loved his people and the people loved him back. This in my view was his greatest achievement.”

Dr Nazan Ölçer, Director of the S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum, said: 
‘The Portrait of Sakıp Sabancı’ is of upmost importance to the S.U Sakıp Sabancı Museum, as a memorial to our founder Mr Sakıp Sabancı who touched so many lives during his lifetime. We are delighted that this work by Kutluğ Ataman, one of Turkey’s most significant contemporary artists, will be on display at the RA’s prestigious Summer Exhibition. The inclusive ethos represented by the RA’s open-entry policy for the Summer Exhibition are values which were very close to Mr Sabancı’s own heart, supporting, celebrating and inspiring creativity. We hope the piece will continue to inspire all those who experience it this summer.’

For further information or high res images for Kutluğ Ataman and the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum please contact Louise Collins, Sutton PR on +44(0)20 7183 3577 or <a href="mailto:Louise@suttonpr.com">Louise@suttonpr.com</a> 

For further information about the RA Summer Exhibition please contact Monique Kent, RA Press Office, on +44(0)20 7300 5615 or <a href="mailto:press.office@royalacademy.org.uk">press.office@royalacademy.org.uk</a> 

About Kutluğ Ataman: 
Kutluğ Ataman, born in Istanbul in 1961, is an artist whose main medium of expression is the moving image. Ataman’s works have been exhibited at international art events including the 56th Venice Biennale, 2015, and Documenta in Germany in 2002, as well as major museums including MoMA in New York, Tate Britain in London, and Guggenheim Bilbao. He received the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh in 2004, was among the four finalists for the Turner Prize and was awarded the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2009. Ataman was the joint winner of the European Cultural Foundation’s Routes Princess Margriet Award in 2011 and was named artist of the year by The Observer newspaper in the UK. His works are included in private and institutional collections around the world including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Vienna, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection in Athens and Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

The Portrait of Sakıp Sabancı To Be Displayed at Royal Academy of Arts

THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI BY KUTLUĞ ATAMAN TO BE DISPLAYED AT ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS SUMMER EXHIBITION

On the opening day of the “MACK. Just Light and Colour” exhibition at Sakıp Sabancı Museum, art enthusiasts will find the invaluable opportunity to listen to the prolific artist of 20th century German modernism Heinz Mack on his art and philosophy. 
 
Heinz Mack will be accompanied by noted art critic and curator Beral Madra during this not-to-be-missed artist talk. 
 
The event will be conducted in German. Admission to the event is free of charge with museum admission.

Heinz Mack Artist Talk

February 18, 2016, Thursday,&nbsp;10:30- 11:30

Artist Talk: Heinz Mack and Beral Madra

MACK. Just Light and Colour” Artist Talk: Heinz Mack and Beral Madra


Artist Talk: Heinz Mack

Sakıp Sabancı Museum is preparing to host the leading artist of German modernism, Heinz Mack, with an exhibition showcasing the artist’s long and prolific career with over a hundred works.

The exhibition titled ‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’, made possible with the main sponsorship of Tahincioğlu, focuses on the significant oeuvre of German artist Heinz Mack, who is notably among the founders of the mid-20th century avant-garde art network, the ZERO movement. The exhibition, encompassing the artist's formative earlier works that informed the revolutionary philosophy of the ZERO movement, brings together paintings, monumental sculptures and kinetic works produced throughout the artist’s long career. 

The exhibition includes open-air installations Mack designed during his artistic explorations in the Sahara Desert regarding light and colour in nature, reliefs and sculptures produced in a myriad of materials, as well as the artist’s large canvases titled ‘Chromatic Constellations’. As part of the extensive exhibition, a significant portion of Sakıp Sabancı Museum galleries have been transformed into a unique site embodying the artist’s leading explorations into Land Art, which were inspired by his visits to the Sahara Desert and North Pole in the 1960s.&nbsp; The exhibition site, shaped around desert and light themes, will offer art enthusiasts a unique art experience.

Realized under the curatorship of&nbsp; Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer and art historian and former Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Sir Norman Rosenthal, the exhibition notably marks the 85th birthday and 60th year of Heinz Mack’s career with a series of exhibitions taking place in the Far East, Europe and Turkey. 

‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’ takes place under the patronage of Foreign Minister of Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who also contributed to the exhibition catalogue with a foreword. Foreign Minister Steinmeier expressed his gladness that Sakıp Sabancı Museum is introducing notable art movements and artists to Turkey with an exhibition program starting with ‘ZERO. Countdown to the Future’ in 2015 and ‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’ in 2016. Dr. Steinmeier underscored the importance of international dialogue with regards to the development of a ‘global reason’, expressing his views on the art of Heinz Mack saying ‘Heinz seeks to create points of contact, to engage people in conversation, to understand and to think, in order to ultimately create anew. Heinz Mack symbolizes this very “global reason”.’

Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer summarized the inception of the exhibition stating that the focal point is light and colour as two vital themes Mack has revisited repatedly throughout his career, bringing together paintings inspired by the Mediterranean sun, along with kinetic works exploring ‘movement’, which the artist never abandoned as a concept. Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, ‘I am extremely glad to introduce Heinz Mack, the artist and the sage, with art enthusiasts through his long career and unique artistic output. As the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, we are thrilled that this exhibition, marking the artist’s 60-year career, takes place in Turkey, the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations, both immeasurably rich sources the artist artist drew from throughout his life.’

Özcan Tahincioğlu, Chairman of the Board of Tahincioğlu, the main sponsor of the exhibition, commented on the exhibition saying, “Art is an irreplaceable facet of a developed society. We, as Tahincioğlu, place great importance on supporting the arts and artists, drawing inspiration from the projects we endorse. As a real-estate development corporation, it is our belief that our endeavors constitute as works of art in their own right, contributing to the silhouette of the city. For this very reason, we are incredibly glad to have assumed the main sponsorship of the Heinz Mack exhibition, which undoubtedly will enrich and embellish the city as it reaches art enthusiasts in Turkey. It is a source of pride to support and realize the exhibition of this important artist, who throughout his career brought together nature and human development, offering his output to the masses through open-air works of art and installations, bringing it to Sakıp Sabancı Museum. As per our guiding vision, we as Tahincioğlu will continue our support to the arts and the artists through future projects.”

Heinz Mack’s first solo exhibition in Istanbul, where the civilisations of East and West have bequeathed a priceless heritage over thousands of years, will be accompanied by a rich program of conferences, education programs, workshops, as well as a comprehensive exhibition catalogue suitable for both scholars and the general public.

New Exhibition: Heinz Mack. Just Light and Colour

New exhibition at the  Sakıp Sabancı Museum: ‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’ opens on February 18


With the invaluable support of Akbank Sanat, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum is preparing to host “The Sky Event”, a series of conferences and art performences bringing together art, science, technology and architecture on October 23-24, 2015, in conjunction with its latest major exhibition titled “ZERO. Countdown to the Future”.

&nbsp;“The Sky Event” was organized parallel to the revolutionary principles of the German art movement ZERO, which combined cutting-edge technology with art, and will bring together notable names of the art world both in Turkey and the world to discuss ZERO in a variety of aspects. “The Sky Event” will also include an unforgettable performance of the late ZERO founder and Director of Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Advanced Visual Studies Otto Piene’s open-air sculptures, “Inflatable Objects”.

&nbsp;On October 23, Friday at 14:00, “The Sky Event” will kick off with a series of conferences on the present and future of the ZERO movement by art critic and curator Beral Madra, MIT faculty, artist and the late wife of ZERO founder Otto Piene, Elizabeth Goldring Piene along with Laura Knott, who has contributed to curatorial studies as part of the MIT Museum, and Mark Wigley, Dean Emeritus of Columbia Graduate School of Architecture and curator of the 2015 Istanbul Design Biennial.

“The Sky Event” will conclude on October 24, 2015 at 14:00 with a performance of Otto Piene’s “Inflatable Objects”, created in line with his “Sky Art” concept conceived in 1969, led by a group of artists and volunteer students. With the open air sculptures released up in the air in Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s terrace in Emirgan, the Bosphorus sky will be transformed into a limitless canvas.

About “Sky Art”

“Sky Art”, which stands as an extension of ZERO founder Otto Piene’s academic work at MIT throughout his career and his art practice combining art, science and technology, constitutes a reinterpretation of the artist’s shattering experiences of World War II. 

With the idea that the sky, which was the backdrop of night raids and bombings during the war, may be transformed&nbsp; into the biggest canvas imaginable, ripe for new and positive possibilities, Otto Piene conceived the notion of “Sky Art”, saying: “The enjoyment of the sky was replaced with fear during the war. When the war ended, the joy arose, the impulse, to celebrate the sky – and with that, sky art as well.” In this way, “The Sky Event”, which will take place at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on October 23 – 24, will meet students and art enthusiasts as a celebration of knowledge and hope, as well as constructive, hopeful wishes to the future. 

Event Program

&nbsp;

23 October, Friday

14:00 – 17:00&nbsp; &nbsp; Conferences: Beral Madra, Mark Wigley, Elizabeth Piene, Laura Knott

24 October, Saturday

14:00 – 18:00&nbsp; &nbsp; “Inflatable Objects” Performance

&nbsp;

The Sky Event 

“The Sky Event” at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum
 



The Sky Event

With the generous support of Akbank Sanat,&nbsp;Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) is hosting the innovative and dynamic spirit of ZERO, the biggest art network of the 20th century.

On view through September 2, 2015, the “Zero. Countdown to the Future” exhibition focuses on the ZERO movement, which was born in 1957 in Düsseldorf as a response to the stagnant and negative atmosphere at the heels of World War II, taking its name from the countdown until the launch of a rocket. The exhibition brings together over a hundred works in different materials and techniques by the founders of ZERO, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, along with works by notable artists Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana, who served as the spiritual forefathers of the movement. “ZERO. Countdown to the Future” is shaped by the core concepts that largely informed the movement, such as Light, Time, Space, Color and Movement, and is curated by the Founding Director of the ZERO Foundation, Mattijs Visser.

Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Director of the S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum, spoke at the Press Conference, saying, “With our mission of serving as a university institution, we assume an important role in shedding “light” on art in Turkey. We take great care in ensuring our contemporary art exhibitions organized around the Istanbul Biennial period are parallel to the zeitgeist of the contemporary art world. The story of holding the “ZERO. Countdown to the Future” exhibition at SSM started with a meeting with Heinz Mack, one of the founders of this major art and thought movement, during the 2014 Architecture Biennial in Venice. My friendship with Heinz Mack has led to art lovers in Turkey becoming acquainted with ZERO, the most important avant-garde movement of the mid-20th century. ZERO carried us to post-war Germany, specifically Düsseldorf, which became a leading art centre in the 1950s. There we were reminded of how a group of young artists whose visions sparked by an idea that seemed utopian had changed the European art milieu in the course of a decade.&nbsp; ZERO was born in Germany, which was disastrous for all of Europe, left the profoundest marks on Germany. 

Günther Uecker, a third artist who had a similar vision, joined Piene and Mack in their vision to “abandon pessimism and start from zero”, and these three founders, together with three major artists, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, whom they regarded as their “forerunners”, they soon drew many artists from almost every corner of Europe and some from places as far away as Japan. When founder Heinz Mack announced the end of ZERO at the last exhibition in 1967, the ZERO concept had long since stamped its mark on a period of 20th century European&nbsp;contemporary art, despite a life span of just ten years.&nbsp;ZERO was a product of its time. In this period when new technologies were flourishing, the space race was at its height and reaching the moon was no longer a dream, art was adapting to these dizzying developments. ZERO challenged the static approach of traditional art, imprisoned in canvas and frame taking a completely new path that was constantly in flux and invited viewers to communicate, and allowing modern technologies to find an extensive place in the concepts of modern art. But the focal point was always light. Instilling the world with hope and the philosophy of building a bright future are reasons why ZERO still maintains its relevance today. More freedom, transparency, a more humane future, the quest for peace and hope… Today, more than fifty years on, when evaluating these artists who carved out for themselves a role in art that was quite unlike anything so far, and the brief life of the ZERO movement, we respect all the hope the conveyed, the optimism they spread and their almost child-like enthusiasm. 

Our exhibition was made possible with the curatorship of Mattijs Visser, Founding Director of the ZERO Foundation. His vast knowledge and experience introduced us to different collections. I can hardly thank him enough for his invaluable knowledge and advice. We are honoured that this exhibition is taking place under the protective wings of Akbank Sanat, an institution that is such a friend of the arts. For their invaluable support throughout the years on our museum’s exhibition projects, I extend my profound thanks first of all to Suzan Sabancı Dinçer, Chairman and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Akbank; to Hayri Çulhacı, Vice-President and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Akbank; to Hakan Binbaşgil, General Manager of Akbank; and our esteemed friend Murat Göllü, Senior Vice-President of Corporate Communications. I extend my congratulations to the museum’s Exhibitions Manager Hüma Arslaner, who has organized successive stages of this multi-faceted and challenging project with outstanding professionalism, assisted by young experts on the museum staff. I invite all art enthusiasts to discover this multi-faceted movement and hope that, as the ZERO founders said, that ZERO is good for us all.”

Akbank Chairman and Executive Board Member Suzan Sabancı Dinçer stated at the opening of the exhibition: “Akbank has supported and promoted cultural and artistic development in Turkey since our establishment, and we consider them as one of our leading responsibilities. Once again, Akbank Sanat and Sakıp Sabancı Museum have worked together to create a valuable, successful and quality project. ZERO is one of the most influential and important avant-garde artistic visions that promotes innovation, dynamism, and creativity, thus harmonizing with Akbank’s basic values. The primary color of ZERO is white (as “Ak” in Akbank refers to). Namely and significantly, this makes a perfect match with Akbank.&nbsp;Gradually, Istanbul is taking its place among the most culturally enlivened cities in the world, and Akbank are delighted to be able to promote our country as such. We strive to contribute our country’s cultural life by supporting and leading valuable projects, like ZERO.”

Akbank CEO Hakan Binbaşgil stated that they were glad to support the first extensive ZERO exhibition in Turkey: “Artistic events make an important part of our corporate social responsibility activities. It is an important tradition for Akbank to introduce worldwide artists and art movements to Turkish art lovers. We are pleased to present ZERO, one of the most influent art movements of the 20th Century, in cooperation with Akbank Sanat, and Sakıp Sabancı Museum. The ZERO movement had set itself a different position in artistic universe by its courage to try the untried, and I hope that it will be inspiring for our young generations to be creative and to get them to recognise different points of view. We should keep in mind that culture and art are the most important legacies to our next generations, and Akbank will maintain our activities in cultural and artistic fields to enrich our country by our commitment to create sustainable values”.

Mattijs Visser, the curator of the exhibition and the Founding Director of the ZERO Foundation said, “Art is a vehicle that brings artists and their ideas together with viewers of art; forging a bond between them that extends beyond boundaries and times. Art works are travelers constantly wandering in time, and every generation takes a new stance towards them. People in Europe after the war, including artists of course, were obliged to come to terms with their existential experiences during the Second World War. In particular the young artists of the period set about creating opportunities for exchanging ideas and views. ZERO was born in such an environment. We are proud that this ’ZERO. Countdown to the Future’ exhibition at the S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum will sustain the principle of transcending and eliminating artistic and geographic borders, which lies at the heart of this movement, and support dialogue between different cultures.”

The exhibition instills the S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum galleries with the energy of ZERO and includes a tour of the exhibition with curator Mattijs Visser on September 3, 2015, along with numerous symposia, conferences, film screenings, children’s workshops and an audio guide, and an extensive exhibition catalogue. The ZERO exhibition is open to visit through September 2, 2015 – January 10, 2016 at Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

2014 documentary about the ZERO movement will also be screened throughout the exhibition at SSM, meeting art enthusiasts in the museum’s conference hall with Turkish subtitles.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

New Exhibition: Countdown to the Future

4,3,2,1, ZERO. COUNTDOWN TO THE FUTURE BEGINS.

“The ZERO Movement” is at the S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum with its most groundbreaking artworks…


Turkish filmmaker and artist Kutluğ Ataman has been invited to exhibit the video installation titled “THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI” at the 56th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale). The work will be shown alongside the 136 artists selected by curator Okwui Enwezor for this year’s exhibition titled ‘All the World’s Futures’.

”THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI” was commissioned by Istanbul’s Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum in 2011, to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Turkish business leader and philanthropist Mr. Sakıp Sabancı’s passing. The multi-image installation which took almost 3 years to complete, is formed of approximately 10,000 LCD panels – each one a portrait of one of the tens of thousands of people from all walks of life– who crossed paths with Mr. Sabancı. These are people who he supported and those who worked with him. &nbsp;

Kutluğ Ataman, born in Istanbul in 1961, is an artist whose main medium of expression is the moving image. Ataman’s works have been exhibited at international art events including the Venice Biennale and Documenta in Germany as well as major museums including MoMa in New York, Tate Britain in London, and Guggenheim Bilbao. He received the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh in 2004, was among the four finalists for the Turner Prize and was awarded the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2009. Ataman was the joint winner of the European Cultural Foundation’s Routes Princess Margriet Award and was named artist of the year by The Observer newspaper in the United Kingdom. His works are included in such private and institutional collections as MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Vienna, the Dimitris Daskalopoulos Collection in Athens and Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

Preview: 7 May 2015, 12.30

Opening: 9 May 2015

Exhibition address: Artiglierie, Arsenale, Castello, 30122 Venezia

Opening hours: 10.00- 18.00 (10.00– 20.00: Friday/Saturday until 26 September). Closed on Mondays (except 11 May/1 June/16 November)

Notes to Editors:

The S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum is located in the Emirgan district, İstanbul. The 19th-century mansion was purchased in 1951 by industrialist Hacı Ömer Sabancı. In 1998, together with its collections of The Arts of Book and Calligraphy and Turkish Painting from the Ottoman Reformation to the Republic, the mansion was allocated to Sabancı University to be transformed into a museum. With the annex of a modern gallery, the exhibition spaces of the museum opened to visitors in 2002, with a further extension of the layout in 2005. Today, Sakıp Sabancı Museum presents a rich permanent collection, a series of temporary exhibitions and public events. The museum regularly hosts notable special exhibitions, often focusing on the works of one artist, movement or historical period that have been loaned out from a variety of other museums and sources. Each exhibition at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum aims to provide insight into the world of art as a transformative, cultural experience, and often involves a historical analysis to demonstrate the profound impact that art has on society. S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum also boasts a wide variety of educational programming for children and adults along with workshops, conferences and concerts throughout the year. For more for information of S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum visit <a href="http://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en">http://www.sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en</a>

The Portrait of Sakıp Sabancı at the 56th Venice Bienalle

KUTLUĞ ATAMAN’S VIDEO INSTALLATION “THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI” TO BE EXHIBITED AT THE  56th INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA


The new exhibition titled “Buluşma…Reunion” brings together the works of 20 artists whose paths have crossed with the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program, displaying a range of works from various disciplines such as painting to photography, documentary and installation. The exhibition will be open to art enthusiasts between the dates of April 9, 2015 – July 26, 2015.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum is preparing to host the new exhibition titled “Buluşma…Reunion”, bringing together the works produced by 20 artist graduates of the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program in many disciplines from painting to photography, documentary and installation.

The details of the exhibition were announced during a press conference on April 8, 2015, Wednesday, with the attendance of S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer, President of the Sabancı University A. Nihat Berker and Erdağ Aksel, Faculty Member at the Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. “Buluşma…Reunion” brings together the works of 20 artists whose paths have crossed with the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program, and who now work as professional artists, gaining prominence in international biennales, expositions and exhibitions, on the 15th anniversary of the program’s first course. These 20 artist graduates produce works in many different mediums but distinguish themselves in their common determination to produce in the art world where maintaining permanence and continuity is a constant challenge and come together at this exhibition for the first time.

A catalogue in conjunction with the exhibition was prepared for the artworks, which were selected from the works of 115 artist graduates who graduated from the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program between 1999-2015. The publication includes articles penned by the Sabancı University alumni and the faculty as well as photographs by Sabancı University Faculty Member Murat Germen.

The 40 artworks by 20 artists were selected by a committee including notable names in the international art world today such as the Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts (1977-2008) Sir Norman Rosenthal, Director of l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts (2000-2011) Henry-Claude Cousseau and art historian, curator and critic Deepak Ananth, who also serve as the International Board Members of SSM, along with Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Director of Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Erdağ Aksal, Sabancı University Arts and Social Sciences Faculty Member Erdağ Aksel.

During the “Buluşma…Reunion” press conference Dr. Nazan Ölçer addressed the audience, saying, “These professional artists who have found their own artistic path come together at the “Buluşma…Reunion” exhibition for the first time, at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum. Exhibitions are among the most powerful ways of communicating with the society, and they are invaluable in providing the opportunity for artists to showcase their works and take bold steps in forming their personal languages. I firmly believe that this exhibition hosted by Sakıp Sabancı Museum will resound with its youth and energy.”

The President of the Sabancı University Prof. Dr. A. Nihat Berker expressed his happiness and excitement about the “Buluşma…Reunion” exhibition, saying “The cause of my elation is seeing that Sakıp Sabancı Museum will be hosting the works of our young artists in the same halls that previously hosted such world-renowned artists as Picasso, Dali, Rembrandt, Rodin, Anish Kapoor and Miro.” Prof. Dr. Berker also said, “As the Sabancı University, we are extremely proud to see that these young artists are moving further in their art careers with determination. I am certain that they will gain international acclaim in the future.”

Erdağ Aksel, Faculty Member at the Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, addressed the audience during the press conference and said, “Sabancı University was founded at the end of a long process that started with Güler Sabancı’s challenge to a&nbsp;group of academicians to ‘imagine the university that your heart desires.’ Today, we are happily seeing the fruits of this revolutionary program.”

As part of the “Buluşma… Reunion” exhibition, which will be open between the dates of April 9 and July 26, 2015, works by the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Program graduates Aslı Narin, Baptiste Croze, Berke Soyuer, Beyza Boyacıoğlu, Burcu Yağcıoğlu, Cemre Yeşil, Deniz Gül, Deniz Üster, Ege Kanar, Egemen Demirci, Elif Süsler, Erdem Taşdelen, Hasan Salih Ay, Hayal Pozantı, İz Öztat, Julia Kul, Onur Ceritoğlu, Tan Mavitan and Meriç Algün Ringborg, who was recently invited to be a part of the 56. Venice Biennale will be exhibited alongside two works by sculptor Bayram Candan, who continued his art practice in the metal studio at the Sabancı University until his untimely passing in 2013.&nbsp; 

Panel conferences with the attendance of artists and Sabancı University alumni who currently work in the fields of art theory and criticism and who also contributed to the exhibition catalogue with their articles, will also be organized in conjunction with the exhibition. The first of the series of panels will take place on April 11, 2015, Saturday.&nbsp; 

In the Children’s Education Programs designed parallel to the “Buluşma…Reunion” exhibition, children will explore questions regarding contemporary art and partake in a creative process that will help them delve into the questions that arise in the artist’s mind. Throughout the exhibition, children will add their artistic output to an ever-growing installation, a thought map.

A scholarship fund within Sabancı University was created as part of the “Buluşma…Reunion” project with the contributions of Enka Vakfı, Garanti Bankası, Kibar Holding, Milliyet Gazetesi, Mitsubishi, Polimeks Holding, Sabancı Holding, Samsung ve Umur Matbaa along with many personal contributions, to be used on the education of the Sabancı University Visual Arts and Visual Communication Program students.

For the duration of “Buluşma…Reunion”, all students will be able to visit the exhibition free of charge.

New Exhibition: Reunion

Sabancı University’s graduate artists meet at Sakıp Sabancı Museum!

The exhibition hosts on its inauguration day a conference in which Joan Punyet Miró, the artist’s grandson, will participate. The conference, aiming at a further understanding of the exhibited works in SSM and the keys to Miró’s symbols, will be free of charge.

‘My grandfather’s world was rich and complex. As the French poet Raymond Queneau reflects, “Miró’s vocabulary resembles the Chinese pictograms ... To understand it, you need to take lessons.” My aim in giving this speech is to share with the participants my knowledge on my grandfather’s art and a few anecdotes about this man that I came to know in the last fifteen years of his life.’ –Joan Punyet Miró

September 23, 2014, Tuesday, 11.00- 12.00 hrs.

*The speech will be given in English with simultaneous interpretation to Turkish.

Conference: Joan Miró In The Eyes of His Grandson Joan Punyet Miró

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), hosts a comprehensive exhibition consisting of the Catalan artist and sculptor Joan Miró, born in Barcelona. This exhibition, titled Joan Miró. Women, Birds and Stars focuses on the maturity period of the groundbreaking and versatile artist. The exhibition, sponsored by Sabancı Holding and organized in collaboration with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, the family collection &nbsp;Successió Miró in Mallorca and the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation again in Mallorca can be visited between 23 September 2014 and 1 February 2015. Focusing on the women, birds and stars themes of Miró, who was inspired by his observations on the Mediterranean landscape and people, the exhibition presents the viewer a rich selection of paintings, prints, sculptures and ceramics, thus providing the opportunity to understand Miró’s symbolic language. Artlovers who will meet with Miró in Istanbul, will witness the reflections in different forms of the energy the artist derived from the Mediterranean culture. 
 
The SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, ‘We initiated talks with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona three years ago. Our dream was to add the third link with this great Catalan master to the trilogy of Spain’s great masters, which we started with Pablo Picasso and continued with Salvador Dali. Now we are filled with the excitement of having fulfilled this dream. Together with the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, we decided to prepare a selection, focusing on the artist’s maturity period, centering on women, birds and stars, themes which he never gave up, and which underline his versatility. To stress this versatility, we also borrowed works of art from the family collection in Mallorca and workshop materials from the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation again in Mallorca. Some of his art in different techniques and some of his personal belongings will be exhibited for the first time, here at SSM, in Turkey. A series of documentaries will also be shown at the exhibition, thus giving us the chance to observe the artist’s life, inner world, his transformations, friends, anger and reaction to the political events in his country and in the world, thereby catching a glimpse of his secret world, which he guarded closely.’ 

Sabancı Holding CEO Zafer Kurtul’s comments were as follows: ‘We do not limit ourselves to our economic activities; supporting projects within the sphere of art and culture is always a priority for us. Sabancı Holding has supported exhibitions by great masters ever since the ‘Picasso in Istanbul’ exhibition which ushered a new era in the history of Turkish museums. We deem this to be an integral part of our corporate citizenship. Our efforts in this respect are based on our wish and will to make a contribution to the society, from our social responsibility perspective. We are extremely gratified that the Turkish society responds wholeheartedly to this wish of ours. I believe that this exhibition will be received with the same warm interest witnessed by the previous ones, with long queues at the doors.&nbsp;&nbsp;Miró is the fourth great master whose works we have helped to bring to the Turkish public, the first three being Picasso, Rembrandt and Monet. Sabancı Holding’s vision is to acquire permanent advantages through making difference, and Miró is an artist who has made a difference with his art, with his works. This exhibition will enable us to come to know and understand this great master, through his life as well as his work.’

New Exhibition: Joan Miró. Women, Birds and  Stars

‘Women, Birds and Stars’ of the great twentieth century artist Joan Miró is at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum sponsored by Sabancı Holding

The work of art commissioned in 2011 by the Sabancı family to Kutluğ Ataman for the 10th anniversary of Sakıp Sabancı’s parting from us has opened to public viewing at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on April 29. The work aims to reflect the personality of the much missed leader, with his innovativeness, his sharing and embracing nature, his overriding principle of always giving first priority to people and his love and respect for them. Throughout his life, Sakıp Sabancı who merged with people with his sharp intelligence, his sense of humour and warm manner had many windows opening to life and people. Kutluğ Ataman’s work makes visible all the windows opened by Sakıp Sabancı. 

Kutluğ Ataman, whose films and video art works have a worldwide audience, created the idea of this work which constitutes a moment of silence in honour of Sakıp Sabancı, emphasizing the industrialist’s contribution to the development of technology in Turkey.&nbsp;The basic element of this work, which utilizes the most advanced technology in visual arts, consists of the people. The work consisting of the passport sized photographs of thousands of people from all walks of life whose paths crossed the famous businessman’s in some way, who supported or were supported by him, shape his portrait, reflecting his sympathetic, tolerant and colourful personality, while implementing an extraordinary artistic idea, ‘beyond time’ as is worthy of Sakıp Sabancı. 

The technical infrastructure of this work, which is one of the largest video art examples worldwide was completed by Larves Artware Solutions in three years. The Project consists of a driver card, a communication card and a control/administration software. The work comprises approximately 10,000 LCD panels, aligned in 144 modules, each consisting of sets of 64, stacked horizontally and vertically. 

The LCD driver card communicates with an advanced level computer, thus transferring the photograph data. The external industrial computer is connected to the communication cards of the subsystems via fiber cables. The communication card &nbsp;transfers data consisting of thousands of photographs to the driver cards to be viewed on the screens in random order and at random intervals. 

After the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, the work will be exhibited at the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery, each time being redesigned in accordance with each building’s architecture. Following Mardin, the piece is planned to be presented internationally at the leading museums worldwide.

What they said…

Güler Sabancı,Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding 

“Sakıp Sabancı cared for people and he touched people. He really physically touched them while talking to them.&nbsp; He did not discriminate in any way whatsoever. He had a pluralistic, extraordinary attitude. His positive energy was contagious. He looked straight into the eyes of the person he was talking to. He made everyone feel special. He loved people very much and he embraced them. 

Three years ago, we formed a committee to lead the preparations for the 10th anniversaries of the foundation of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and the 10th anniversary of Sakıp Sabancı’s parting from us. The Board of the Committee was chaired by Ms Sevil Sabancı. Ideas were discussed as to what to do, and we thought of making a film. Then we came up with the name of Kutluğ Ataman. We briefed him about the concept of the project and the core of the thoughts we have in mind; as a family we decided that an art work which reflects Sakıp Sabancı’s energy, the way he touched people, the way he embraces people will also reflect Sakıp Sabancı himself. And now, here we are, commemorating Sakıp Sabancı on the 10th anniversary of his parting from us, with a work of art worthy of him. I thank the Sabancı family, Türkan Sabancı, Sevil Sabancı and Dilek Sabancı for their support. I thank Nazan Ölçer and her team. I thank Kutluğ Ataman for creating this work of art which reflects Sakıp Sabancı’s energy and which will allow this energy to be shared over many years.” 

Dr. Nazan Ölçer,&nbsp;Director of SSM 

“This work of art is a commemoration by the Sabancı family. While contemplating how to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sakıp Sabancı’s partisng from us, we consulted our Board and our International Board of Overseers including curators and directors of museums from all over the world. Traditional ways of commemoration may be building a school or a dormitory and naming it after the person; but the Sabancı Foundation has been doing this for years. We never considered commissioning a statue, neither did the Sabancı Family. The work should reflect the energy and emphasize the modern and forward-looking perspective of Sakıp Sabancı. In 2010, it was decided that the work of art should be created by Kutluğ Ataman. 

Don’t ask me ‘why Kutluğ Ataman?’, who else could it be? We all know how well Kutluğ Ataman is known globally. He represents contemporary Turkish art with great success, has won many prestigious awards, and his works are in various collections abroad. When I first saw the work of art he created, my feeling was one of happiness. Kutluğ Ataman’s name was decided upon by the end of October 2010. The contract was drawn in 2011. That is when the preparations of art work started. The family’s wish was the creation of a work whose focus consisted of ‘people’. Kutluğ Ataman was given thousands of photographs. There is also another work by Kutluğ Ataman at our Arts of Book and Calligraphy Collection, the Mesopotamia Dramatourgies No 5, SU.” 

Kutluğ Ataman,&nbsp;Artist

“When I was first approached for the project, my first thought was that I had never met Sakıp Sabancı. And I was not a portraitist. I thought this would be difficult, because I have a hard time with such commissioned works. Something much more than making a documentary on Sakıp Sabancı was required. For me, Sakıp Sabancı is a leader; his leadership lies in the fact that he was a successful and famous businessman, and that he changed the lives of people and the progression of Turkey. This was not something he could have done alone. No leader becomes a leader just by himself/herself. He/she must be able to organize people, to convince people, to bring them together and to make them accept his/her vision. People must feel the person they accept as their leader within themselves. Not everyone has that capability. That is why I wanted to point to the people who formed the leader. 

I suggested to ask people who have somehow touched Sakıp Sabancı to give their passport size photographs if they wish. We needed more than 30,000 participants. This was something not done before. I had not done anything like this, and neither had anyone else. We created something from scratch, designing, testing, and preparing the software. It took a long time. Initially, each mosaic piece of the work was 50 cm thick, we reduced that gradually. Then we mounted it and had Larves, a Turkish firm at the Sakarya University Technocity did the production. The work consisting of almost 10,000 screens became a modern mosaic. His colleagues, his people, are coming together to thank Sakıp Sabancı. The work is liquid actually, you can not hold it in your hand. It is an idea, it is not static like a statue, it is dynamic... It is an energy... I think the most beautiful aspect of the work is that, we can disintegrate all its components and reintegrate them in the form of another work. We can reconstruct the work at another venue and in another form, without disrupting its essence.”

New Exhibition: Sakıp Sabancı by Kutluğ Ataman

The contemporary art work honouring Sakıp Sabancı is now at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Sabancı University’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum is hosting the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition on 7 March – 15 June 2014 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of relations between Turkey and Poland. 

The exhibition is opening under the patronage of the presidents of Turkey and Poland, supported by the ministries of foreign affairs and culture in both countries, with exhibits loaned from the collections of museums, archives, libraries, monasteries and churches in Poland, together with objects from Topkapı Palace Museum, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art and Sadberk Hanım Museum in Turkey, making a total of 348 exhibits.

The exhibition has been organized with the financial and institutional support of Sakıp Sabancı Museum and its esteemed sponsors and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. It is accompanied by a wide range of cultural and art events. 

The “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition covers a period beginning in the first half of the 15th century and continuing with trade, peace and war up to the late 17th century, when the Second Siege of Vienna became a turning point not just in relations between Ottoman Turkey and Poland, but in the history of Europe.

In this context, historical developments in the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Poland are reflected in documents, maps, paintings, personal possessions of eminent figures, accessories and printed material. The exhibition presents visitors with examples of trade goods, and Ottoman tents, weapons and other artefacts abandoned after the army’s defeat at the Siege of Vienna, alongside objects that illustrate the border clashes and other stages leading up to the siege.

In the wake of the Treaty of Carlowitz, Poland and the Ottoman state, which over the centuries had shared the stage of history sometimes as neighbours and sometimes as enemies, now shared a similar fate, despite one being on the losing and the other on the winning side. While the Ottoman state went into decline, struggling for survival by diplomacy or war as circumstances required; the kingdom of Poland was attacked by Austria, Prussia and Russia, its powerful neighbours and former allies at the victory of Vienna, which now seized vast tracts of Polish territory in both east and west. Finally in 1795 the country was partitioned by these powers and Poland ceased to be an independent state.&nbsp;

The Ottoman state refused to recognize the right of the invading powers to partition Poland and in palace protocol the place of the Polish ambassador was preserved. On formal state occasions it was always declared that the Polish ambassador was “delayed on his journey and so unable to attend”. During this period the wars of the past were forgotten as and Polish political refugees who included members of diverse political groups attempting to restore the country’s independence, intellectuals, high ranking officers, soldiers and diplomats received their most steadfast support from the Ottoman state. A Polish batallion made up of political refugees and known as the Sultan’s Cossacks fought side by side with Ottoman soldiers against Russia on several occasions, notably in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. Some of these people are known to have played influential roles in Ottoman reform movements. This period is illustrated by documents, paintings and other diverse objects.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said the following about the exhibition: “Commercial and cultural relations between Poland and Ottoman Turkey, which began in the 15th century and reached their zenith in the 17th and 18th centuries, made major contributions to the arts in both countries, in particular influencing the tastes, dress and way of life of the Polish elite.

Since a relationship going back 600 years could not be represented by material from Poland alone, we were obliged to find a contemporary Ottoman equivalent for every object brought from that country. Official and private correspondence between the kingdom of Poland Kingdom and the Ottoman state, portraits of ambassadors, their retinues, and important Polish and Ottoman figures and their families, as well as personal notes reflecting contemporary events, have taken their place in the exhibition scenario that tracks this eventful history almost step by step.

We wanted church vestments made of Turkish fabrics worn by high ranking Polish clerics, tents and weapons presented as gifts or left behind on the battle field, and diaries kept on battle fronts to give insight into diverse aspects of the past. We have always upheld the principle that history should not be just a series of victories and defeats, so one of our main aims has been that this exhibition should reveal the factors lying behind these and penetrate the power equations and human personalities with all their strengths and weaknesses. The objects, documents and pictures included in this exhibition demonstrate that notes taken by a contemporary observer can sometimes provide more insight than long historical accounts, and that even battle fields can have an aesthetic dimension.”

Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, said of the exhibition: “There are few countries that have established such uninterrupted partnerships during their history. The commemoration of the 600th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries this year is an outstanding opportunity to promote awareness of Poland. During this year more than a hundred cultural events will be held and we plan to present the Turkish public with matchless examples of&nbsp;Polish culture. This exhibition at Sakıp Sabancı Museum is one of the major events on the Polish cultural programme. The exhibition’s title symbolizes and perfectly reflects the character of our relations; it is indeed true that despite the distances between us, both countries have many similarities and share old memories.”

Director of Warsaw National Museum Agnieszka Morawińska commented as follows on the exhibition: “Our exhibition brings together diverse elements that demonstrate the rich history shared by Turkey and Poland. By means of this exhibition we aimed to present art lovers with the most beautiful examples of Poland’s secular heritage and church collections. At the same time our exhibition examines the shared aspects of art history between both countries. Dedicated work by experts from Poland and Turkey has played a major part in the outstanding achievement of this project. I wish to say that owing to their meticulous and dedicated efforts in the course of preparing this exhibition, it has avoided superficiality and biased conclusions.” 

As part of the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” exhibition, a two-day programme of lectures will take place on 7-8 March from 14:00 to 18:00. Turkish and Polish academics who are participating in this conference programme will discuss various aspects of art and commerce at different times over the six centuries covered by the exhibition, and examine political and cultural relations between the Ottoman Empire and Poland in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In addition Polish films will be screened throughout the exhibition, accompanied by discussion forums to be attended by the leading directors of contemporary Polish cinema, Krzysztof Zanussi and Dorota Keszierzawska. In addition there will be concerts by musicians from Poland and educational workshops for children. The museum’s Changa restaurant will continue its series of menus on the theme of the current exhibition, which began with the Rembrandt, Monet and Anish Kapoor exhibitions. This time the restaurant is presenting a menu inspired by Poland's traditional foods and cooking techniques.

The main sponsor of the “Distant Neighbours, Close Memories” exhibition being held on the 600 Yeras &nbsp;of relations between Turkey and Poland is Turgut Pharmaceuticals A.Ş. Supporting sponsor is Gülermak A.Ş., accommodation sponsor is The Grand Tarabya, and educational sponsor is West Istanbul Marina.

The Project is organized as part of the 2014 cultural programme celebrating 600 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Poland.

New Exhibition: Distant Neighbours, Close Memories

“Distant Neighbours, Close Memories: 600 Years of Turkish-Polish Relations” at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum


Works by the Dutch painter Marius Bauer from the collections of important museums in America and Europe, especially of the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam, will be presented to art lovers during the four-month exhibition. Exhibiting more than 100 oil paintings, etchings and sketches by Bauer, one of the most important representatives of orientalism in the Netherlands, the Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery is hosting an international exhibition for the first time since its inauguration in 2009. The exhibition also features educational programmes for the children and youth of Mardin. 

In her opening speech Sabancı University Head of the Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı said: “We are proud to host an international exhibition as we celebrate our 4th year as the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery. We are hosting the Dutch painter Marius Bauer, one of the greatest European artists, for the first time with our new exhibition titled “An Orientalist in Mardin: Marius Bauer”. Like all artists enchanted by the east, Marius Bauer was a traveller. He undertook his first voyage, during which he would fall under the spell of the east, in 1888 when he was 21. He sailed to Ottoman Turkey, stopped at Izmir and then made his way to Istanbul. We are overjoyed to have opportunity to bring Bauer’s works back to the country he could never forget. This is an exhibition to the highest western standard in the easternmost part of the east. I am grateful to all those who have made a contribution to the exhibition, starting with the Province of Mardin.” 

Sabancı Foundation Head of the Board of Trustees, Dilek Sabancı commented on the exhibition saying: “We opened the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery in 2009 with the exhibition titled “Selections from the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection – Nature, Man and the Sea”, which brought together works by many great Turkish artists from Hikmet Onat, İbrahim Safi and Şeref Akdik to Abidin Dino, Adnan Çoker and Selma Gürbüz. In 2010 the exhibition “Abidin Dino in Mardin – Selected Works 1930 – 1990” attracted many visitors, and in 2011 with the exhibition "Lo and Behold... Ara Güler in Mardin” we shared the works of Ara Güler, the photography artist of international renown, with our visitors. And now, with our new exhibition “An Orientalist in Mardin: Marius Bauer”, we are happy to present a selection of paintings by Marius Bauer, one of the most important Orientalist painters of the Netherlands. With this exhibition we have advanced the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery to an international level. I sincerely believe that together we will raise artistic and cultural awareness even further through our future exhibitions and educational programmes.”&nbsp; 

&nbsp;

An Orientalist in Mardin: Marius Bauer

The exhibition “An Orientalist in Mardin: Marius Bauer” has opened at the Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery. 

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) has already brought works by numerous world-famous artists to Turkey, and now exhibits spectacular paintings by the famous French artist Claude Monet, in cooperation with the Marmottan Monet Museum. Entitled Monet’s Garden, the exhibition will be held between 9 October 2012 and 6 January 2013. Sabancı Holding is the exhibition's main sponsor, with Le Méridien Istanbul Etiler as sponsor for accommodation, and support from Vista Tourism. Flowers and nature are the themes selected for this exhibition of works by Monet, who declared, "I perhaps owe having become an artist to flowers." Attention will focus on the Giverny Garden, the garden which Monet created with his own hands and was his greatest inspiration during the last years of his life. 

The exhibition consists of works from the late period of the artist who gave the impressionist movement its name; including pictures of Claude Monet’s house in the Giverny Garden, garden scenes, water lilies and his famous Japanese bridge paintings. In addition signed portraits of Monet and his wife Camille by Auguste Renoir, personal possessions and photographs will be exhibited. The exhibition gives insight into Monet's innovative approaches during an artistic career that stretched into the first quarter of the 20th century, and his rejection of tradition that inspired young artists in the 1940s and 50s. 

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said “SSM celebrates its 10th year. We started this year with Rembrandt and His Contemporaries and we are proud to finish it with Monet, who was the forerunner and leader of the impressionist movement. We bring you 39 of his works from his late period. We display paintings that were neither exhibited nor sold during Monet’s lifetime and that certainly adds more significance to the exhibition. We invite all art lovers to our museum.”

Marianne Mathieu, the curator of Marmottan Monet Museum added “In 1966 Claude Monet’s son Michel Monet donated the collection of his father, which was kept in his house in Giverny, to the Musée Marmottan, located in a private house in the 16th residential area of Paris.&nbsp; The Musée Marmottan Monet, became the museum that contained the biggest Monet collection in the world, housing almost 100 paintings, as well as photographs and sketch books. The exhibition held at the SSM hosts almost half of this collection with most important paintings. The exhibition portrays, on one hand, Monet in his private surroundings, highlighting his family, and on the other hand focuses, on the immediate surrounding of his water garden in Giverny, where he spent half of his life.”

Sabancı Holding CEO Zafer Kurtul stated that they are delighted to present Monet’s paintings and added that “It is important for Sabancı Holding to add value to social and cultural fields as well as economy. We regard art projects as a fundamental responsibility since the foundation of our company. We worked to shape Turkish cultural life. Today, we are excited to bring together Monet, the creator of impressionism with the Turkish public. It is an honour to be a part of this exhibition, made possible by the great efforts of Sakıp Sabancı Museum.”

Monet’s Garden exhibition is open daily till 8.00 PM, except for Mondays.

Exhibition: Monet's Garden

The highly anticipated exhibition, “Monet’s Garden”, is open to visitors.

Exhibition: Monet’s Garden

&nbsp;Sakıp Sabancı Museum is hosting a wide selection of the most prominent works of the Cobra movement that shaped the art environment of the second half of the twentieth century in the exhibition Cobra – 1000 Days of Free Art, open to visitors on June 29th. Named for the initials of the members’ home cities of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, this avant-garde movement was active from 1948 to 1951; the current show features over 60 works by Cobra artists. Organized within the framework of the celebration of the 400th year of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey, these works from the Cobra Museum of Modern Art and the private collection of ABN AMRO Bank are being exhibited in Turkey for the first time. The selection of works includes paintings, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, works on paper, works inspired by jazz music and items of a documentary nature. 

Among the works by the leading members of the Cobra movement is Karl Appel’s renowned “Femme, Enfants, Animaux”, as well as works by “Kobra: - Özgür Sanatın 1000 Günü”, ilkel sanat formları, Batılı olmayan folklorik öğeler ve Doğu’nun gelenekleriyle mistisizminden esinlenenEugène Brands, Constant, Corneille and Asger Jorn.&nbsp; This exhibition being presented to friends of the arts in our country for the first time has been realized with the support of ABN AMRO Bank, De Meeuw Group / ABC Prefabrik, Gözde Private Equity Investment Company, İpragaz, Merck Serono, TMF Group and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer, in her description of the exhibition, states: “The activities related to the celebration of the 400th year of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands continue with the exhibition of the works of the Cobra movement, which, along with Fluxus, is accepted as one of the important art movements of the second half of the twentieth century. The Cobra movement was founded after the Second World War by a group of young avant-garde artists whose goal was a free new art form. During its short life it united many prominent artists, and led to the creation of colorful, spontaneous, inviting and timeless works that reflected the post-war renewal of hope and zest for life.&nbsp; The Cobra artists sometimes searched for innocence of expression in the folk art of their own countries, and sometimes searched for it in faraway lands of the East and West. Their goal was to bring a note of optimism to a world numbed by the pitiless memories of wartime, to bring color and joy into the gloom of Europe’s art world. I offer my thanks to the sponsors who have given their support to our collaboration with the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen for making it possible to offer the extremely powerful visual representation afforded by this exhibition. The Cobra exhibition will offer a cultural feast to both Istanbul natives and tourists visiting the city throughout the summer. The exhibition promises lovers of the arts an experience that will enliven their child-like emotions and trigger their creativity.” 

Visitors to the exhibition will also enjoy a voyage through the years 1930-1960 in which social and historical developments in Europe and in Turkey are related in a parallel construct. The black-and-white documentary consisting of images of historical importance will give visitors an idea of what was going on in the world at the time that the Cobra movement began. “Cobra – 1000 Days of Free Art” will continue until September 16, and will be accompanied by educational programs for children.

Exhibition: Cobra – 1000 Days of Free Art

1000-day Art Movement “CoBrA” at the SSM!

At its 10th anniversary, S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) is re-launching its ‘The Arts of the Book and the Calligraphy Collection’ at Atlı Köşk (Horse Mansion) with a new design and a contemporary display approach as of 10th of May. SSM digitalized its collections and archive to provide a detailed look at the valuable and rare manuscripts of the Turkish and Islamic Art. Interactive methods in the exhibition halls, such as the animations that linked to iPad applications with ‘augmented reality’, offer unusual experiences to visitors.

Dr. Nazan Ölçer: We add one more dimension to our museology approach.

&nbsp;SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer said ‘We are celebrating the museum’s 10th anniversary with the renovation of Atlı Köşk and technological presentation of the exhibition of ‘The Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection’. We feel responsible to bequeath this very special collection to next generations, which has started to be collected by Sakıp Sabancı with great passion in the 1970’s. Under the umbrella of Sabancı University, we display this collection of manuscripts, ornaments, scripts that belong to Turkish and Islamic Arts, with an academical point of view and a comtemporary museology concept to continue Sakıp Sabancı’s pioneering attempt. After the Alphabet Reform except certain academics, young generations are estranged to this art form and we are trying to show how arts of the book can be enchanced and broaden our vision with the new digital technologies of our era. By using technological devices we are aiming to attract especially younger and inform them about arts of the book and calligraphy. Thus we digitalized the collection and linked it to iPad, added one more dimension to our museology approach. We hope to transmit traditional arts, that inspires contemporary artists to a wider audience.’ 

The Meeting of Traditional with Contemporary Art 

Sakıp Sabancı Collection of the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy consists of more than 200 examples of illuminated Korans, prayer books, calligraphic compositions, albums and panels written by well-known calligraphers, illuminated official documents bearing the imperial cipher of the Ottoman sultans as well as calligrapher’s tools, all produced during a period extending from the end of the 14th century to the 20th century. With the vision to spread traditional arts, SSM also includes some unique artwork from contemporary artists. In this context, with the new presentation of the collection, the calligraphic composition referring calligraphy exercises of Ahmet Oran dated 2005-2006 greets the visitors. Turkey’s one of the most renowned contemporary artist, Kutluğ Ataman’s video reminding the calligraphic mirror compositions known as müsenna or aynalı, reveals the link of the exhibition to contemporary arts. The special exhibition catalogue is also published in Turkish and English for the enthusiasts who wish to examine closely the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection. Within the framework of the exhibition, a documentary film—showing the manuscript book production in all its phases—realised with the collaboration of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and the Sakıp Sabancı Museum aims at informing the visitors about this difficult creation process.

Parallel Events of the Exhibition

Panel discussions, seminars and adult workshops will also be held during the exhibition. Book arts expert Prof. Dr. François Deroche from Paris Sorbonne University will be hosting a ‘Codicology’ seminar on the 12th of May. Panel discussion titled ‘Sultan Bayezid II, On the 500th year of his death: Books, Poets, Artists’ will be held on the 26th of May. The reign of Sultan Bayezid II and the relations with the West will be discussed by academicians, and will be followed by the launch of a facsimile edition of a poetry book, an eulogy from the SSM’s collection written for Sultan Bayezid II. An adult education program on ‘The Art of Calligraphy –Tradition and Contemporary Applications’ by Assist. Prof. Ali Rıza Özcan will be organised between May 21- June 25, 2012. Additionally, educational programs for children will continue.

The Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection opens at the renovated Atlı Köşk

Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s ‘The Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection’ opens at the renovated Atlı Köşk




As Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) celebrates its 10th anniversary, it opens the exhibition “Where Darkness Meets Light… Rembrandt and His Contemporaries - The Golden Age of Dutch Art” to the public. The exhibition marks the 400th year of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands and features works from the Rijksmuseum as well as one of the world’s leading private collections, which are being displayed for the first time in Turkey. The Turkish and Dutch governments are the diplomatic co-sponsors of the exhibition, which are supported by a number of major Dutch companies operating in Turkey. The main sponsors are Sabancı Holding and ING Bank and Philips is also among the sponsors. The exhibition is being held with contributions from Unilever and Shell and the service sponsors are Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Park Hyatt Istanbul-Maçka Palas Hotel and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.&nbsp;

Besides Rembrandt, the exhibition presents a total number of 110 works; 73 paintings, 19 drawings and 18 objects by 59 artists including major representatives of Dutch art. Additionally, the exhibition presents the painting entitled “The Love Letter” by Johannes Vermeer, who remained an obscure figure for centuries with his works being attributed to other artists for a long time. Although only 35 works are attributed to Vermeer today, he is universally acknowledged as a major artist of his time. Works by great artists including Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Jacob van Ruisdael are on display in the exhibition, which presents the splendour of the Golden Age of Dutch Art, considered to be one of the most exciting periods in art history. &nbsp;

Giving more information about the exhibition the Director of SSM, Dr Nazan Ölçer, said, “Rembrandt and his Contemporaries is the first large scale exhibition about Dutch Art in Turkey. With this exhibition, we aim to show how the novelty of Dutch Art influenced European Art, the master technique of light use, as well as providing a broad framework tackling the atmosphere of the period and its reflections on art. The exhibition shows a number of themes pertaining to the Dutch society, as well as urban and rural life in 17th&nbsp;century Dutch Republic through the eyes of the masters of painting. This vision of the Netherlands, which became one of the most developed countries in European sciences and art thanks to the wealth it accumulated through overseas trade in the 17th century, presents one of the most dynamic transformations in European history through paintings. Organizing the exhibition in the 400th&nbsp;year of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands, raises our excitement. We are very thankful to the Turkish and Dutch Governments. Without the great support of our sponsors, such a major exhibition couldn’t have been realized. We thank our main sponsors Sabancı Holding and ING Bank, as well as Philips. And we thank Unilever and Shell for their contributions along with our service sponsors Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Park Hyatt İstanbul-Maçka Palas Hotel and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. We invite all art lovers who want to explore all the glory of 17th&nbsp; century Dutch Art to our museum. 

The Director of the Collections of Rijksmuseum, Taco Dibbits added “We are very glad that pieces of our collection which consists of renowned art works are being exhibited for the first time in Turkey at Sakıp Sabancı Museum. Another feature of the exhibition is the dialogue of the paintings with the Ottoman period, and embracing both countries’ art scene correlatively. For us, it is of the utmost significance that on the 400th year of relations between Turkey and the Netherlands, very important pieces of our collection are being exhibited in Istanbul. In terms of arts and culture, we believe that the roots of the countries’ relationship will even grow stronger. In the first instance I would like to thank my colleague Dr. Nazan Ölçer and also the young and eager team of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum.”

The ‘Rembrandt and His Contemporaries – The Golden Age of Dutch Art’ exhibition reflects all of the major themes dominating the Golden Age of Dutch Art, including urban life, portraits, still lifes, overseas power and trade. In this context, the paintings tell stories about the social and economic dynamics of this period. For instance, the exhibition is an embodiment of the potential art bears for reflecting the specific features of a given period through presenting the background of the transition in the “delftware”, the ceramics produced in the town of Delft. The Delftware were characterized by a unique style in their initial periods while they later started imitating Chinese porcelain.

&nbsp;“Rembrandt and His Contemporaries - The Golden Age of Dutch Art” exhibition will be open to art lovers until July 10th, 2012.

&nbsp;

Exhibition: Rembrandt and His Contemporaries 

“Rembrandt and His Contemporaries - The Golden Age of Dutch Art” exhibition opened to visitors at SSM.


On the occasion of the 100th year of Deutsche Bank’s presence in Turkey, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) will host an exhibition entitled&nbsp; “Joseph Beuys and His Students – Works from the Deutsche Bank Collection” from 9 September until 1 November 2009.&nbsp; 

Curated by Friedhelm Hütte, Global Head of Art, Deutsche Bank, and art critic Ahu Antmen, the exhibition is the first to combine works on paper by Joseph Beuys with drawings, photographs and prints by his most important students: Peter Angermann, Lothar Baumgarten, Walter Dahn, Felix Droese, Imi Giese, Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Imi Knoebel, Inge Mahn, Ulrich Meister, Meuser, Blinky Palermo, Katharina Sieverding and Norbert Tadeusz. 

“To be a teacher is my greatest work of art. The rest is a waste product, a demonstration.” declared Beuys, who taught over 300 students at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art from 1961 until 1972, when he was dismissed from the school. The artist considered himself as an educator independent of his artistic pursuits, and was known to encourage his students to take their own paths. With more than 350 works, the exhibition will present the entire spectrum of artistic approaches that Beuys promoted as a charismatic teacher. At the same time it will illustrate one of the most important chapters of contemporary art and shows the impact Joseph Beuys has had on his students’ work up until the present day.

In her description of the exhibition, SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer states, “It is a great pleasure to collaborate once more with Deutsche Bank, owner of one of the worlds most comprehensive corporate collections of art, after our joint exhibition in 2007, ‘Habersiz Bulusma / Blind Date Istanbul’. The exhibition of works by Joseph Beuys and those of his students together presents a view of how the artist has influenced the medium of art since the 1960s. I consider the confluence of this exhibition with the 11th International Biennial of Istanbul an important opportunity for all art lovers.”&nbsp; 

Ersin Akyuz, CEO of Deutsche Bank says, “We are very happy about the continuing cooperation of Deutsche Bank and SSM, and especially about the opportunity to contribute to the realization of extraordinary exhibitions such as this. Beuys’ conviction that art has the power to effect real social change was also fundamental for the beginnings of the Deutsche Bank Collection and its concept “Art works”. Beuys’ famous equation “art = capital” is reflected in the bank’s belief that art should not only be presented on executive floors and should not be seen as an investment, but should be the cultural capital of all employees, visitors and the general public. The artist’s strong influence on the collection is also underlined by the fact that the top floor of one of the Deutsche Bank’s twin towers in Frankfurt was dedicated to Beuys until its renovation in 2008. Deutsche Bank has been collecting works of art over the past 30 years under the slogan “Art works”, it is primarily devoted to the immediacy of the expression of ideas and concepts on paper. This exhibition, in which works on paper by Beuys and his students can be seen together, presents in a sense the foundations of the Deutsche Bank Collection - the idea of taking new paths in art education.”

Exhibition: Joseph Beuys and His Students

“Joseph Beuys and His Students” at Sakıp Sabancı Museum...



Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), is hosting the exhibition titled “LISBON Memories of Another City”, between 14 May - 14 July 2009. Organized in collaboration with Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal, the exhibition introduces the city of Lisbon, a city which is both far and close to us, through the works of major Portuguese painters that lived in a period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. &nbsp;

“LISBON Memories of Another City” was inspired by the exhibition titled “Evocations, Passages, Atmosphere: Paintings from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum Istanbul” realized by SSM and Calouste Culbenkian Foundation in Portugal in 2007. The paintings of this exhibition, that were portraying the views of the Bosphorus and the sea shore, and the scenes from Istanbul’s daily life corroborated the fact that Istanbul and Lisbon share lots of common points even if they are situated at the east and west edges of the European continent. The exhibition titled “LISBON Memories of Another City” organized due to the official visit of Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva to Turkey, delineates the analogies between Istanbul and Lisbon, cities which are considered as vital points for the meeting of cultures, religions, civilizations and continents.&nbsp; 

SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer, said “If there is a definition called ‘soul mate’ in this world, that must have been invented for Istanbul and Lisbon. Otherwise, would the sea that blankets over those cities, rough streets, glorious buildings inherited from great empires, people characterized both with an eternal sincerity and a noble timidity and songs that are chanting the stories of yearning and unreachable lovers resemble that much? Is it only a coincidence that we find the traces of these cities in the verses of Portugal’s great poet Fernando Pessoa who at all times narrates about Lisbon, and Yahya Kemal who brought every single district of Istanbul into his poems? Simultaneously in addition to this exhibition, we have another one titled ‘TRAVEL TO THE WEST - 70 Years of Turkish Painting (1860-1930)’ which is representing the works of Turkish painters who lived in the same period of time like their Portuguese colleagues therefore; I consider it as a fortunate coincidence. I think that it’s an elusive opportunity because the art lovers can find the works of these two countries’ painters that never gave up representing their cities, their people and their souls simultaneously in our museum although they were aware of the art movements that were born in Paris. Precisely, those exhibitions will be the most appropriate ways to comprehend the similar souls of these two countries. Hence, throughout the exhibition other activities that will shed a light on the Portuguese culture such as poem and music nights accompanied by other surprise activities will be organized.

Director of Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, João Castel-Branco Pereira, said, “Both in Portugal and Turkey as Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation we have collaborated for groundbreaking projects with SSM. Lisbon is a historical city that is also muse of poets and subject of the fado singers... But today, Lisbon is also the city of the future, development, technology, science and accomplishment just like Istanbul. I sincerely wish that the visitors will establish a curiosity to know Lisbon more, discover the common points between Istanbul and Lisbon, the Turks and the Portuguese by the help of this exhibition.”

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Exhibition: Lisbon Memories of Another City

“LISBON Memories of Another City” is welcoming Istanbulites at Sakıp Sabancı Museum.



Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) introduces A Surrealist in Istanbul: Salvador Dalí exhibition, sponsored by Akbank that celebrates its 60th year, which is organized in collaboration with the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. The exhibition that will be held in Istanbul between 20 September 2008-20 January 2009 draws exclusively on the collection of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Bringing together works of Dalí, including paintings, drawings, illustrations, works of graphic art, films, photographs and other archive documents, the show will be the major exhibition organized outside Spain by the foundation.

SSM Director Dr.Nazan Ölçer gave a speech at the press conference organized for the inauguration of the exhibition today. She said, “We knew that presenting an art movement like Surrealism and its leading representative might be challenging. That is why, we insisted on organizing a retrospective exhibition. Dalí was educated on fine arts and then built his own path upon. The exhibition that consists of 33 paintings, 113 drawings, 111 engraving and 12 lithography will welcome visitors for four months at SSM. The collection reaches up to 385 pieces with the letters, notes and photographs. During the exhibition we will try to emphasize subconscious feelings and introduce Dali’s world thus explains the paintings.” 

Zafer Kurtul, the General Manager of Akbank &nbsp;that sponsors the exhibition, said&nbsp;&nbsp;“We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of Akbank with a great art event like the Dalí exhibition. The exhibition has great importance both for us and our country since it is the the major exhibition organized outside Spain by the foundation. Being one of Turkey's innovative companies we support innovative organizations and the artists, as well as protect the local and international cultural heritage, which is the most important social responsibility act. We sponsor those that offer innovative and analytical thinking to the next generations. The idea to present a genius, who had the courage to redefine reality, to the Turkish art lovers is a result of our belief in diversification and creativity. We are proud to congregate Salvador Dalí's fascinating world with our community.”

Joan Manuel Sevillano Campalans, Director of Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation stated “There are only a few museums in the world that has such a strong infrastructure and professional team like SSM. SSM also holds the leader position in the area of introducing major exhibitions, which are acclaimed by the art circles, to Turkey. We believe that SSM is the best institution to introduce a pioneer of its era, Salvador Dalí.”

The Curator of the exhibition Montse Aguer Teixidor said “The exhibition, constituting of artworks that come from noteworthy museums of Spain which may never travel abroad again, is the biggest temporary exhibition ever organized outside Spain by the foundation. We are happy to introduce this unique, innovative, talented and discrete artist, Salvador Dalí to the people of Istanbul for the first time through SSM."&nbsp;

Following the Picasso and Rodin exhibitions, SSM is getting ready to host yet another Western master and the works of Salvador Dali. Dalí will be introduced to the Turkish community with conferences, gallery talks, movies and child education programs that will take place throughout the exhibition. The performance "Salvador Dalí References Make Me Hot" designed exclusively for the Dalí exhibition by the Akbank New Generation Theatre will be presented to the audience at Akbank Sanat. In December there will be special film screenings titled “Dali and Movies” within the scope of the Akbank Short Film Festival.

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Exhibition: Outstanding pieces of Dalí and Surrealism are in Istanbul 

Outstanding pieces of Dalí and Surrealism are in Istanbul at SSM sponsored by Akbank.

Exhibition: Masterpieces from the Islamic Art Collection  of the Louvre Museum 

The exhibition is being realised as the opening event of a festival called Miradas Turcas / Turkish Views, which is organized in cooperation with the Turkish Embassy in Madrid and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. The festival - taking place between December 15th January 16th 2007 - included a conference with participation of Orhan Pamuk and Juan Goytisolo, concerts by Kudsi Erguner and Burhan Öçal, seminars and film screenings. 

The collection, having never been exhibited to this extent outside of Turkey since the founding of the museum in 2002, comprises examples of calligraphy – an art form that played a major role in the Ottoman Empire – from a time span covering 500 years. Exhibited will be the works of Şeyh Hamdullah, who is considered the founder of the art of Ottoman calligraphy, accompanied by works of many others, like Crown Prince Korkut, Ahmed Karahisari, Derviş Ali, Hafız Osman, Yedikuleli Seyyid Abdullah, Mustafa Rakım, Kazasker Mustafa İzzet, Sami Efendi and also tools used by calligraphers.

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“Lines in Gold” from the SSM Calligraphy Collection exhibited in Madrid.

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) will be exhibiting a choice of Ottoman Calligraphy from its collection at Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid,  from December 11th 2007 through March 2nd 2008. The exhibition, called Lines in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul, is realised under sponsorship of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Sabanci Holding. By means of the exhibition, 96 pieces of art belonging to calligraphers who lived between the end of the 15th and beginning of the 20th century will be presented to the European audience.   

A press meeting was held at S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) for the exhibition The World of Abidin Dino. The exhibition, sponsored by Philips will be open between November 24th, 2007 and January 27th, 2008.&nbsp; SSM’s Director Nazan Ölçer, Ferit Edgü; a member of the team that developed the general concept of the exhibition and Atilla Tüfekçi; General Manager of&nbsp; Philips Türk Electronic Products, were present at the press meeting. The exhibition aims to bring to light the rich world of the caricaturist, illustrator, decorator, film producer and writer Abidin Dino.

In her speech, Nazan Ölçer said “First of all, we would like to thank Güzin Dino who kindly donated the works of art that were Abidin Dinos legacy that constitute a major part of this exhibition. This exhibition, beyond being homage to Abidin Dino, is also an accomplishment of our museum since it is a rare example where works of people who have left a mark in history are being claimed by academic institutions to be shared with younger generations.”

General Manager of&nbsp; Philips Türk Electronic Products Atilla Tüfekçi said they were honored by sponsoring the exhibition of a multitalented artist like Abidin Dino and added: “Via Abidin Dino’s exhibiton, who is one of the most important personages of the Turkish art scene, we are also paying homage to Turkish artists in general. Abidin Dino has always been interested in the art of film making and while he designed the sets of numerous important movies, he also got behind the camera to shoot his prize winning movie ‘Goal!’. In the exhibition, which we sponsor within the context of our new LCD televison ‘Aurea By Philips’, Abidin Dino’s films will meet art lovers through the screens of Aurea. We think that our motto ‘the television that adds emotion to technology’ will come to life through Abidin Dino’s movie screenings.”

The exhibition, whose general concept was developed by Ferit Edgü, Samih Rifat and Nazan Ölçer, aims to unfold Abidin Dino’s life and art 14 years after he passed away. The worldview that forms Dino’s personality’s is presented without prejudice in the exhibition. In the exhibition where Dino’s numerous works, photographs and documents that reflect different stages of his life can be seen, the artist’s life is revealed through his words and writings. While the title of the exhibition relates to Dino’s life, it also expresses the turbulent state of the world in the 20th century the artist witnessed through words, colors and shapes.

Sergi: Abidin Dino - Bir Dünya

The World of Abidin Dino” opened at SSM.



Exhibition: The World of Abidin Dino

Blind Date Istanbul, a rendezvous of the new acquisitions of Deutsche Bank’s contemporary art collection and Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s (SSM) calligraphy collection, will take place between September 8th and November 1st 2007. The exhibition, with the theme “Exceptional encounters and relations”, will be running concurrently with the 10th International Istanbul Biennial.

At the time when the borders between East and West are becoming increasingly blurred and Istanbul is ready to be a bridge between the two more than she has ever been, it is the concept of “Abstraction as a universal language” which builds a bridge between contemporary art and Ottoman calligraphy. Blind Date Istanbul houses more than 50 pairings of artists like Çırçırlı Ali and Adolf Hölzel, Beatriz Milhazes and Çömez Mustafa Vasıf, Abdurrahman Efendi and Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Hafız Osman and Bruce Nauman, Abdülkadir Şükri and Asta Gröting, melting diverse generations, schools, concepts, and styles. 
For Global Head of Deutsche Bank Art Dr. Ariane Grigoteit, Blind Date Istanbul seems to be one of the most unusual exhibitions in which the Deutsche Bank Collection has ever been presented. Truly showing both partners to their best advantage, it opens an astonishing new horizon for the newest acquisitions of the world’s most extensive corporate art collection. Calling the exhibition “another successful step” in collaborations with leading collections around the world, SSM’s Director Nazan Ölçer sees it as a “turning point” for the museum.

Scrolls from the Topkapı Palace and from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, which are being exhibited for the first time ever, are among the most striking works of art at Blind Date Istanbul. Sculptures of famous artists from the Deutsche Bank collection will be accompanying the exhibition. An exhibition catalog containing photographs of chosen works of art, essays and biographies of the artists will also be available. 
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Exhibition: Blind Date

A tribute to the 10th International Istanbul Biennial from SSM:

Blind Date Istanbul


&nbsp;Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) will be hosting the exhibition In Praise of God - Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches between April 19 - August 19, 2007. 41 rugs Western Anatolian rugs from 16th -18th centuries, mostly selected from churches and museums in Romania and Hungary will be on display in this exhibition sponsored by Yünsa. 

The exhibition, which brings together a selection of rugs for the first time at SSM since the exhibiton in Budapest in 1914, is a collaboration between the Romanian Institute of Culture, the National Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, the Evangelical Church A.C. of Romania, Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, the Bucharest Museum of Art Collections, the Hungarian National Museum and the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art and SSM.

With this exhibition, several types of “Transylvanian” rugs, of which few survive in Turkey,&nbsp; are temporarily returning to the land where they were originally woven. <a>The use of rugs made for Muslim prayer to decorate the walls of Christian churches, and the preservation of large numbers of these rugs in Transylvania, create an interesting example of fusion and also an indication of the universality of art, which recognizes no borders, languages or religions.</a>

Another textile art, “Kaitag Embroideries” at SSM…

The exhibition Kaitag Embroideries, Textile Art from Daghestan, with 47 embroideries unique to Kaytag, a particularly rugged region of Daghestan, will run concurrently at SSM. The art of Kaitag, produced in one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions of the world, speaks to people of diverse cultural traditions, with its embroideries decorated with symbols from a myriad of cultures including those of the polytheistic pagan world of the remote past. The Kaitag embroideries, dating from the 16th century through to the 19th century under Ottoman influence, presented in 1994-95 at L’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the Deutsches Textilmuseum, Krefeld, Germany, is now meeting the artlovers in Istanbul.

Exhibition: In Praise of God - Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches

IN PRAISE OF GOD:  ANATOLIAN RUGS IN TRANSYLVANIAN CHURCHES, 1500-1750

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM), under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of Mongolia, is hosting the exhibition “Genghis Khan and his Heirs: The Great Mongol Empire”, on the 800th anniversary of the founding of The Great Mongol Empire. Sponsored by Garanti Bank, the exhibition opens today (on Thursday December 7th, 2006) and testifies to the trans-cultural and trans-continental synthesis the empire formed with the sedentary civilizations and the nomadic tribes.

The exhibition, with nearly 600 exhibits, illustrates the story of this visionary world empire with artworks from the most important museums in Mongolia as well as from famed collections in Eastern Asia and Europe, including the latest archaeological discoveries. Artworks, some of which are on public view for the first time, include treasures, magnificent weapons and armour, manuscripts illustrated with miniatures, ancient maps, textiles, porcelains, and rare sacral objects reflecting the colourful world of Mongol Buddhism. Another important aspect of this exhibition is that it is supported by manuscripts, important imperial documents and other artefacts loaned from Turkish museums, national achieves and libraries. 

A programme of conferences, workshops, children's activities and gallery discussions accompany the exhibition which starts today with the international symposium: “Genghis Khan And His Sons: The Reflections On The Turkic World”, organised with the cooperation of SSM and Istanbul University Turkic Research Centre. 46 lecturers from Turkey, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Tatarstan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Poland are attending the symposium.

The exhibition, which will stay open until April 8th 2007, has been organised with the cooperation of the Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Munich, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the State of Lower Austria Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Art and Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

Sergi: Cengiz Han ve Mirasçıları

GENGHIS KHAN AND HIS HEIRS: THE GREAT MONGOL EMPIRE



Exhibition: Genghis Khan and His Heirs

Among nearly 100 sculptures that will be exhibited by SSM, which aims to promote wider public appreciation of the art of sculpture through the works of a renown master sculptor, are Rodin’s masterpieces like The Thinker, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, The Monument to Balzac and The Walking Man. In addition to 18 statues and many other diassembled-assembled pieces drawn from The Gates of Hell, on which Rodin worked for long years but could not succeed to complete, 20 antique-style statues from Rodin’s special collection are displayed at the exhibition. 

The bronze horse statue, after which the Horse Mansion was named and which has been saluting the Bosphorus since 1952, has been replaced with the Monument to Victor Hugo for the first time on the occasion of the exhibition. The statue of the renown poet, writer and thinker Victor Hugo made by Rodin is 1.85 m in height and 2.85 m in width. 

The photographs and sketches exhibited along with the other works enable visitors to track the artist’s journey from his early works to his most famous masterpieces, and also shed light on the artist as a sketcher and a collector. The bilingual exhibition catalogue, which was prepared in Turkish and English, and whose texts were compiled by Samih Rifat, briefs on Rodin’s life and artistic journey. The exhibition also proposes a set of events such as conferences, sculpture workshops and training programs for the kids.

The exhibition, which is sponsored by Akbank and held in cooperation with the Rodin Museum in Paris and the French Cultural Center, will be open until September 3, 2006. 

The Artist

Born in Paris on November 12, 1840, François-Auguste-René Rodin discovered sculpture after he attended La Petite École, a special school for drawing and mathematics, and began to improve his drawing skill. He rented his first workshop in 1864 and met Rose Beuret, aged 20. In 1871, he exhibited his works in Belgium for the first time. In 1875, he started to work on a life-size human body, which he called The Bronze Age. In 1882, he sculptured the figures of Adam, Eve and the Thinker. After a while, he met Camille Claudel who soon became his mistress and biggest rival. In 1883, he created his Monument to Victor Hugo, and was commissioned by the City Council of Calais to sculpture the Monument to the Burghers of Calais two years later. The following year, he completed The Kiss. In 1888, the state commissioned The Kiss in marble for the Universal Exhibition. In 1889, he exhibited together with Claude Monet, the famous French painter and one of the founders of impressionism. In 1895, he bought the Villa des Brillants in Meudon and started to build up his collection of paintings and antique statues. The Rodin Pavilion was inaugurated at the Alma Square in Paris on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1900, and a major exhibition of Rodin took place in Prague in 1902. In 1904, the first exhibition of a large-scale plaster of The Thinker took place at the International Society in London, then a bronze version of it at the Salon de Paris. The Thinker was placed in front of the Panthéon in 1906, which was later taken to Hôtel Biron (now the Rodin Museum) in 1908. The French National Assembly decided to establish the Rodin Museum in the Hôtel Brion in memory of the artist who handed over his collections to the state through three successive donations. On January 29, 1917, Rodin married Rose Beuret. Rose died on February 14, Valentine’s Day. Died on November 17, Rodin was buried next to Rose in the garden of Villa des Brillants in Meudon. Their tomb is dominated by The Thinker.

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Exhibition: The Master Sculptor Rodin in Istanbul

The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) will host works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin starting from June 13, 2006. The exhibition titled “The Master Sculptor Rodin in Istanbul” comprises 203 artworks selected from the collection of the Rodin Museum in Paris. The exhibition features the artist’s bronze, plaster and marble sculptures, archival photographs, many drawings as well as some pieces from his collection of antique-style statues. 

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