istanbul

City review in Contemporary Magazine, 2002.

This is not the first time I am obliging myself to write an overview of this gloriously beautiful and ugly town Istanbul. Given my pathological despair and well-know penchant to dig out the negative, to scratch the surface glimmer, to seek the sinister and the unethical, it should come as no surprise to you my dear readers that I will not skirt around the issue.

Istanbul is getting busier each day. For many years the city had nothing but the artists and artist initiated exhibitions. From the end of 1980s on, the biennial took great strides in normalizing the relations between here and away and softened the local grip on visual culture dominated by art academies and their rhetoricians.

But, to most of you, Istanbul presents something you may not know of or need. A specific manifestation of this “new authenticity” has been a return of the exotic. Unlike its previous multifarious reincarnations, the neo-exotic roots itself in hyper-urban contexts, and offers safe tourist economies of contemporary art experience. This is not a self-conscious process motivated by the centers alone, but an interpersonal, collective one that collapses the critical distance between artists of seemingly radically different strategies. While the neo-exoticism must be assessed critically, I will do it with a sense of compassion and still brace the new structures of mutual inclusiveness and sincerity.

In the last year alone two key programs that this writer is involved with, Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, opened to the public. Proje4L is the city ’s biggest museum quality exhibition institution. Platform has a flexible exhibition space, a library and an extensive archive in the city ’ s most active art district. The two institutions have been pursuing an international program, as well as organizing conferences and events. On the business side, a new gallery, Galerist has provided new impetus and healthy competition to the best older ones like Galeri Nev. Two new art magazines, artñist a maverick publication started by an artist, now printed in Turkish and English, and Skala are mapping the field. Next to the late 1990s institutions like Borusan Art Gallery and Karsi Sanat, new initatives like the Loft with its seminars and discussions embrace important roles. The line between the local artist scene and the contemporary situation is finally more distinct. In fact, the severe economic depression with years of helped populist governments and inexcusable management has had a positive effect on the contemporary visual culture since it was never a partner in the local economy of art. At the same time there may be some serious warnings signs for transgressive culture. Major corporate undertakings with lukewarm programming is fast occupying the city ’s cultural life. These institutions with their sheer scale —" a new chapter of the 1980s bank gallery syndrome here —" prefer safe and populist agendas and that may possibly edge out independent programs to totally occupy 'the mediatic space.


Companies branding cultural initiatives under corporate identities, lifestyle promotion masquerading as art in the media, sunk knee-deep in populism, a marketplace dominated by the basest of collectors and media, the willful evaporation of the public speech in favor of accepted norms, art life in the city provides nothing more than a semblance of a normalized art scene.

Proje4L did not originate under the founder's name. Nevertheless, the unwavering support of our founder was and still is critical. The institution will grow with a family of supporters in the near future to maintain a secular program.

We have a responsibility to present work that is critical of the society and/or not in line with populist and neopopulist notions of art, or accepted and favored truths. Institutions must act as specific filters between the work and the public, but the filters must be solely for the necessity and distinction of the artistic proposal. We do not distinguish between national and international, local and global. We only hope to foster openness to new ideas and art without dogmas about what is correct or acceptable, and encourage experimental curatorial approaches to the way the contemporary visual arts are presented. Institutions like ours must support the arrival of anti or proto-institutions and initiatives instead of keeping them at bay. If contemporary art is to prosper and become much At a time when companies brand their cultural initiatives under corporate identities, Proje4L did not originate under the founder's name. Nevertheless, the unwavering support of our founder was and still is critical. The institution will grow with a family of supporters in the near future to maintain a secular program.

We have a responsibility to present work that is critical of the society and/or not in line with populist and neopopulist notions of art, or accepted and favored truths. Institutions must act as specific filters between the work and the public, but the filters must be solely for the necessity and distinction of the artistic proposal. We do not distinguish between national and international, local and global. We only hope to foster openness to new ideas and art without dogmas about what is correct or acceptable, and encourage experimental curatorial approaches to the way the contemporary visual arts are presented. Institutions like ours must support the arrival of anti or proto-institutions and initiatives instead of keeping them at bay. If contemporary art is to prosper and become much

It is important to note that every time I write about it, the population in the city increases in increments of a million or two, there are one or two institutions on the block, the young get younger and the amnesia worse and worse.

As a core practicitioner in the field, it has always been difficult for me to speak out about what I do in the larger context of things, but I can proudly say that two institutions I have been involved with in the last two years have changed thinsg here a lot.

Curators: Ali Akay, Basak Senova, Fulya Erdemci, Levent Çalikoglu,

Institutions: Proje4L Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Karsi Sanat Calismalari, Borusan Sanat Galerisi,

Galleries: Galerist, Galeri Nev, Maçka Sanat

Artists: Too many to count

Alternative: The Loft

Magazines: Art-ist

Schools: Marmara Üniversitesi Faculty of Fine Arts