Exhibitions: June Picks
Istanbul’s galleries, museums, and cultural centers are booming with a variety of interesting exhibitions, from contemporary art to photography, from nostalgic objects exhibition to an exhibition that showcases the daily life of the Harem. So, take a look at our June Picks and go soak up some art this month.
Over 250 photographs, documents, objects, and pieces of clothing from 50 different families have been collected for an exhibition that showcases what daily life used to be like during different historical periods in Turkey. In this exhibition, you’ll get a chance to see objects, which don’t necessarily carry monetary value, but are invaluable nonetheless for shedding light into our history. Portraits of prominent doctors and architects, the personal belongings of a soldier from the Ottoman Empire (including his uniform, photographs, and compass), and even a flea trap are among the objects exhibited.
When:29 May - 24 July
Where:Caddebostan Kültür Merkezi
How much: Free
Traces: Three Hungarian Contemporary Photographers
This group exhibition of three of the most important Hungarian contemporary photographers will feature Gábor Kerekes, Attila Floszmann, and Ákos Czigány.
Gábor Kerekes has won notoriety as one of the most remarkable photographers in the last fifty years with a sense of rich complexity and thorough focus on the quality of photographic development. Selections from the photographers’ work, which has previously been exhibited in cities ranging from Riyyad to San Fracisco, will be from the period of late 80s to 2002 that deals with the reunification of art and science.
Attila Floszmann, a member of the younger generation of Hungarian artists, documents Libya after the revolution, which delves into the emptiness of war through the form of objects demolished. The sorrow and traces of revolution are explored while putting forth the ever decreasing value of human morality.
Ákos Czigány’s work began in 2009 with a series that focuses on the digitalized versions of Charles Darwin’s original first edition books that express a message of emptiness, as represented by the empty page, and the resulting feel of passed time.
When:7 June- 21 July
Where:Empire Project
How much: Free
Soul Out by Painter Deenesh Ghyczy
The paintings of German born Deenesh Ghyczy capture his subjects in the most intimate of moments and in the small segment that delineates reality from the abstract. Sometimes levitating, sometimes simply caught in a moment of inward contemplation, Ghyczy’s perspective is one of abstract serenity, at once peaceful and in a daze of blurring surfaces.
When:7 June- 15 July
Where:Art Suites Gallery
How much: Free
Aiming to represent the Ottoman Sultan’s Harem as realistically as possible, an exhibition will be held at the Topkapı Palace. Composed of four main sections, the first area will house such items as miniatures and wood engravings and plans, while the second section will explain story behind the protectors of the Harem as well as the servants and attendants. The third area will explore the lives and education of the women and children of the Harem, while the last section will highlight the everyday of the Harem including entertainment and customs with explanatory visuals.
When:13 June – 15 October
Where:Topkapı Palace
How much: From the venue: 15TL
Berlin-based conceptual artist Katharina Grosse’s first exhibition in Istanbul, entitled Can You Spell Mixing, exhibited at Dirimart, will showcase her selected paintings for the Istanbul audience. Grosse’s medium is painting and installations with which she manipulates light and shadows to produce abstruse visual interpretations that have carried the art form to a new level. Using such ingredients as mud, randomly gathered objects, plastics, and industrial grade paint guns among others, Grosse’s work takes on a dilapidated facade that is then surrounded by a sheen and vibrancy that sometimes includes painting the windows, walls, and ceiling of the actual gallery. The artist is always interested in the unconventional, both in the materials used and the end product, finding inspiration in the ocean licked surface of a surfboard as well as the immediacy of graffiti.
When:22 June- 3 September
Where:Dirimart
How much: Free
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