As part of iKEDi, residents of Istanbul have been invited again to participate in large-scale puppetry workshops that will be held in public spaces throughout the city on weekends between Sept. 1 and Oct. 7. During the workshops, four-meter-long huge movable cats will be created that will then stroll around the streets of the city as part of an artistic call for people to respect the right of other creatures to live on the streets of the city.

Developed under the auspices of the iDans Contemporary Dance and Performance event, an Istanbul-based interdisciplinary art festival, iKEDi emphasizes cultures of co-existence, pluralism and diversity and particularly focuses on Istanbul’s animals.

As part of the project, residents will have an opportunity to create large- and small-scale puppets of Istanbul’s most famous animals under the direction of Roger Titley, a well-respected South African puppet creator.

The first iKEDi event was organized in Istanbul in 2010, attracting 20,000 people.

After the success of the first performance in 2010, iKEDi attracted interest from Spain and Finland last year, as well as different primary schools in Istanbul.

Touring 14 different neighborhoods of Istanbul in 2010, the mobile cat sculptures were invited to Spain and Finland after their visits to several local schools in spring 2011, participating in the “White Nights” parade in Burgos in May 2011 and the Helsinki Festival in August of the same year.

The success of the event in 2010 has convinced organizers to restage the event this year.

The iKEDi project, which is produced by the Bimeras Foundation with assistance from nongovernmental organizations, local authorities and educational institutions under the slogan “We are Istanbulites,” is a creation of Titley and Austrian theater director Airan Berg. Titley and Berg recently collaborated on other outdoor spectacles, including the 2009 Linz Cultural Capital celebration and major sporting events.

The workshops are free and open to people ages 10 and up.

Read the whole article here:

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Portrait of Haesje Jocobsdr van Cleyburg. Rembrandt. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The wonderful exhibition “Where Darkness Meets Light… Rembrandt and His Contemporaries – The Golden Age of Dutch Art” has been extended to June 17! This is your last chance to see these fantastic works of art in Istanbul! Go and enjoy!

On the occasion of the celebration of 400 years of diplomatic and trade relations between the Netherlands and Turkey the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul hosts a major exhibition of Rembrandt and his contemporaries.
It is the first time that these paintings, etchings and drawings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Lievens and other Dutch masters from the Golden Age will be shown in Turkey.

Highlights are five paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer’s ‘Love Letter’.

In the exhibition there are 110 works on display from the national Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: 73 paintings, 19 drawings and etchings, as well as 18 other works of art.

The exhibition highlights the richness and versatility of the 17th-century Dutch art and history. A selection of 110 paintings, drawings, prints and decorative arts objects (rugs, pottery, silver and glass) tell the story of the power and beauty of the young Republic in the Golden Age.

Landscapes by Jan van Goyen, Jacob van Ruisdael and Cuyp Aelbert. Still Lifes by Pieter Claesz and Adriaen Coorte. Genre pieces of Gerard ter Borch, Gabriel Metsu and Pieter de Hooch. And popular scenes of Jan Steen and Adriaen van Ostade.

Highlights from the exhibition ‘The Love Letter’ by Johannes Vermeer in (1669-1670) and five paintings of Rembrandt: Portrait of Haesje of Cleyburgh (1634), The Peacocks (1639), Portrait of Dr. Ephraim Bueno (1645-1647), The Music Allegory (1626), and Joseph explains his dreams (1633).

“With this exhibition we want 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”, says Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Director of the Sabanci Museum. “The exhibition shows a number of themes pertaining to the Dutch society, as well as urban and rural life in 17^th century Dutch Republic through the eyes of the masters of painting.”
The Director of the Collections of the Rijksmuseum, Taco Dibbits, said the exhibition in Istanbul “is a once in a life time opportunity”. The artworks are traveling because the Rijksmuseum is being renovated and until the spring of 2013 closed.

“Another feature of the exhibition is the dialogue of the paintings with the Ottoman period, and embracing both countries’ art scene correlatively”, says Dibbits. He mentioned in particular the famous “Dutch” tulips, which 400 years ago were brought from Turkey to the Netherlands, the Ottoman merchants who are seen on on Dam Square in Amsterdam on one of the paintings.

The Music Allegory (1626). Rembrandt. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Remarkable are the garments of the figures in Rembrandt’s painting “The Music Allegory” (1626). The old man and young woman dressed as Turks – with a turban and robes of oriental fabrics – and the old woman also has an Oriental scarf. Rembrandt was only 20 years old. Characteristic of his early work are the bright colors in this allegorical painting.

Jan Lievens also liked to portray Oriental heads. As a rule they were not real people from the East, but exotic dressed acquaintances of the artist, mostly older men with characteristic heads. It seems likely that this interest in other cultures was fuelled by the boom in intercontinental trade. It has even been suggested that the visit to the Republic in 1625-27 by the Persian ambassador Musa Beg was a factor in this.

In this exhibition there is a charming portrait of a boy in an Oriental dress by Jan Lievens. The boy wears a yellow tunic under a cape of gleaming orange fabric fastened with a golden chain. A sash around his waist and a turban with a feather complete the outfit. “Boy in a Cape and a Turban” (1631).

The exhibition opened on 22 February and lasts until 17 June at the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul.

Address

Sakip Sabanci Museum

Sakip Sabanci Caddesi 42

Past the second Bosporus bridge

Emirgan

Tel. (0212) 277 2200

http://muze.sabanciuniv.edu

Atatürk Cultural Center in Taksim. Photo: Slawomira Kozieniec

The Atatürk Cultural Center in Istanbul’s Taksim Square will finally undergo a thorough restoration and renovation. The building has been closed for 8 years already while the bureaucrats, politicians, engineers, architects and other experts were unable to make an agreement on the project. The TL 30 million (€13 million) project will be sponsored by the Turkish business conglomerate Sabancı Holding.

The austere, modernist structure houses Istanbul’s state orchestra, opera and ballet since its opening in 1969.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said: “This renovation is much more than a restoration, because it will bring the building in line with fire and earthquake codes, re-engineering the acoustics and the broader plan to pedestrianize Taksim Square.”

The restoration work of Atatürk Cultural Center is planned to start soon. The grand opening is planned for 29 October 2013, the Republic Day. The Grand Hall of Atatürk Cultural Center which hosts theater, opera and ballet performances will be named Sabancı Hall. The name of Atatürk Cultural Center will stay as it is.

Taking the floor at the signing ceremony, Sabancı Holding Chairman Güler Sabancı stated: “Atatürk Cultural Center is of utmost historical significance and value. It is a structure that symbolizes Republican values. Atatürk Cultural Center constitutes a very significant place in our hearts, in the art and culture events of the Republican history and in our beloved Taksim. We are grateful that we contribute to preserve a symbol of republican values for art lovers, staying faithful to the original yet with new technologies”.

Atatürk Cultural Center is an iconic multi purpose cultural center and opera house.The complex comprises the “Grand Stage”, a hall with a 1,307 seat capacity hosting theater acts of Turkish State Theaters and performances of the Turkish State Opera and Ballet, and the “Concert Hall”, a second hall with a capacity of 502 seats for concerts, meetings and conferences as well as an exhibition hall of 1,200 m² at the entrance. There are also the “Chamber Theater” with 296 seats, “Aziz Nesin Stage” with 190 seats and a cinema hall with 206 seats.  The center is home to the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Istanbul State Modern Folk Music Ensemble, and Istanbul State Classical Turkish Music Choir.

The plans for the restoration come as a wider project begins this year to pedestrianize Taksim Square, a project that will necessitate the closing of the square to traffic and the construction of underground roads for traffic and a series of bus stops.

The Bosporus. Photo: Slawomira Kozieniec

“Whether you’re on a once-in-a-lifetime Valentine’s Day trip, a honeymoon, or simply looking for love, Istanbul’s exotic mosaic of tastes, sounds and aromas will surely sweep you away.”

Top 10 romantic experiences in Istanbul:

1.)    Take a walk at Akinti Burnu (Arnavutköy) along the Bosphorous Straight

2.)    Blend into the local crowd at the Bebek Kahve

3.)    Experience the mysticism of the Basicila Cistern

4.)    Stroll in the Spice Market

5.)    Visit the Topkapi Palace museum

6.)    Haghia Sophia, once a basilica, then a mosque, now a museum

7.)    Take a ferry to the Princes’ Islands

8.)    Watch the sunset from the Golden Horn

9.)    Take in the nightlife of Beyoglu

10.) Enjoy a Bosphorus Night Cruise

Read the whole story on The Huffington Post

http://huff.to/ADqppr

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

The Spice Bazaar. Photo: Slawomira Kozieniec

Türkkan’s brand new series ‘Full Contact’ realized in Southeast Asia in 2011, focuses on the use of male and female bodies and their commercial re-appropriation. Go-go dancers, B-girls, ‘hired’ girlfriends and the lifestyle of Muay Thai fighters – who are trained from a very young age – bring out the ‘body’ as the common source of income.

The artist’s hobbies – martial arts and pole dancing – and her exploration of sexual identities come together in the creation of this series. In these photographs, which according to the artist, can be classified as “subjective-documentary”, Türkkan captures intimate shots from an insider’s perspective, without claiming to be an ‘insider’.

‘Full Contact’, a term pertaining to martial arts, highlights different references in the works. The sharp, buffer-less life experience of those photographed and the artist’s approach render the title of the exhibition, ‘Full Contact’ more meaningful.

 In her previous series, Türkkan predominantly studied the power relation between genders and the gender roles through the eyes of a woman. However, this series takes a multi-fold approach and allows room to observe male gender identity and roles as well. Therefore, Türkkan begins acknowledging and investigating not only beyond her life but also her gender identity.

The portraits in ‘Full Contact’ are the pieces where the artist establishes the closest relations with those photographed. Women stand out with their femininity while men with their virility. However, with close examination a flexibility in gender roles becomes visible, through female fighters and trans genders. The changeable gender roles also pertain to Judith Butler’s argument that (gender) ‘…is solely and completely a social construction, a fiction. Gender identity is not the source of behavior but its consequence.’ (Felluga, Dino. “Modules on Butler: On Gender and Sex’’). Presenting different perspectives on stereotypical gender roles encourages the audience to create her/his own argument.

 ‘Full Contact’ tells the story of the bodies, money and pride consumed for the will to survive, as if highlighting the cut-out scenes in a movie.

Gözde Türkkan (1984)

Gözde Türkkan’s photography work focus on gender politics, identities and roles through a subjective documentary approach. After graduating from Istanbul Bilgi University, Faculty of Communications, Department of Photography and Video in 2008, she worked as a photography course instructor in the Visual Communication Design Department of the same university. She continued her education in University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martin’s, College of Art and Design (London, UK), where she received her MA degree in 2010.

Türkkan met the art-lovers with her series, PayHere in the group show ‘Intersection IV’ at x-ist in 2010. In 2011, she opened her first solo show, ‘Looking Back’ at Operations Room, American Hospital and her work from Pay Here series was selected for Christie’s Visions d’Orient De l’Orientalisme à l’Art Contemporain, Paris. The artist also participated in !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival (2007) and group shows, Human at Empire Project (2011) and Vol de Nuits (2011).

Gallery x-ist

Is an ‘art gallery project’ realised by collector Daryo Beskinazi and art director Kerimcan Güleryüz on the basis of their experience in the art world, the result of many years of activity.

x-ist, provides an alternative to the current concept of the art gallery and aims to exhibit the work of young talents who do not as yet have a large audience, but who are making their mark on the future.

x-ist, thanks to its risk-taking, young and innovative approach, aims to become a reference point for the future of contemporary Turkish art and is in favour of the approachability of art.

x-ist is not content with establishing a relationship with art lovers and collectors that is based solely on ‘buying paintings’, but seeks to guide and inform through the creation of works of art.

x-ist is a meeting ‘space’ for artists who challenge institutions opposed not just to them, but to all innovation. By means of its opposition to flatness and monotony and its choice of art work it aims to create a fresh and innovative ‘space’ and thus to become Turkey’s pioneering art gallery in the area of contemporary art.

Exhibition ‘Full Contact’

When: January 26th and February 25th

Where: Gallery x-ist

Address: Abdi İpekçi Caddesi

Kaşıkçıoğlu Apt. No:42  D:2  Nişantaşı

www.artxist.com

info@artxist.com

Tel. +90 (0) 212 291 77 84

The exhibition “Sultans, Merchants, Painters: The Early Years of Turkish-Dutch Relations” is organized in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum and with the support of several other partners, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

 The exhibition includes 81 works comprised of oil paintings, watercolors, engravings and books. Works by the well known master painter from the Tulip Era, Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, are also included.

The exhibition aims to spread knowledge about historical and contemporary links between Amsterdam and Istanbul.  The exhibition explores the historical and contemporary relations between two world cities and through these cities, implicitly also the two countries. ‘Pioneers’ and ‘image (-forming)’ are among the prominent themes.

The exhibition “Sultans, Merchants, Painters: The Early Years of Turkish-Dutch Relations”  is not intended as a complete survey of four centuries of diplomatic ties, but rather provides an attractive insight into the historical ties between Amsterdam and Istanbul, from 1612 to the present day. The exhibition is historical and social in approach, yet it also features important art works as well.

Cornelis Haga, the first Ambassador of the Netherlands in the Ottoman Empire

A key section of the exhibition is a reconstruction of the Levantse Handel (Levant Trade) chamber that was based in the Town Hall (Palace on Dam Square) from the early 17th to early 19th century. A detailed inventory exists of the paintings and charts that were displayed on the walls of this powerful commercial office in Amsterdam. Many of these items, including an extensive series of portraits by Vanmour, from the collection of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum will also be exhibited.

Istanbul and Amsterdam, Turkey and the Netherlands, have been and continue to serve as important bridges between Europe and Asia; major players in the international world of commerce, diplomacy, art and migration. The exhibition will first take place at Pera Museum, and will then travel to the Amsterdam Museum, highlighting the connection between Turkish and Dutch history; stimulating mutual (multi-) cultural understanding for today.

The exhibition ‘Sultans, Merchants and Painters’, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be shown from 21 January to 1 April 2012.

The photo exhibition “From Konstantiniyye to Istanbul: Photographs of the Anatolian Shore of the Bosphorus from the Mid XIXth Century to the XXth Century” is comprised of the works by photography masters who practiced their art in İstanbul from the end of the 19th to the early years of the 20thcentury. Curated by Architect Dr. Sinan Genim, it is a selection from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Photograph Collection and from private collections, revealing the magnificent structures, the daily life and the intriguing personalities of an Istanbul of the past.

For more information visit the Pera Museum Website

Visiting Hours & Address

Visiting Hours
Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 – 19.00
Sunday               12.00 – 18.00
Museum is closed on Mondays.

Special Days
Museum is closed on the first day of Ramadan Festival and Feast of Sacrifice, and New Year’s Day (1st Jan).

Address and Getting Here

Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.65

34443 Tepebaşı – Beyoğlu – İstanbul

Tel. + 90 212 334 99 00

Nazim Hikmet tea garden and culture center in Kadikoy. Photo: Slawomira Kozieniec

Today is the birthday of Turkish most famous poet Nâzım Hikmet (January 15, 1902).

His 110th birthday will be celebrated during a series of events organized in collaboration with the Nazım Hikmet Culture and Arts Foundation and Beşiktaş Municipality.
The event series include a “Nazım Hikmet Theater Posters Exhibition,” “Nazım Hikmet Panel from Past to Present” and a Kardeş Türküler concert. Writers such as Cevat Çapan, Konur Ertop, Turgay Fişekçi, Doğan Hızlan and Timur Selçuk will speak at the panel.

The events started today at 11 a.m. in front of the Tarabya Hotel, the place where Nazım fled the country for the Eastern bloc. Participants threw flowers into the sea at the site. Kardeş Türküler will perform their concert to end the night.

The exhibit can be visited at the Akatlar Cultural Center until Jan. 31.

Nâzım Hikmet came from a cosmopolitan and distinguished family of Polish and Circassian ancestry. His father Hikmet Bey was the son of Mehmed Nazım Pasha and his mother Celile Hanım was the grand-daughter of Mehmed Ali Pasha, who was of German origin. His maternal great-grandfather, Mustafa Celaleddin Pasha, (former Konstantin Polkozic-Borzecki 1826-1876) in Ottoman Empire, was of Polish origin and later converted to Islam, and authored “Les Turcs anciens et modernes” in Constantinople (1869). It is considered one of the first works of national Turkist political thoughts.

Nazim Hikmet tea garden. Photo: Slawomira Kozieniec

Hikmet was born in Salonica (present-day Thessaloniki) in the Ottoman Empire. He died June 3, 1963 in Moscow. He was acclaimed for the “lyrical flow of his statements”. Described as a “romantic communist” and “romantic revolutionary”, he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.

One of the places dedicated to Nâzım Hikmet in Istanbul is the Nâzım Hikmet Cultural Center in Kadıköy. It has a lovely tea garden, an oasis of tranquility next to the busy shopping street Bahariye Caddesi. Very nice to enjoy the atmosphere with friends and a cup of Turkish coffee or a glass of tea. They also serve food and pastry. Besides the center has a small bookshop with lots of books by Hikmet and communist, socialist and leftist writers.

Addresses:

Nâzım Hikmet  Kültür Merkezi

Ali Suavi Sokağı (Sanatçılar Sokağı), No: 7

Bahariye, Kadıköy

Tel: (0216) 414 22 39

“Nazım Hikmet Theater Posters Exhibition”

Akatlar Kültür Merkezi

Beşiktaş

http://www.besiktas.bel.tr/t/15/