The 17th edition of Contemporary Istanbul is taking place between September 17-22, 2022, featuring 65 leading galleries and art initiatives from 22 countries. The main partner of Contemporary Istanbul is Akbank. For the second time, Contemporary Istanbul will welcome visitors to Tersane Istanbul, a new venue located in the historical Ottoman-era shipyards on the picturesque shores of the Golden Horn.
Between September 17-22 you will be able to reach Tersane Istanbul using free sea transportation from Kadıköy, Kabataş, and Karaköy. You can find the schedule on our website.
GALLERY LINE-UP
A strong line-up of galleries from Europe and the Middle East is joined by top galleries from North America, Africa, and Asia. Fourteen galleries are participating for the first time. A total of 1,476 artworks by 558 artists will be exhibited at the fair.
The 2022 edition of Contemporary Istanbul is joined by: 193 GALLERY, Paris; AB GALLERY, Seoul; AMBIDEXTER, Istanbul; ANCA POTERASU GALLERY, Bucharest; ANNA LAUDEL, Dusseldorf, Istanbul; ART AGENCY, Sofia; ART ON ISTANBUL, Istanbul; BAVAN GALLERY, Tehran; BERMAN CONTEMPORARY, Johannesburg; BOZLU ART PROJECT, Istanbul; BURO SARIGEDIK, Istanbul; C24, New York; C.A.M. GALERI, Istanbul; GALLERY SCHMIDT, Zurich; COLLECT GALLERY, Sofia, Istanbul; DIFOART, Istanbul; DIRIMART, Istanbul; FIRETTI CONTEMPORARY, Dubai; FREMIN, New York; GALERI 77, Istanbul; GALERI NEV ISTANBUL, Istanbul; GALERI SIYAH BEYAZ, Ankara; GALERIE DIX9, Paris; GALERIA JOAN GASPAR, Barcelona; GALERIST, Istanbul; GALLERY TABLEAU, Seoul; HESTIA, Belgrade; HOFA GALLERY, London, Los Angeles, Mykonos; IRAM ART, Ahmedabad; IRANSHAHR GALLERY, Tehran; JD MALAT GALLERY, London; LEILA HELLER GALLERY, Dubai, New York; MARIANA CUSTODIO GALLERY, Lisbon; MARK HACHEM, Paris, Beirut; MARTCH ART PROJECT, Istanbul; MIXER, Istanbul; MUCCIACCIA CONTEMPORARY, Rome; MUSE CONTEMPORARY ART, Istanbul; NAVAHI PROJECTS, Tehran; OBLONG CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY, Dubai, Forte Dei Marmi; OKTEM AYKUT, Istanbul; OPERA GALLERY, Dubai; PG ART GALLERY, Istanbul; PI ARTWORKS, Istanbul, London; PILOT, Istanbul; PIRAMID SANAT, Istanbul; PRIME CUT CULTURE, Bratislava; RED ART ISTANBUL, Istanbul; ROYA KHADJAVI PROJECTS, New York; SANATORIUM, Istanbul; SEVIL DOLMACI ART GALLERY, Istanbul; SUMMART, Istanbul; VILLA DEL ARTE, Barcelona; VISION ART PLATFORM, Istanbul; WADSTRÖM TÖNNHEIM GALLERY, Marbella, Malmö; ZILBERMAN, Istanbul, Berlin.
Highlighting the vibrant cultural scene of Turkey, Contemporary Istanbul will also feature a number of contemporary art initiatives rising in different regions of the country, including: ARE PROJECTS, Antalya; EKAV, Istanbul; IMALAT-HANE, Bursa; LOADING, Diyarbakir; NOKS ART SPACE, Istanbul; VIABLE, Istanbul; VIDEOIST, Düzce, Istanbul. BAKSI MUSEUM, Bayburt, and OMM, Eskişehir, are also taking part in the fair, as well as the KVARELI FOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ART from Tbilisi, Georgia.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
The Yard exhibition, which will be held in the outer courtyard of Tersane as part of Contemporary Istanbul, will feature 27 site-specific installations and sculptures by artists such as Anke Eilergerhard, Ardan Özmenoğlu, Ayla Turan, Bedri Baykam, Bilal Hakan Karakaya, Can Yıldırım, Canan Tolon, Erdil Yaşaroğlu, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Halil Altındere, Isaac Chong Wai, Ingravi Desa, Irfan Önürmen, Itamar Gov, Kemal Tufan, Luis Cera, Martian Tabakov, Martin Creed, Mentalklinik, Mehmet Ali Uysal, Osman Dinç, Renée Levi, Sergen Şehitoğlu, Stefano Bombardieri, Uğur Cinel, Vuslat.
Yes! We’re OPEN by Canan Tolon refers to the mercantile label so often seen posted on storefronts. Like most of her works, it is essentially based on deceptive messaging. This installation is a field of doors standing all wide open to invite you in, while they obstruct one another. And if for some reason you assumed you were misled, the title will assure you were wrong to think so.
The Istanbul-born Renée Levi recalls that her childhood spent in Istanbul has been a source of notable inspiration. With an authentic placement for Tersane Istanbul, Renée Levi will bring back her large dimensioned paintings titled ‘Barbra’ from the ‘color field’ series, which are wide, colorful blocks arranged to complete one another and were once displayed in Museum Langmatt, Baden, in 2019.
Martin Creed’s new work in Istanbul is a monument to water: water which is needed for life and of which people are mostly made; water which is fun and dangerous, life-giving and life-threatening.
As part of the CIF Dialogues by TAV Passport series, the Contemporary Istanbul Foundation will organize a series of public talks and discussions.
Moderated by curator Marc Olivier Wahler, the “Testing the Elasticity of the Art Space” panel will bring together Federica Beretta, Hou Hanru, Mehmet Even, Melisa Pezuk, and Murat Tabanlıoğlu on September 17. The speakers will discuss the art spaces of today and tomorrow.
Also on September 17, CIF Artist In Residence Program with Tosyalı Holding will hold a talk program focused on upcycling and sustainability.
On September 18, there will be a public talk ”Art in Public Space” and “Digital Design: New Horizons for Architecture.”
This summer Contemporary Istanbul Foundation (CIF) has been running the CIF Artist-in-Residence program in collaboration with Tosyali Holding. Focusing on the theme of upcycling, artists Chiara de Rocchi, Emrullah Örünklü, Koray Tokdemir, Nermin Ülker, and Songül Girgin have working with scrap metal materias. Their works will be exhibited at the 17th edition of Contemporary Istanbul in Tersane Istanbul. This project is an example of CIF’s efforts to engage major Turkish businesses and motivate them to support the art community.
Contemporary Istanbul's main partner Akbank will present the exhibition Other Voices, Other Rooms by Clement Valla, curated by Hasan Bulent Kahraman. By making use of the potential of digital art, Valla adds new dimensions to nature, which we look at every day, we think we see, and believe to be in its right place and stable, yet has an aspect that always remains obscure and mysterious. He drags nature, with a dimension that is imperceptible to us, to the limits of our perception of reality.
Pernod Ricard Turkey, a partner of Contemporary Istanbul, will present sculpture-performance Disruption by artist duo ha:ar (Hande Şekerciler and Arda Yalkın). The duo will scrutinize the potential of technology to radically change the concept of art by starting a conversation about the relationships between art, machine, and artificial intelligence. With the help of the robotic arm, which they will bring to the fair, ha:ar will be producing the artwork live. Throughout the fair, the audience will be able to observe the daily progress of the work, and on the last day of the fair, they will get the chance to witness the finessing interventions of the artists themselves.
As part of Disruption, House of Brothers Lounge will also host talks about the place of artificial intelligence and technology in the art world, the nature of their relationship, and the future of art.
At LG OLED ART booth, Kim Whanki’s Universe will be exhibited as NFT. This is the first NFT work produced based on the artist’s original artwork (5-IV-71#200 Universe) which was completed in New York in the 1970s. It is the only masterpiece made in two widths among Kim Whanki's works to deeply feel the lyricism of nature and the mystery of the vast cosmic space.
Artist Güvenç Özel will present new project, Spectrum. It utilizes cutting-edge optical and simulation technologies to embed the audience into digital art forms in real time. By feeding live camera feeds into a game engine, Spectrum creates an interactive and ever-changing distortion of reality. The audience can see their own reflection on the digital and animated forms on its LED surfaces, while the environmental parameters such as light and architectural context are grafted into the art work.
During the fair, Contemporary Istanbul partner BMW will present a special edition of the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe created by Jeff Koons. THE 8 X JEFF KOONS is the embodiment of precision, refinement, and craftsmanship, with a multi-layer paint taking 285 hours to apply onto each car. The expressive and striking design combines eleven different exterior colors ranging from blue to silver as well as from yellow to black. There will be an artist talk with Jeff Koons who will be in conversation with Contemporary Istanbul Chairperson Ali Güreli.
Contemporary Istanbul partner QUA Granite will present a work by sculptor Günnur Özsoy.
With its shining mother-of-pearl color and fluid form, the work she created for CI reminds the audience of a drop of water or stones found in nature.
For more information please contact [email protected]