Cultural Memory in Modern Turkish Art Explored at Istanbul Modern

ISTANBUL.- İstanbul Modern’s new Exhibition, “From Traditional to Contemporary: Cultural Memory in Modern Turkish Art”, will open in February 2010. Focusing on the relationship between art and the traditional, the Exhibition seeks to show how artists employ history in their construction of modernism. Curated by İstanbul Modern’s chief Curator Levent Çalıkoğlu, “From Traditional to Contemporary: Cultural Memory in Modern Turkish Art“ will be a exhibition in which modern and contemporary artists will take part. These are the artists who reinterpret information, which is traditional, in the context of a new language of expression.

A visitor looks at a 70 square meters wall painting by Turkish artist Ekrem Yalcindag at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, as part of the museum's new exhibition "From Traditional to Contemporary", February 16, 2010

“From Traditional to Contemporary: Cultural Memory in Modern Turkish Art” will consist of works by the following artists: Erol Akyavaş, İsmet Doğan, İnci Eviner, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Selma Gürbüz, Ergin İnan, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Murat Morova, and Ekrem Yalçındağ. Held in the Temporary Exhibitions Hall, the show will include works by the participating artists, from their different periods, and in disciplines ranging from Video to Painting and from Installation Art to Photography.

“From Traditional to Contemporary: Cultural Memory in Modern Turkish Art” will be focusing on the present and also on the past of modern art, bringing together a selection of objects, such as calligraphies, miniatures, stained glass, textiles, tombaks, and carpets. By juxtaposing these with the arts of Painting, Sculpture, Photography, and Installation, the Exhibition will encourage viewers to establish visual and conceptual relationships between works of art, on the one hand, and history and culture, on the other.