Contemporary Istanbul brings world galleries together

ISTANBUL

The annual art fair Contemporary Istanbul (CI) opens on Sept. 12 and is set to host galleries, collectors, artists, art enthusiasts, academics and critics for four days until Sept. 15 at the Istanbul Congress Center and the Rumeli Hall at the Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center.

The 14th edition of the event will feature 74 galleries from 23 countries, and more than 1,400 artworks. At the beginning of 2019, French independent curator Anissa Touati was assigned as the artistic director of CI, leading the path for the fair to ground its place in the rapidly changing art world and allowing it to distinguish itself in the new age.

This year at CI, curated by Hasan Bülent Kahraman, “Recent Acquisitions” will present works that Turkish collectors added to their collections in recent years. Through the selection, it is possible to get a hint on tendencies, directions, preferences and discoveries of collectors in Turkey.

Realized for the first time in Turkey, 39 domestic and two foreign collectors will exhibit their private collections at “Recent Acquisitions.”

The Gallery Support Program, which was launched in 2017, continues this year. While the Gallery Support Program enables for wider participation of galleries from all around the world, it also plays an important role in presenting significant contemporary art works both to domestic and international spectators and in developing the local collectors’ market.

While galleries from the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, France, and the U.S. were admitted to the gallery support program in 2018, the venture grew so as to support now in 2019 galleries in countries such as Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Portugal, South Africa and Ghana.

On its seventh year, “Plugin,” curated by Esra Özkan, will feature new media and digital artworks with the digital arts sponsorship of the Siemens Ev Aletleri. Touati will curate the “Garden of Eden” open-air sculpture park. This event will take place on the Lütfi Kırdar Terrace.

Art-O-Rama, which is the first international art fair in southern France, and Contemporary Istanbul are collaborating for the 2019 editions. Within this context, the two fairs will organize a series of lectures with the theme of “Mediterranean Horizons” as part of the 2019 lectures program for the first time.

“Mediterranean Horizons” is evaluating the concept of belonging to the Mediterranean extending from the past into the future. Moderator of the lectures will be Delfina Foundation director Salma Tuqan. Within this context, while the galleries to be hosted by Contemporary Istanbul will be Galerie Crève-Coeur from Paris and Marseille and Duble V from Marseille, Art-O-Rama will host The Pill from Istanbul and Öktem Aykut from Istanbul.

Contemporary Istanbul will be hosting an outdoor sculpture park for the second time this year, “Garden of Eden.” The outdoor sculpture park, organized by Touati, will feature works by nine artists from participating galleries.

There will also be the Artist Residency Program, hosting Waseem Ahmed and curator Alexandra Pace, the Art Platforms Section, hosting independent curators and art platforms and the Istanbul Connection Program, organized in order to bring Istanbul’s cultural and artistic world with foreign institutions and art world.