New project to turn Çorum into art city

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Hughette Eyüboğlu helps organize the entire project, renting a mansion and converting it into an art center before hosting a retrospective for Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.

An Ottoman bazaar in the northern province of Çorum’s İskilip district is set to become an open-air art gallery this weekend, according to daily Hürriyet.

Taking inspiration from the “Talking Windows” project, which has been running in Lille, France, for 11 years, Çorum’s art center aims to draw attention to traditional artistic practices in the district.

“In the past, İskilip was home to 23 different traditional arts. However, only six of them have survived,” said the founder of the Çatalkara Art Center and the organizing of the present event, Hughette Eyüboğlu.

The first event took place last year with an exhibition titled “The language of the doors,” Hürriyet reported. This year, Talking Windows’ founder, Beatrice Auxent, will visit Çorum while inviting French artists to the northern province. As part of the project, French artists will create works on the doors of 27 closed ateliers.

Currently, the project aims to turn empty exhibition spaces into art ateliers, said Eyüboğlu, adding that Çorum could turn into a city of art thanks to the project. The events will be held May 26 and 27; students from Saint Joseph High School in Istanbul will visit Çorum and help the artists design the ateliers.

Eyüboğlu is the daughter-in-law of famous Turkish contemporary artist Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and said she had come to know the northern province through the writings of her well-known relative.
She helped organize the entire project, renting a mansion and converting it into an art center before hosting a retrospective for Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.

She also restored the venue and founded the Yazmalı Mansion.

Hughette Eyüboğlu first visited Çorum in 1942 and decided to live there. She has organized many art events in the district.