Unusual objects reveal long memory of families

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The exhibit is comprised of 250 objects, documents and old black and white photographs. They are ones people have kept for many years due to their sentimental value.

The small, seemingly insignificant objects people hold on to over the years often hold the most value and memories. “Variety Show - Curiosities from Collectors,” gathers sentimental items of all kinds from nearly 50 families and collectors in an exhibition that blends history, culture and art.

“Variety Show - Curiosities from Collectors” is comprised of 250 objects, documents and old black and white photographs. Objects in the exhibition have been kept by their owners for many years and contain memories which shed light on the history of various families.

Organized by the Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts Publication, Yapı Kredi Private Banking and Kadıköy Municipality Caddebostan Culture Center (CKM) the second exhibition of “Variety Show - Curiosities from Collectors” opened at the CKM. The first edition of the exhibition drew a large amount of interest when it opened in 2001.

The exhibit also includes belongings of Yapı Kredi Private Banking customers.

Yapı Kredi Private Banking Marketing Director İmre Tüylü said the exhibition, which includes many stand-out pieces such as the uniform of an Ottoman soldier, pilot light, compass and photos taken during the magnificent parades, revealed details of what daily life was like in the past and offered interesting clues and stories about Turkey’s history. “This exhibition is an accumulation of memories that has never been done before,” Tüylü said.

The exhibition showcases spiritual and cultural values as well as artistic features, Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts Publication General Director Tülay Güngen said. Each object in the exhibition has its own story to draw people’s interest, she said. “We display many objects that will touch the life of visitors with their stories. Among them are coins, on which it is written ‘Istanbul Şehremaneti’ [an old word for municipality] and which were called ‘bridge tolls’ during times of war. These coins showed us that the bridge taxes were collected at this time. Others are interesting objects such as ‘pyrethrum’ from the period during which bathing was difficult,” Güngen said.

Presented in the exhibition are couplets and proverbs written on papers by famous calligraphers and processed on fabrics by women, along with some extraordinary works of painters.

“The book of the exhibition will also continue telling the memories of collectors with various objects after the end of the exhibition,” Güngen said.

Portraits of people from different vocational groups such as doctors, engineers and architects, who left their mark on history, are also striking pieces in the exhibition, which will continue until July 24.

A project from 2011

“Variety Show - Curiosities from Collectors” came up as a project following an exhibition at Istanbul’s Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery in 2001. Titled “Their Favorites,” the exhibition brought together 50 paintings, each being a collector’s dearest and most cherished one.

As a result a wide selection of paintings, by painters ranging from Hoca Ali Rıza to Mehmet Güleryüz, formed a panoramic cross section of Turkish painting and led to debates about the existence or lack of dimensions and variations in Turkish painting collections.