Istanbul Art Show to host art world

ISTANBUL

Istanbul Art Show will bring contemporary artists and art lovers together between Dec. 20 and 22, featuring different disciplines of art at the Istanbul Hilton Congress and Exhibition Center. The theme of this year’s event is “Reality Suspended: Art in the Era of Post-truth.”

“Post-truth,” which has been described as the most controversial concept recently and has definitions such as “surreal” and “post-real,” will be discussed within the scope of the fair. The event will draw attention to how the post-truth era will transform art and discuss the role of art and the artist in a world where truth is suspended.

Artist Mercan Dede prepares the “post-truth” room of the fair, and a separate section will be reserved for Iran in the fair.

Iran’s successful art galleries, art writers, famous collectors and curators will meet with the Turkish art world for three days at the Istanbul Art Show.

Last year, “post-humanism” was the theme of the event, said Art Director Yalın Alpay, adding that they chose Iran this year as the focus country.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Alpay said that 500 artists attended the fair last year with 40 art galleries, and added, “We went to Iran many times as a team. We held various meetings. In this sense, we will have a large Iran exhibition at the fair. We also have a selective board of five people that determines which galleries and which works can participate in the fair this year. We didn’t have a selective board last year. Therefore, we expect a higher-level fair this year.”

Artists from Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia and Romania will also participate in the second edition of Istanbul Art Show, Alpay said.

“As you know, Iran is the most interested in art in the Middle East and has the deepest historical foundations,” he said. “Turkey also has such a position. There is not much parallelism between Iran’s art and Turkish art. That’s why the two sides are attractive to each other. There are also a few reasons why we chose Iran. The first is that we have borders. Artworks can be easily brought to Turkey, and the collectors can easily come to Turkey. Second, because of the current embargo, Iran cannot send paintings to Western countries.”

Alpay said that art talks will be made during the event.

“Post-truth is a political term. Not only politics, but it has an impact on many areas. Art is one of them,” Alpay said. “We will try to predict what kind of a break in the art world will happen in the next 15 years. We will try to understand it with an international speaker community.”

The curator of the exhibitions to be opened by Iranian artists, Maryam, noted that “post-truth” tells the situation of Iran right now, adding, “The point where Iran has come up with the problems and political events in the last 50 years is a real post-truth experience.”

Speaking of the similarities between the two countries, she said, “Both countries have discovered European art. They went through the same processes with the effects of Islam. The two countries share the same art history with their past. In this sense, it is not possible to separate the arts of the two countries. For example, both discover Cubism at the same time. That is why both countries almost share the same comments. Turkey is also a country that really opened its arms to the art.”