Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s photos at Baksı Museum

BAYBURT

A photography exhibition by Turkey’s internationally acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan is presented to art lovers in the new season at the Baksı Museum, located 45 kilometers from the northeastern province of Bayburt’s center.

A Bayburt local painter and academic, Hüsamettin Koçan founded the museum in 2010 in Bayraktar (Baksı) village on a hill overlooking the Çoruh valley. It houses contemporary and traditional arts under the same roof.

The museum, which provides training and employment opportunities to local people thanks to its workshops, was deemed worthy of the 2014 Council of Europe Museum Award and the same year the Turkish Grand National Assembly Honorary Award.

The Baksı Museum, which questions the cultural values of the city by questioning against social erosion and also carries strong concepts of employment, women, children, immigration and production to the boundaries of museology with a new understanding, is strengthening its place in the field of art with strong concepts such as “tradition-future” and “local-universal.”

The exhibition, titled “Nuri Bilge Ceylan in Baksı,” will be officially opened in June, but can be seen by visitors from now. It will continue through Sept. 1.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Koçan said that one of the differences of Baksı Museum from the others is its interest in local sources and attention in details.

“This is why, the works by our villager women were in the Alev Ebüzziya exhibition last. This year we wanted to open Ceylan’s exhibition. We thought that Ceylan’s photography language, dealing with Anatolia, migration and loneliness, will suit Baksı and our steppe. The exhibition is also in harmony with the architecture of the museum,” he said.

Koçan said Ceylan has an international identity.

“From the international press, we receive offers to view and publish this exhibition. We will be hosting a person, who tells the story of Anatolia at a very high level. I think that this exhibition will continue its international influence and journey that started with Ebüziyya. It will draw a lot of visitors I believe. This is why this exhibition can be evaluated as a new movement for the museum.”

Koçan said that they also planned to screen Ceylan’s films in the amphitheater in the Şair Zihni field, adding, “It will be like summer Movie Theater. We are now working on the technical details. I hope that we will be successful and Ceylan’s season will continue here until September.”

He said that Ceylan’s opening of an exhibition in Baksı Museum would have a significant place in the cultural agenda.

“This way, art audiences will have a relation with Bayburt. This kind of agenda-building exhibitions are undoubtedly increasing the opportunities of recognition and sharing. These opportunities should be used very well in the city and the neighboring provinces. Erzurum, Gümüşhane, Erzincan and Trabzon take their shares, too. I think these activities are just a great contribution to this village, city and the environment,” Koçan said.

He said that Şakir Gökçebağ exhibition would also open in Baksı in September, and that they would organize concerts as part of the exhibition, too.

He also noted that special tours were organized from many cities to Baksı. “Places like the Bayburt Castle and Aydıntepe Underground City are included in the tour programs. Bayburt’s name is mentioned with art, which is a great chance.”