Empathy Sessions: Looking Beyond Affinity
Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts’ (IKSV) Empathy Sessions film program, which was initially put together as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennal, is a selection of films that focus and enlarge the concept of empathy. Directed by artists, the films allow viewers to adopt a bunch of perspectives and explore spaces in the digital world, from inside the earth to the deep ocean. The films shed light on the inherent biases and empathic opportunities of facial recognition, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and augmented reality. Films include Paula Gactano Adi’s A Robocaliptic Manifesto: techno-politics for liberation, Ibiye Camp’s Behind Shirley, Alice des Reis’ Undercurrent, Jawa El Khash’s Hammam and Ben Thorp Brown’s Cura. The films will be screened at Pera Museum every Thursday at 1 pm.
For more information on the Empathy Sessions program, visit empathyrevisited.iksv.org
SETTLING IN EARTH
Art On will welcome art lovers on February 8 to visit the second solo exhibition of Turkish painter Ahmet Cerkez. The artist focuses on the readoption of humans to the earth following a disaster and defines the limit and movement with charcoal on a paper-based with acrylic paint. Cerkez dives into the organic movement of humans and other living beings in nature.
The exhibition is available at Art On from Tuesday to Friday between 10 am and 7 pm.
THE PANDEMIC ORCHESTRA
Kadikoy Municipality’s Pandemic Orchestra will meet with classical music lovers on February 8. Soloists and Asli Erdal on violin and Bulent Yazici on mandolin, including Ozgecan Gunoz as the concertmaster will perform a repertoire that consists of compositions by Vivaldi and Respighi under the baton of Gurer Aykal.
Tickets are available at bilet.kadikoy.bel.tr
YENIDEN. SIFIRDAN
Turkish artist Feza Guvenal’s most recent and previous works will be exhibited at the independent art gallery F Art Gallery. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s desire to regain her energy from her paintings. Guvenal aims to question the practice of painting and seeks her choices.
The exhibition is available at F Art Gallery from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 7 pm.
UTOPIAN BUREAUCRATIC
International art gallery Zilberman Istanbul will host Memed Erdener, AKA Extramucadele, in a new exhibition. Titled Utopian Bureaucratic, the exhibition displays a total of 16 works by the artist in different forms from painting to sculpture, installation and calligraphy. The exhibition invites art lovers to “look, see, read and interpret” by proposing a constructive as well as destructive questioning, reminding them of all kinds of hierarchical belongings between literature conceptual art and meronymy”.
The exhibition is available at Zilberman Project Space from Tuesday to Friday between 11 am and 7 pm.
WHITE BLINDNESS
Krank Art Gallery will host Turkish artist Seda Boy’s new solo exhibition. Inspired by Jose Saramago’s book titled Blindness, the artist aimed to make the everyday things that we avoid since we focus on nothing ourselves visible again. Created with mixed techniques, the exhibition includes abstract eye installations and photographs.
The exhibition is available at Krank Art Gallery from Tuesday to Friday between 11 am and 7 pm.
INTELLECTUAL DEATH
Conceptual artist and writer Erhan Us’ 10th solo exhibition meets art lovers at Mira Koldas Art Gallery. Curated by Gokce Oruc, the exhibition takes on concepts such as post-reality, populism, identity politics and the individual slipping through from their intellectual existence due to the collapse of the education system. Having exhibited at five continents and 26 countries, the exhibition consists of controversial installations and paintings about the present era.
The exhibition is available to visit at Mira Koldas Art Gallery from Monday to Friday between 12 pm and 7 pm.
MADDE(SIZ)
Ankara-based Zulfu Livaneli Cultural Center will host Turkish artist Deniz C. Kosar’s new solo exhibition. Kosar embarks on an adventure that focuses on the weakening relationships of individuals in an ever-digitalizing world, especially during the pandemic. The artist’s installations call visitors to focus on the difference between the material and the non-material.
The exhibition is available at Zulfu Livaneli Cultural Center from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 8 pm.
