Never Alone
Istanbul Modern Cinema’s new program introduces a selection of films by female from directors ar ound the world. Inspired by Turkish painter Selam Gurbuz’s female figures in her exhibition, This Place We Call World, the program will offer films that focus on the state of being a woman in the 21st century, feminine energy and the social and cultural roles that are appointed to women. Each film will be open to access for five days after they begin streaming, starting with, Narimane Mari Benamer’s Loubia Hamra on April 19, the story of the Algerian War of Independencere-enacted mainly by children. On April 21, Looking for Oum Kulthum will be made available. Co-directed by Shoja Azari and Shirin Neshat, the film is a drama about the Egyptian diva and legendary singer of the Arab world, Oum Kulthum. Also, as part of the program, Moufida Tlatli, one of the most important woman filmmakers in the world, who passed away on February 7, is commemorated with her film The Season of Men.
For more information, visit istanbulmodern.org.
FIELDS OF ROSES
Gallery 77 hosts Turkish painter Mehmet Resul Kacar’s first solo exhibition, named after a region of the artist’s hometown in Diyarbakir. Depicting the region where he was raised, the exhibition also features a video installation along with the paintings. Kacar portrays the scenery of his hometown and simultaneously focuses on the connection between animal abuse and human violence.
The exhibition is available at Gallery 77 from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 6pm.
TANGONEVA
Yeldegirmeni Art Center will host TangoNeva on April 21. Formed in 2011 by pianist Ayse Nil Ulgener, TangoNeva invites music lovers on a tour of tango-inspired compositions. Narrator Ali Pinar will also join the ensemble, which consists of Yonca Sulun and Gaye Susluoglu on violin, Ayse Didem Hekimoglu on viola, Julide Canca Eke on violoncello and Ceren Akcali on double bass.
Tickets are available at bilet.kadikoy.bel.tr.
PARADOXONOMETRY
The Hungarian Cultural Center in Istanbul will host world-renowned Hungarian artist Istvan Orosz’s solo exhibition. Curated by Kemal Orta, the exhibition displays the artist’s most recent works, which consist of geometrical architectural structures, walls and wooden objects. A graphic designer and painter, the artist named the exhibition by combining two words: paradox and axonometry. The first describes the paintings and the latter describes the creative process of the paintings, as it is a technique used in graphic design.
The exhibition is available at the Hungarian Cultural Center from Monday to Friday between 9am and 4:30pm.
TRIO LIKYA
Musical ensemble Trio Likya will take the stage of the Cemal Resit Rey (CRR) Concert Hall’s digital stage on April 20. Founded in 2017, the trio consists of Nilgun Yuksel on violin, Poyrac Baltacigil on the violoncello and Baris Buyukyildirim on the piano. Trio Likya will perform compositions by Maurice Ravel and Alfred Schnittke for music lovers at the CRR stage.
The concert will be available on CRR’s Youtube channel on Tuesday.
VERITY
Sapphire Art will host Turkish artist Recep Ciftci’s new solo exhibition, the Verity Collection. Drawing from “two paintings on one canvas”, Ciftci creates paintings full of optical illusions. Curated by Feride Celik, the paintings display an abstract composition at first but when the viewer looks at it through a camera lens, an entirely different composition appears.
The exhibition is available at Sapphire Art every day between 10am and 10pm.
LOVE LETTERS
PG Art Gallery hosts Turkish artist Ayse Wilson’s new solo exhibition. Wilson uses toile wallpaper samples as a reflection of her complicated feelings during the quarantine and domestic confinement. The artist aims to display the fear and anxiety of the unknown during the time of social restrictions across the world.
The exhibition is available at PG Art Gallery from Monday to Friday between 10am and 6pm.
FLUID DYNAMICS
Versus Art Project hosts a new group exhibition that dives into the concept of fluidity. Curated by Ozge Yilmaz, the works display reflections of fluidity on the relationship between the individual and the environment, nature and virtual spaces. The exhibition is named after a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids in physics and engineering. The exhibition offers a variety of techniques, from painting to photographs and sculptures by eight artists, including Alper Aydin, Didem Erbas, Sibel Horada and Deniz Tortum.
The exhibition is available at Versus Art Project from Tuesday to Friday between 11am and 6pm.
The Garden of (not) Forgetting
Depo Istanbul hosts a new exhibition that presents the works of Dilsad Aladag and Eda Aslan. As an artist and architect duo, Aladag and Aslan focus on how cities change with destructive transformations and the traces of memory left by them through their photographs. Originally centered around the Istanbul University Institute of Botanics, Alfred Heilbronn Botanical Garden and the plant-life around it, the duo’s project later extended its focus to the archives and the stories of the garden’s founders.
The exhibition is available at Depo Istanbul from Tuesday to Saturday between 11am and 7pm.
Studio’s Lost & Found
Renowned Turkish painter Bedri Baykam is preparing to bring together his works and art lovers at Piramid Sanat. Baykam “publicizes” his art studio and invites the audience to his private space through the exhibition, which is the artist’s 143rd solo show. The exhibition displays Baykam’s works made between 2017 and 2021. Each work carries a piece, memory and a DNA of Baykam’s studio.
The exhibition is available at Piramid Sanat from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 7pm.
WATER REVERIE
Borusan Contemporary’s anticipated collection exhibition Water Reverie opens to virtual viewing. Curated by Dr. Necmi Sonmez, the exhibition focuses on new possibilities of expression through virtual art as well as the interactive relationship between the works and its viewers. The exhibition includes the works of artists such as Peter Coffin, Ellen Kooi, Frank Thiel, Micheal Wolf, Marizio Nannucci, Bomoon and Hans Kotter. The works present a literate experience by drawing connections between the universal language of poetry and contemporary images. In addition to the traditional exhibition experience, the viewers will have the opportunity to experience significant works of contemporary art in 3D on a designated route along the European shore of the Bosphorus through an AR-supported mobile application. The exhibition “proposes to develop a cross-disciplinary reading” of the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection by associating a selection of works from the collection and “the eponymous oeuvre of Edip Cansever”, a major figure in Turkish poetry.
The exhibition is available at borusancontemporary.com
Modal Jazz Quartet & String Qintet
Turkish musician Nail Yavuzoglu’s new jazz project brings together renowned Turkish musicians at the Cemal Resit Rey (CRR) Concert Hall’s digital stage on April 21. The project is a performance where new standards that were created by harmonic structures of jazz standards are performed. Yavuzoglu will be accompanied by Onder Focan on guitar, Senova Ulker on trumpet, Firtina Kral on drums, Burak Kayan on viola, Mert Gurel on the violoncello and Bahar Buyukgonenc, Yonca Sulun and Omur Guren on violin.
The concert will be available on CRR’s Youtube channel on Tuesday.
TEMAS
An Istanbul-based independent art collective, Giz’li Atolye Kolektif, invites art lovers to a new exhibition that offers
a chance to help women in need. Viewers are encouraged to purchase the works they like, which are made by the collective’s artists, as well as independent artists. The revenue from the exhibition will be donated to Kadin Hekimler Egitime Destek Vakfi, an education-focused association and Deep Poverty Network.
The exhibition is available on temassergi.com.
