A Question of Taste: Avant-garde meets kitsch
Dancing around the concept of kitsch, which was originally used to describe cheap and popular paintings in post-industrial Germany, Pera Museum’s new group exhibition brings together works of thirteen artists and collectives. The exhibition questions the norms of taste as a class indicator and explores the sense of aesthetics and its values attributed to the East and the West. Focusing on the rise of mass culture in opposition to high art, the exhibition aims to explore the rich uses of the concept of kitsch in dialogue with artists. A Question of Taste, curated by Ulya Soley, directly targets the concept of taste through objects and the visual language that has dominated the internet and social life since the early ‘90s. “In this era when diversity, ambiguity, and ineffability are sanctified, can kitsch be a tool to carry these values forward? Is it possible to define taste as something other than an indicator of class?” the artists ask.
The exhibition is available at Pera Museum from Tuesday to Friday between 11am and 6pm.
ANIMA MUNDI
Independent art gallery Pilot hosts a group exhibition that revolves around the concept of witchcraft, a part of the eco-feminist doctrine. Curated by Ozge Yilmaz, the exhibition includes the works of Luna Ece Bal, Emine Boyner Kursat, Hera Buyuktasciyan, Sibel Horada, Lara Ogel and Irem Tok. The artists use different techniques, from paper marbling to traditional painting, sculpture and installations, to shed light on the norms of healing, humankind’s relationship with nature, personal rituals and alchemy.
The exhibition is available at Pilot from Tuesday to Friday between 12pm and 6pm.
A Voyage of the Bravery
Borusan Sanat’s classical music platform presents a new concert by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the baton of renowned conductor Patrick Hahn, the orchestra takes music lovers on a historical journey through classical music.
The concert is available at borusansanat.tv.
ARE YOU SURE?
Turkish artist Hazal Aksoy’s third solo exhibition presents collages that disrupt the hierarchic order of traditional painting. Hosted by Gallery Soyut, the artist creates a new reality through her collages, using a technic that “creates a new balance between meaning and function,” explains artist Arzu Parten.
The exhibition is available at Gallery Soyut from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 7pm.
ZERRE
Beyoglu Municipality’s art gallery will host Turkish artist Musa Guney’s 22nd solo exhibition. Focusing mainly on graphic art, photography and painting, the artist’s works from the last decade will be displayed. Guney has taken part in international and domestic exhibitions as a juror and director since 1999.
The exhibition is available at Beyoglu Municipality’s building from Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm.
HASHTAG
F Art Gallery presents the new solo exhibition of painter Burcu Erkal Salman, who takes a jab at social media and the virtual reality that comes with it. While nostalgia and longing for the past increasingly becoming popular, hashtags are the self-criticism of today itself, according to the artist. “They tag the endangered world, conquer technology and all of us,” Salman says.
The exhibition is available at F Art Gallery from Monday to Friday between 9am and 7pm.
Erkan Zeki Ar & Baturay Yarkin Duo
Guitarist Erkan Zeki Ar and pianist Baturay Yarkin team up for Akbank Sanat’s online concert series, offering listeners a versatile repertoire.
The concert is available on Akbank Sanat’s Youtube channel.
ON SOZ
Cadde 160 Art Gallery makes its debut in the Turkish art world with an exhibition by Kadir Ablak, Ismail Tetikci and Osman Akca. Ablak work interrogates the spread of the urbanization as an aesthetic; Akca’s paintings engage with an imaginative commentary on freedom; and Tetikci work evokes feelings of existential uncertainty.
The exhibition is available at Cadde 160 Art Gallery from Tuesday to Friday between 11:30am and 7pm.
YUZ REZONANSLARIYLA DANS
Bahri Genc confronts the depth of abstracted human expression in his new solo exhibition at the Galeri Selvin. His paintings create translucent meanings through metaphors, shifting from abstraction when viewed up close to offering a different reality from afar.
The exhibition is available at Galeri Selvin from Monday to Saturday from 11am to 7pm.
SIMDI 2021
Odeabank’s art platform O’Art presents its first digital exhibition. The exhibition consists of 30 works by 15 artists, including Berkay Tuncay, Eda Aslan, Sinan Boroali, Zeynep Sumerval and Levent Kazgan. The exhibition focuses on the concept of “new reality” as a result of the pandemic’s surreal flow. The artists question this reality, its conflicts and the way of thinking in this environment.
The exhibition is available at odea.biz/Simdi2021
Yigit Karatas & Tayfun Ilhan
Renowned violinist Yigit Karatas and pianist Tayfun Ilhan get together for a performance as part of Is Sanat’s online concert event. The duo’s performance will be the fourth event in Is Sanat’s March program.
The concert will be available on Is Sanat’s Youtube channel on Thursday.
Istanbul Gece Gunduz Muzik Festivali
Istanbul Gece Gunduz Muzik Festivali, the city’s new classical music and jazz event, will bring together renowned Turkish and international musicians online from March 7 to 14. The festival will begin with the performance of guitarist Serkan Yilmaz, known for his improvisations, and continue with pianist Olcay Saral and sound technician and composer Mehmet Can Ozer.
Tickets for the online concerts are available at biletix.com.