Ok, back on track:
My first attempt at true tourism entailed clipping around to exhibitions and galleries and fairs. Although I was trying to take it easy, Istanbul proved too confusing and beautiful to stand still.
A good example: the santralistanbul is not an easy place to visit as a outsider. Located on the campus of Istanbul Bilgi University in the Eyup, thirty minutes by shuttle outside of a center of Istanbul, it proves a good challenge, important challenge.
The gallery is a massive and recently repurposed building that was initially the first power plant of the Ottoman Empire. The inagural show "Modern and Beyond" is a group currated/group exhibited chronologic "survey" of Turkish modern art from 1950-2000.
Marginally overshadowed by the spectacle of the new building, this exhibition is thoughtful albeit expansive. Three floors and an atrium tell the story of the art created by these Turkish artists over the decades. After World War II, many of them moved to Paris and learned about abstraction. The 60s and 70s found a couple of different minimovements emphasizing some realism, some sujectivity, some tradition. Soon an overt East vs. West conflict in Turkish art begins to rise. According to "Modern and Beyond," by the end of the 70s what was looked at was largely Western-contemporary in nature.
Above is Serhat Kiraz's 1992 piece "Zone."
Although broken into a chronology, the work as a whole is not disparate. Turkish artists; there is no question about this. There are certainly some miffed attempts at early conceptualism, but the best of the work communicates beautifully by being tender and confused with a politic.
Is it a powerful show to inaugurate the Santral?
I'm not sure.
What I saw prominently, though, was a huddle around a region's cultural identity. This is one of the most apparent aspects of visiting Istanbul as an art enthusiast, actually: Wisely and desperately, with the recent openings of the Santral and Istanbul Modern and the Istanbul Contemporary Fair, this country is doing much to protect its cultural identity. While curators like Ali Akay are doing a great job of bringing successful work to the city from the West, it is also a welcomed approach to shield.