Collectors from throughout Europe, the US and Turkey converged on the opulent Tersane Istanbul advanced—a restored Ottoman shipyard overlooking the Golden Horn—for the opening of Modern Istanbul (CI, till 28 September) on Tuesday. Celebrating its twentieth anniversary, the truthful introduced collectively 51 galleries from 16 international locations.
This yr’s version coincided with the Istanbul Biennial, which drew a bigger crowd of collectors and museum teams in comparison with the earlier yr. The truthful confirmed stronger high quality than its early iterations, with works by main Turkish artists akin to Nil Yalter, Güneş Terkol and Azade Köker on view.
Many cubicles displayed material and ceramic-based items alongside work, with costs spanning €1,000 for younger rising artists to above €2m for a monumental James Rosenquist portray, beforehand exhibited on the Guggenheim Museums in New York and introduced by the native gallery Sevil Dolmaci.
Spirits had been excessive on the truthful however Turkey’s socio-political local weather stays delicate. Because the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu earlier this yr, protests have continued in components of the nation.
But Ali Güreli, the chairperson and founding father of Modern Istanbul, and founding father of The Artwork Newspaper Turkey stays optimistic in regards to the nation’s artwork scene. “We must be calm,” he says, including that it’s additionally important to be “radical and intelligent.”
“Censorship is nothing new”
Regardless of an setting of accelerating censorship and stress on cultural establishments, the town’s artwork ecosystem stays resilient. Native artists proceed to seek out artistic methods to provide crucial, socially engaged work, a few of which Turkish galleries displayed on the truthful.
Pilevneli gallery displayed a hyper-realistic portray, You’re Secure Right here (2025), by the Turkish artist Rasim Aksan, priced at roughly €120,000, seen from the window of their non permanent street-level area. The monumental triptych depicts sailors carousing in what seems to be a homosexual bar, with homoerotic work within the background. It was a daring alternative provided that LGBTQ+ themes danger censorship in Turkey.
The Istanbul- and Berlin-based Zilberman gallery confirmed Nazar/Eye (2019), a material work by the Kurdish feminist artist Fatoş İrwen, created throughout her imprisonment, delicately stitched with human hair and pierced with security pins. In the meantime, Pilot gallery displayed the Turkish artist Halil Altındere’s bronze Pinocchio sculpture, whose lengthy nostril turns into a brush.
“It’s speaking about the way it’s hardly doable to comb up your individual lies with extra lies, however the piece is just not directed in direction of any particular celebration or politician,” says Marcus Graf, a professor at Yeditepe College, noting that the artist’s delicate strategy is frequent. “That’s the Turkish manner… Censorship is nothing new. Because the Eighties, after the army coup, the restriction of freedom of speech has been completely totally different from the West.”
He provides there’s elevated warning concerning faith now: “You will not see anybody—a minimum of not overtly—criticising spiritual agendas.”
Gathering amid inflation
Whereas the preview acquired off to a gradual begin, a number of Turkish galleries rehung their sales space on the second day. Native gallery Dirimart bought a Tony Cragg sculpture, and Sevil Dolmacı gallery bought a Turkish artist Nilbar Güreş work for €35,000. Pilot Gallery bought an Altındere portray to a French collector for €50,000. Zilberman bought a number of mixed-media works by Turkish artist Azade Köker, priced from €9,500 to €45,000. In addition they bought a piece by Slovakian artist Lucia Tallova for €8,000.
Zilberman’s program supervisor Ece Ateş famous, nonetheless, that many collectors had been requesting reductions because of the present financial local weather. Turkey’s GDP grew 4.8% over the previous yr, surpassing expectations, although inflation stays above 30%.
“Turkey is at all times the other way up—it’s like a curler coaster. Twenty years in the past, it was the identical,” says the founding father of Pilot Galerie Azra Tüzünoğlu, referring to previous financial crises. “However the entire world has issues now. The temper isn’t good wherever.”
A number of worldwide galleries reported gross sales on the decrease finish. Some famous that collectors lacked the urgency or decisiveness of consumers in bigger festivals. Heft Gallery—one in every of 11 newcomers to the truthful—bought two works by Edward Burtynsky made in collaboration with the generative AI artist Alkan Avcıoğlu for €13,700 every and two works by Nancy Burson for €12,800 and €10,300. One other first-time exhibitor, New York-based Amanita Gallery, bought works by Nicholas Campbell and Adrian Schachter within the vary of about €8,600 to €12,800.
Many abroad exhibitors had been happy with the result of the truthful. Barbara Čeferin, the founder and proprietor of the Slovenian gallery Galerija Fotografija, who was additionally attending for the primary time, stated she had her eye on this truthful for years and wasn’t disillusioned: “Istanbul has financial energy and individuals who cherish artwork.”
Subsequent yr, CI’s Güreli plans to focus on Asian exhibitors and develop the truthful to 70 galleries. Modern artwork galleries are additionally anticipated to open quickly in Tersane Istanbul, underscoring the vitality of the broader artwork scene. “Turkish society may be very crisis-experienced,” Graf says. “That’s what I like in regards to the [local art institutions]—regardless of all of the tumult, they at all times proceed.”
