22 May 2018

Istanbul Modern's temporary space in Beyoğlu opens on May 23

Istanbul Modern, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art, has moved to its temporary space in Beyoğlu while its new building is being constructed. For the next three years, Istanbul Modern will host all events and exhibitions in the historical Union Française building, the doors of which it will open to art lovers on May 23.

Istanbul Modern, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art, has moved temporarily to Beyoğlu after 14 years in Antrepo #4, its building in Karaköy, which housed the museum's collection and temporary exhibition halls, photography gallery, educational and social programs, library, cinema, café, and store.

The historical building on Meşrutiyet Avenue has been renovated so as to accommodate all of Istanbul Modern's exhibitions and activities until the new museum is completed. Built by Alexandre Vallaury in 1896, the Union Française building will open to the public as Istanbul Modern's temporary space on May 23, 2018.

Istanbul Modern's temporary space will house exhibition halls, a library, cinema, educational spaces, and a café and store. The museum will inaugurate its temporary space with an exhibition by the world-renowned sculptor Anthony Cragg and two collection exhibitions featuring numerous works previously unseen by art lovers.

'Human Nature' with Anthony Cragg
May 23 – November 11, 2018

'Human Nature', an exhibition sponsored by Ferko, a firm noted for its support of culture and the arts, and realized with the contributions of British Consulate-General Istanbul and British Council, features over 50 works from different periods of the career of the celebrated sculptor Anthony Cragg. One of the most original and innovative artists in contemporary sculpture today, Cragg's works are found in leading museum and institution collections around the world. Pushing form, color, and material beyond their limits, Cragg challenges the definition of sculpture and, by introducing diversity, endows it with a multilayered richness.

Curated by Istanbul Modern Director Levent Çalıkoğlu, the exhibition integrates Anthony Cragg's experiments in sculpture since the 1980s into a comprehensive and chronological whole. Presented in the exhibition are Cragg's wall reliefs, which are among the artist's early works, as well as examples from his 'Early Forms' and 'Rational Beings' series, in which he experimented with a variety of materials and techniques over the years. Also featured are drawings, which Cragg describes as part of his production process, and works in which he brings different contexts to the material and that reflect tendencies closely associated with his work.


'In Pursuit of the Present' in Istanbul Modern's Collection

Istanbul Modern's collection exhibition 'In Pursuit of the Present focuses on human conditions in today's world. Spread across two floors of Istanbul Modern's temporary space, the exhibition places the contemporary human being at its center, featuring works that explore the relationship between humans and cities, nature, and their own selves in historical, social and personal contexts. Consisting of paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and drawings by 33 artists, the exhibition focuses on the dynamics of the relationship humans establish with their physical environment.

Woven with various intersecting and interrelating thematic strands, 'In Pursuit of the Present' places the human being at its focal point, and, through the works in the exhibition, branches off into side paths such as identity, the body, gender politics, processes of construction and destruction, and the relationship between nature and humans.

Artists: Murat Akagündüz, Rasim Aksan, Alaettin Aksoy, Deniz Aktaş, Peter Anders, Mehtap Baydu, Ramazan Bayrakoğlu, Sabri Berkel, Taner Ceylan, Adnan Çoker, Burhan Doğançay, Olafur Eliasson, Tracey Emin, İnci Eviner, Mehmet Güleryüz, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Hüsamettin Koçan, Azade Köker, Maro Michalakakos, Sarah Morris, Hans op de Beeck, Angel Otero, Kemal Önsoy, İrfan Önürmen, Necla Rüzgar, Sarkis, Güneş Terkol, Canan Tolon, TUNCA, Ömer Uluç, Zhan Wang, Nil Yalter, Jerome Zonder.



'Points of View' at the Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery
May 23 – November 11, 2018

Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery's collection exhibition features exploratory works in the field of photography from the 1960s onward. The exhibition brings together works from the museum's collection by six artists from different generations who rethink composition, material and subject matter.

This selection of 25 works from the Istanbul Modern Photography Collection aims to examine the photography of our times through a perspective that takes into account the past and present.

Artists: Ali Alışır, Ani Çelik Arevyan, Orhan Cem Çetin, Murat Germen, Şahin Kaygun, Boris Mikhailov