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YUKSEL ARSLAN - PAINTING A MORE OPEN TURKEY
Mark Van Yetter
Global Arab Network
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201007276694/Culture/yueksel-arslan-painting-a-more-open-turkey.html
July 28 2010
Istanbul, Turkey - Looking at the shape of the art world's character
today, there is one aspect that clearly stands out. Modern art's
trajectory, which remains centred in Northwestern Europe and the
United States, is experiencing a shifting of axis. Countries long
exempt from participation, such as Turkey, are eager to establish
themselves as players in the art industry.
Several art centres, museums and galleries of merit have opened
their doors in Turkey over the last decade - and this trend seems
to be growing. These institutions have done much to expose Turkey's
tradition of modern art, centred in Istanbul.
Notable among these include the art and cultural complex called
Santral-Istanbul which recently held a magnificently curated
retrospective of 76-year-old Turkish artist Yuksel Arslan. Living
in self-imposed exile in Paris to avoid censorship of the socialist
and satirist themes of his works, which focus on the working class,
the artist returned to Turkey in 2009 for a seven-month show.
In May 2010, a new gallery space, Rampa, hosted a large show of works
by Cengiz Cekil, the artist credited with establishing conceptual
art in Turkey, whose work reflects the political and social tensions
before the 1980 military coup. Another gallery of note, BAS, recently
featured a display of magazines and works by KORİDOR, a group of
artists who worked between 1988 and 1995. It is only now that many
of these artists' works have been seen in mainstream outlets in Turkey.
However, this movement is still small. Only recently have these forums
for artistic cultivation and dissemination begun to appear as the
Turkish public begins to embrace its artistic movements.
Considering the greatest achievements in modern art in the West, it's
obvious that artists who radically threatened established societal
and cultural values were the ones who made the most important
contributions.
Western artists like Germany's Joseph Beuys, regarded as one of the
most important artists of the 20th century, challenged the idea
that art must be confined to the making of objects. He developed
the idea of "social sculpture" and saw society itself as complicated
artwork which everyone takes part in creating. For example, to raise
eco-consciousness and social change, Beuys planted 7,000 oak trees in
Kassel, Germany with the help of volunteers. A basalt stone accompanied
each tree, collectively creating a sculpture entitled "7000 Oaks".
Likewise, a group of Turkish artists and writers used modern art to
challenge the murder of the Editor-in-Chief of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink, a proponent of human rights. Creating a
life-size work of art, the artists covered themselves in newspaper
and lay down in the street where Dink was shot to protest his death
and the controversy surrounding his newspaper's coverage of Turkish
society's views on the Armenian deaths in 1915 by Ottoman forces.
But to understand the recent interest in Turkish modern art, one must
first examine the country's recent history.
The last military coup in Turkey was in 1980. The military, which
staunchly protects Turkey's secular political system, employed violent
methods, such as threatening journalists and assassinating left-wing
intellectuals in order to maintain the secular system during the years
leading up to and following the 1980 coup. With no space to challenge
the status quo, Turkey's modern art scene remained underground for
a long time.
Since the founding of the Republic, Turkish society has neither had
the opportunity nor the outlet to be openly critical of the military
state. The Republic continued the Ottoman programme of supporting art
primarily as a tool to reinforce national sentiment. This is evident
in the large number of commissioned portraits and statues of modern
Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
However, in part due to new policies related to Turkey's EU bid and
greater global exposure through the Internet, the last decade has
seen the emergence of a society more open to dialogue and debate
about various social and political issues. Turkish society is now
more willing to confront its brutal past. Topics that were never
permitted to be discussed are now open for debate.
Here I see the greatest hope for the emergence of a more open Turkish
society, one that works towards a vibrant open future. And, thanks
to an environment more conducive to open dialogue, there now appears
a foundation for interesting Turkish modern art to flourish.
Global Arab Network
* Mark Van Yetter is an artist and Director of Marquise Dance Hall,
an independent art space in Istanbul. This article was written for
the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
From: A. Papazian
Mark Van Yetter
Global Arab Network
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201007276694/Culture/yueksel-arslan-painting-a-more-open-turkey.html
July 28 2010
Istanbul, Turkey - Looking at the shape of the art world's character
today, there is one aspect that clearly stands out. Modern art's
trajectory, which remains centred in Northwestern Europe and the
United States, is experiencing a shifting of axis. Countries long
exempt from participation, such as Turkey, are eager to establish
themselves as players in the art industry.
Several art centres, museums and galleries of merit have opened
their doors in Turkey over the last decade - and this trend seems
to be growing. These institutions have done much to expose Turkey's
tradition of modern art, centred in Istanbul.
Notable among these include the art and cultural complex called
Santral-Istanbul which recently held a magnificently curated
retrospective of 76-year-old Turkish artist Yuksel Arslan. Living
in self-imposed exile in Paris to avoid censorship of the socialist
and satirist themes of his works, which focus on the working class,
the artist returned to Turkey in 2009 for a seven-month show.
In May 2010, a new gallery space, Rampa, hosted a large show of works
by Cengiz Cekil, the artist credited with establishing conceptual
art in Turkey, whose work reflects the political and social tensions
before the 1980 military coup. Another gallery of note, BAS, recently
featured a display of magazines and works by KORİDOR, a group of
artists who worked between 1988 and 1995. It is only now that many
of these artists' works have been seen in mainstream outlets in Turkey.
However, this movement is still small. Only recently have these forums
for artistic cultivation and dissemination begun to appear as the
Turkish public begins to embrace its artistic movements.
Considering the greatest achievements in modern art in the West, it's
obvious that artists who radically threatened established societal
and cultural values were the ones who made the most important
contributions.
Western artists like Germany's Joseph Beuys, regarded as one of the
most important artists of the 20th century, challenged the idea
that art must be confined to the making of objects. He developed
the idea of "social sculpture" and saw society itself as complicated
artwork which everyone takes part in creating. For example, to raise
eco-consciousness and social change, Beuys planted 7,000 oak trees in
Kassel, Germany with the help of volunteers. A basalt stone accompanied
each tree, collectively creating a sculpture entitled "7000 Oaks".
Likewise, a group of Turkish artists and writers used modern art to
challenge the murder of the Editor-in-Chief of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Agos, Hrant Dink, a proponent of human rights. Creating a
life-size work of art, the artists covered themselves in newspaper
and lay down in the street where Dink was shot to protest his death
and the controversy surrounding his newspaper's coverage of Turkish
society's views on the Armenian deaths in 1915 by Ottoman forces.
But to understand the recent interest in Turkish modern art, one must
first examine the country's recent history.
The last military coup in Turkey was in 1980. The military, which
staunchly protects Turkey's secular political system, employed violent
methods, such as threatening journalists and assassinating left-wing
intellectuals in order to maintain the secular system during the years
leading up to and following the 1980 coup. With no space to challenge
the status quo, Turkey's modern art scene remained underground for
a long time.
Since the founding of the Republic, Turkish society has neither had
the opportunity nor the outlet to be openly critical of the military
state. The Republic continued the Ottoman programme of supporting art
primarily as a tool to reinforce national sentiment. This is evident
in the large number of commissioned portraits and statues of modern
Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
However, in part due to new policies related to Turkey's EU bid and
greater global exposure through the Internet, the last decade has
seen the emergence of a society more open to dialogue and debate
about various social and political issues. Turkish society is now
more willing to confront its brutal past. Topics that were never
permitted to be discussed are now open for debate.
Here I see the greatest hope for the emergence of a more open Turkish
society, one that works towards a vibrant open future. And, thanks
to an environment more conducive to open dialogue, there now appears
a foundation for interesting Turkish modern art to flourish.
Global Arab Network
* Mark Van Yetter is an artist and Director of Marquise Dance Hall,
an independent art space in Istanbul. This article was written for
the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
From: A. Papazian