At the Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair organized between 14-17September, a total number of one thousand 500 artworks from 73 galleries were exhibited.

THE CONTEMPORARY Istanbul Art Fair held between 14-17 September this year, hosted more than 80 thousand persons. At the fair participated by 73 galleries and exhibiting one thousand 500 artworks, was held this year simultaneously with the 15th Istanbul Biennial and the exhibitions of several art organizations and galleries.

We talked with CI Chairman Ali Güreli about the fair and the interest in contemporary art.

How many galleries and arts were hosted by CI this year?

At the 12th edition of CI, 73 galleries including more than 20 participating for the first time, were hosted and some one thousand 500 artworks were exhibited. 42 of the galleries participating from the countries like US, Britain, Swiss, Spain, France, Romania, Iran, Israel and China are foreigners.

How many persons visited the fair?

We noticed that the fair attracts more interest every year. This year, more than 80 thousand persons visited the fair.

What about the interest of the galleries and collectors to Turkey compared to the past years?

In such an atmosphere, our intention was to encourage all institutions to gather and to act around a common idea under the umbrella of “a week full of art” and therefore, to attract more people from the world to Istanbul. Thanks to this synergy to be created, we aimed at bringing people, hesitating to come to Turkey, to Istanbul through this art enthusiasm and we believe that we succeeded.

THE FAIR OVERFLOWED TO THE OPEN SPACE

Which novelties caught interest in the fair this year?

This year, the architectural concept design of the fair was made by the awarded architecture company Tabanlıoğlu Architecture accomplishing projects across the world. For this edition, the interior space design of Contemporary Istanbul-especially the open air one-has been realized with a special perspective referring to the public spaces, as a variation of city park. The interior venue of the fair arranged artificially, has been also considered as an extension of the Artists Park adjacent to the fair area where the sculptures were exhibited open air during the exhibition. This novelty caught a lot of attention.

Is there any stagnation in the purchase of artworks in Turkey? Is the ‘golden age’ over in this sense? How far the Turkish collectors are affected by the economy and politics?

The economic progress achieved by Turkey during the past 10-12 years had a positive impact on us. The improvement of welfare state of people and per capita income increase had positive outcomes. The collectors began to allocate more time and interest to the art in time. Until 10 years ago, the collectors who were used to buy artworks only from the local market, opened later to the foreign countries and became the clients of the world’s leading art galleries. This helped the collections to assume an international dimension.

Will we see a new version of the Collectors Exhibition, sparking a big interest last year?

Following the success of the Collectors’ Stories exhibition gathering for the first time 120 artworks from the 60 leading contemporary art collections of Turkey last year at CI, we realized for the first time the project of Collectors’ Stories Book as CI Publishing. The exhibition book covering the artworks directly selected by the collectors, is and will be distributed by the top international corporations.

The total of artworks in sales is $50 million

AT THE FAIR organized with the sponsorship of Akbank, the artworks worth 55 million dollars (about 195 million liras) were sold. Among the artworks exhibited at the fair, Infinity-Nets (Sotoa) by Yayoi Kusama from Victoria Miro Gallery was sold at 500 thousand euros and Fahrelnissia Zeid from Dirimart was sold at 500 thousand dollars.

Simultaneously with Biennial

THE SECOND week of CI organized simultaneously with the other art events to fuel the interest, coincided with the opening of the 15th Istanbul Biennial. The preview and opening programme of CI were held simultaneously in the same week with the events like Sakip Sabancı Museum, Istanbul Modern, Pera Museum, Elgiz Museum, Akbank Art and Arter.

“Acting together is necessary”

ALI GÜRELI reminds that the year 2016 has been a difficult one not only for Turkey but for the whole world as well; “we decided last year that all art corporations act together. Now, when I look back to one year ago, I’m proud of our decision to move Contemporary Istanbul from November to September” he said.

60 foreign journalists

DORIS ARKIN, the artist from Uruguay, participated with the artwork Icarus to the Contemporary Istanbul. This artwork of Arkin consist of iron, copper and clock dials. Some 60 foreign press members followed the fair hosting the artists from various parts of the world.

Lady Taurus by Elif Uras

ANOTHER TURKISH artist participating to the fair was Elif Uras. Exhibiting her work Lady Taurus, Uras studied law at Columbia University in US but then, preferred to orient herself to the art. Uras is the daughter of the journalist Güngör Uras.

The Turks too are on display

The Turkish artist Emre Yusufi, participating to the fair with her artwork Boxing Turso, was born in 1980. The art designer and the art director Yusufi is graduated from the Italian Art Academy. Contemporary Istanbul is also an occasion for the art lovers to discover the young Turkish artists.