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 honest introduced collectively 51 galleries from 16 nations.
This 12 months’s version coincided with the Istanbul Biennial, which drew a bigger crowd of collectors and museum teams in comparison with the earlier 12 months. The honest confirmed stronger high quality than its early iterations, with works by main Turkish artists similar to Nil Yalter, Güneş Terkol and Azade Köker on view.
Many cubicles displayed cloth 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 honest however Turkey’s socio-political local weather stays delicate. For the reason that arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu earlier this 12 months, protests have continued in elements 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, town’s artwork ecosystem stays resilient. Native artists proceed to search out artistic methods to supply vital, socially engaged work, a few of which Turkish galleries displayed on the honest.
Pilevneli gallery displayed a hyper-realistic portray, You’re Protected Right here (2025), by the Turkish artist Rasim Aksan, priced at roughly €120,000, seen from the window of their momentary 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 on condition that LGBTQ+ themes danger censorship in Turkey.
The Istanbul- and Berlin-based Zilberman gallery confirmed Nazar/Eye (2019), a cloth 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 attainable to comb up your personal lies with extra lies, however the piece is just not directed in the direction of any particular social gathering or politician,” says Marcus Graf, a professor at Yeditepe College, noting that the artist’s delicate strategy is widespread. “That’s the Turkish means… Censorship is nothing new. For the reason that Eighties, after the navy 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 non secular agendas.”
Gathering amid inflation
Whereas the preview obtained off to a sluggish begin, a number of Turkish galleries rehung their sales space on the second day. Native gallery Dirimart offered a Tony Cragg sculpture, and Sevil Dolmacı gallery offered a Turkish artist Nilbar Güreş work for €35,000. Pilot Gallery offered an Altındere portray to a French collector for €50,000. Zilberman offered a number of mixed-media works by Turkish artist Azade Köker, priced from €9,500 to €45,000. In addition they offered 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 12 months, surpassing expectations, although inflation stays above 30%.
“Turkey is at all times the wrong 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 anyplace.”
A number of worldwide galleries reported gross sales on the decrease finish. Some famous that collectors lacked the urgency or decisiveness of patrons in bigger festivals. Heft Gallery—one among 11 newcomers to the honest—offered 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, offered 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 end result of the honest. 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 honest for years and wasn’t disillusioned: “Istanbul has financial energy and individuals who cherish artwork.”
Subsequent 12 months, CI’s Güreli plans to focus on Asian exhibitors and increase the honest 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 could be very crisis-experienced,” Graf says. “That’s what I love in regards to the [local art institutions]—regardless of all of the tumult, they at all times proceed.”
