17th edition of Contemporary Istanbul concludes with compelling sales and turnout

The 17th edition of Contemporary Istanbul concluded with much aplomb on September 22, 2022 after colouring the city of Istanbul with a comprehensive exposition of global art. The art fair, held at Tersane Istanbul, the historic Ottoman shipyard on the Golden Horn saw a major footfall of nearly 50,000 visitors who held high estimations for the exhibited works of 65 leading galleries and art initiatives. As one of the leading art events globally, Contemporary Istanbul 2022 was organised in partnership with of Akbank, one of the largest privately-owned banks in Turkey. Highlighting the event were a plethora of vivid art pieces and sculptural works including the contemporary artist Cody Choi’s ‘Cody’s Legend vs. Freud’s Shit Box’ that bagged a record sale of $450,000 and BMW’s ‘8xJeff Koons’ edition of the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe that embodied precision, refinement and craftsmanship of the American Artist Jeff Koons’ iconic practice.

Participating in the art fair were collectors and Museum groups from all over the world including Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Russia and the United Arab Emirates marked their presence at the fair.

In a conclusive count, the international event reported enormous sales with works sold by the galleries such as Dirimart, Sevil Dolmaci art gallery, Belgrade-based gallery Hestia, Galeria Joan Gaspar, Pi Artworks, BüroSarıgedik and Öktem Aykut among others. Furthermore, the contemporary art gallery Art On also announced their sale of commissioned works by several artists including the Greek artists Evgenia Vereli and Malvina Panagiotidi and Anca Poterasu from Bucharest. Contemporary Istanbul also hosted a reception for Consuls General and other diplomats stationed in Istanbul, where CI Chairperson Ali Güreli spoke about Istanbul's thriving cultural landscape and how art is reshaping the Golden Horn. The event also witnessed a stellar line-up of galleries from Europe and the Middle East with renowned galleries from North America, Africa and Asia, platforming nearly 1476 artworks by 558 different artists.

Among the abundant art displays and exhibitions, a noteworthy site-specific installation, the Yard exhibition, at the Yard Mentalklinik paved the way for all the art enthusiasts to witness the works of 23 iconic artists including Canan Tolon’s ‘Yes! We’re OPEN’. The art installation drew inferences from the mercantile label that is often seen in storefronts. Just like most of the Turkish artist’s works, the installation focuses on deceptive messaging as imagined by Tolon in the form of a field of doors standing wide open to welcome visitors, while obstructing one another. Similarly, the Istanbul-born artist Renée Levi also weaves artful memorabilia recalling her childhood spent in the Turkish city, as part of the Yard exhibition. With an authentic placement for Tersane Istanbul, Levi resurrected her enormous colossal paintings named Barbra from the Color Field series, which are wide, iridescent blocks structured to complete one another. While Levi focuses on instilling a memory, the British designer Martin Creed builds a monument to water. His installation crowns water for not just its elemental importance but also for its multi-faceted personality of being fun and dangerous, life-giving and life-threatening.

While the wide roster of art exhibitions conveyed unique narratives, many art and design-led discourses added new perspectives on global issues and art. As part of the collaborative presentation by BMW and the art fair, an artist talk between Jeff Koons and the Contemporary Istanbul Chairperson Ali Güreli spearheaded the launch of a special edition of BMW 8 series. Furthermore, as part of the CIF Dialogues by TAV Passport, the Foundation organised a series of public talks and discussions that were moderated by the curator Marc Olivier Wahler. ‘Testing the Elasticity of the Art Space’ brought together artists including Federica Beretta, Hou Hanru, Mehmet Even, Melisa Pezuk, and Murat Tabanlıoğlu, who sat through a discussion on art spaces of today and tomorrow.

Another entrancing exhibit was the courtesy of the event’s main partner Akbank, ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ by Clement Valla, a Brooklyn-based artist. The exhibition was curated by renowned Turkish academic and biographer, Hasan Bulent Kahraman. The exhibition focused on utilising digital art to add new dimensions to nature. The result was a fresh take on the ever-changing picture of nature and its components that appear to be stable and in place but still have multiple folds of obscure and mysterious characteristics attached to them. Additionally, the sculpture-performance 'Disruption' by artistic duo Ha:ar (Hande Ekerciler and Arda Yalkn) was staged by Pernod Ricard Turkey, a partner of Contemporary Istanbul. By creating a dialogue about the linkages between art, machine, and artificial intelligence, the pair examined the potential of technology to dramatically redefine the notion of art. The design duo ha:ar were creating artwork in real-time with the robotic arm that they presented at the expo.

The art event also transported the visitors into the metaverse with NFTs at the LG OLED Art booth, along with new projects by the artist Güvenç Özel, sculptor Günnur Özsoy and even an art residency program in collaboration with Tosyali Holding. The 17th edition of the art fair brought back the high-spirited celebration of art and design to an international platform and paved the way for young and established artists to present their works to an international audience.

Contemporary Istanbul’s 17th edition was held from September 17, 2022, to September 22, 2022, at Tersane Istanbul in Turkey.