Contemporary Istanbul: highlights

Receiving by Moby. Courtesy: Emmanuell Fremin

This week, The Art Blog visited Istanbul for the ninth annual Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair. With one more day to go, we thought we would bring you some of the highlights ahead of the longer story to be published this week in the Arts and Life section.

Walking through the halls of the Rumeli Conference Center in a busy part of the Turkish capital, it was clear from the outset that Contemporary Istanbul (CI) has great ambitions. With 108 galleries from 22 different countries, the contemporary art scene is booming. On Wednesday’s opening night, thousands of people crowded the halls including as a host of local celebrities and art was flying off the shelves at all price points.

One of my favourite booths, Pi Artworks, was an “homage” to the artists whom gallerist Yesim Turanli has supported since founding her institution 10 years ago. The artist Gulay Semercioglu, whose signature style involves carefully looping kilometers of thin, coloured, enamel coated silver wire around a series of small screws and creating marvellous pieces that play with light and form, sold a large red piece on opening night and in the early hours of the second day, she finished a brand new piece that was quickly hung on the booth wall. Horasan, one of Turkey’s important portrait painters also had a a striking piece on display.

Other than a large contingent of Turkish galleries, the booths were showing art works from all over the world - many from the Middle East. Kashya Hildebrand, who were exhibiting at Abu Dhabi Art less than 10 days ago, had a beautiful tryptich from Moroccan artist Lalla Essaydi whose art, combines Islamic calligraphy with representations of the female body, addresses the complex reality of Arab female identity.

In Anima Gallery from Doha, the only representation from the Gulf, were some stunning pieces from a variety of artists including Qatari heavyweights Ali Hassan and Youssef Ahmad. Personally I loved Najia Mehadji’s blue sweeping pieces, realised after a deep inward study of Sufism.

In an attempt to access the middle market and attract new buyers, Contemporary Istanbul launched CI Editions for the first time this year. With limited edition prints, signed on site by the artists, it was a brave and bold move to widen their influence across the city and the region.

With 75,000 visitors predicted over five days, it is already having an impact, but with a rival art fair - Art International - set up by Emirati Dyala Nusseibah last year, it is clear that CI has to do something to keep itself fresh and in the market.

Another first for this year was PlugIn, a whole section dedicated to new media and electronic art. This section was impressive with big names in the business such as America’s Paul Myoda, a light sculptor and DAM Gallery from Berlin and a very cool installation from Turkish design studio called Ouchhh.

The Dialogues programme, featuring panel discussions and presentations from art world players from all over the world was well attended and a closing remark from a Turkish gallerist brought home the importance of the event for me. “Every single hour of the fair from beginning to the end is full,” she told me. This is testament to its importance and its knock on effect to the region.