ArtAnkara 2018 – An Accelerating Art Environment of the Region

One of the largest art fairs in Turkey, ArtAnkara serves as a platform to strengthen and develop art environment and art market of the region and neighboring countries.

Following the success of the last year’s edition, that was visited by 39.650 art lovers, the relatively young fair came back to ATO Congresium for the fourth time this March with a significantly enhanced list of emerging and established galleries from Turkey and abroad.

ArtAnkara 2018 gathered over 100 national and international galleries, contemporary art museums, fine arts faculties, art materials companies, collectors, and art associations from South Korea, Italy, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Macedonia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Greece, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, France, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria and Russia, amongst others.

Spanning across 10,000 sqm, the fair presented a careful selection of works, ranging from painting, sculpture, photography and video to digital art and installations. This year’s theme was Art Goes to Work, converting the business world and art gathering into significant and important synergy.

Dedicated to re-making Ankara “the capital of art” as it used to be upon the foundation of the Republic, the fair offered visitors a true diversity of contemporary artistic creation, accompanied by art performances and workshops.

The Theme of ArtAnkara 2018

This year’s theme revolved around the interaction between art, science and time. A concept that has created abstract-concrete values throughout history, it is based on a need to spread out impact area of art today among all segments of a society and generate added value.

Understanding the importance of developing a serious relationship between business and art, ArtAnkara aimed to bring together Turkish artists and business world to provide an image of future. The organizers expected the created synergy to affect the society in a deep and positive way, as well as brand creation and production of the added value of the Turkish industry.

ArtAnkara 2018 Exhibitors

For the fourth edition of the fair, ArtAnkara brought together over 100 participants from South Korea, Italy, England, France, Austria, Iran, Czech Republic, Greece, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Mexico, Norway,  China, Armenia, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Canada, Germany and Georgia, besides those from Turkey.

Among the highlights were booths by Neoartgallery from Italy bringing the works of Davide Frisoni, Filigheddu, Roberta Coni, Hale Karaçelik; AB Gallery from Korea bringing the works by Yong-Moon Kim, Sang-Chul Won, Jung-Dae Kim, Min Kyo Kim, Sun Hwa Lee, Ece Yıldırım and Yong Sil Lee; Gallery 5 Continents from Canada bringing the works by Annie Gauthier and Ahad Moslemi ve Pelin Yazar; Araz Gallery from Baku bringing the works of Arif Huseyinov, Ebülfez Ferecoglu, Xaqan Bayramov and Mehmet Şirzad; Niya Farda Art Gallery from Iran bringing the works of Ahmad Tak, Kaveh Kavosi, Leyla Alikhani, Maryam Moghadam, Nazar Moosavi; Sevil Dolmacı Art Consultancy brining the works by Ergin İnan; IMOGA Museum bringing the works of Süleyman Saim Tekcan; and Shijiazhuang Orient Copper Relievo ART GALLERY ve TIANJIN POLYTECHNIC University bringin the works by Chinese contemporary artists Song Ying, Xu Jun, Ji Nuo, Zhang Zengru, Zhang Tonghai and Cao Weiboat amongst others.

Other highlights included works by the greatest Turkish artists from past and present, including Mustafa Yüce, Kadir Akyol, Burhan Alkar, Malik Bulut, Yalçın Gökçebağ, Derviş Ergün, Ali Atmaca, Bedia Dipşo, Ayten Akbayram, Anar Eyni, Arzu Karcı, and Azamat Kuliyev, among others.

The List of Exhibitors

Special Exhibitions and Projects

The fair also presented a range of solo shows, including those by artists Tomur Atagök, Bubi, Devrim Erbil, Zarko Jakimovski, Marat Bekeyev and Ertuğrul Ates.

Presented for the first time in Turkey as a social responsibility project, the exhibition Mısplace Chıld told the story of a Kurdish 3-year-old Syrian child name Alan Jurdi through the work of Ufuk Uyanık.

Other social responsibility projects included those of Lösev and ‘Portakal Çiçeği’ International Plastic Arts Colony, bringing together artists and children with special needs to paint together.

Among special projects were also a contemporary-art-meets-glass-exhibitions held by Odunpazarı Municipality Art Gallery, Cam Ocağı Foundation, and Friends of Glass Group, a photography exhibition Refugee children and women speak with eyes. Common Language, the project Ah, Ankara prepared by Füsun Kavalcı, and a project GREEN WAVE presented by Alarm-Art.

The Program

In addition to a rich exhibition program, ArtAnkara also presented an exciting program of events, that includes workshops, book signings, performances, music performances, debates, etc.

Highlights included a debate Education and Originality of Art in Turkey with Dean Gulveli Kaya from the Yeditepe Univ. Faculty of fine Arts and watercolor workshop Two Pairs of Blue Eyes: Nazim Hikmet and M. Kemal Ataturk with Atanur Dogan, founder and president of IWS on March 15th; a debate Being a Museum in Ankara with Nazan Gezer, director of Archeology and Arts Museum, Dilek Senar, director of Art Museum of Haceteppe University, and Suzan Bayraktaoglu, director of Vakif eserleri Museum on March 16th; the performance Guarding Extraneous Objects by the artist Mustafa Boga on March 17th; and a debate What Performance Art is Not with the artist and curator Pinar Derin Gencer and academician and artist Ceyda Alparslan on March 18th.

The Location of ArtAnkara 2018

Practical Information

ArtAnkara 2018 took place at ATO Congresium in Ankara between March 15th and March 18th, 2018.

For more information, visit the official website of the fair.

Featured image: ArtAnkara 2017. All images courtesy of ArtAnkara.