THE HOT SPOT OF GLOBAL ART

ISTANBUL CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE AND ITS SOCIO-POLITICAL AND CULTURAL

CONDITIONS AND PRACTICES

In this text I will deal with a period of twenty years (1987-2007) in the

development of contemporary art system and practice in Istanbul. There are two

prerequisites in my attempt. Firstly, I will focus on Istanbul and not on Turkey,

because even after twenty years of fundamental infrastructural transformations the

contemporary art is being produced, promoted and issued only in Istanbul. Secondly,

the international art experts have hardly penetrated into this contemporary art scene

and therefore could not contribute with any kind of theoretical or critical oeuvre, I

think that Istanbul art scene is not being evaluated with a professional objectivity or

even subjectivity but with optimist prejudices or with entrepreneurial endeavor.

Istanbul has two faces: the seeming, which is promoted by the art experts of the

mainstream global culture industry and the real as reflected in the art works and the

local critical theory. Based on these hypotheses, the text aims to give the reader the

socio-political, cultural background of contemporary art in Istanbul, the development

of the essential transitions in culture industry and the relations with EU within the

framework of its enlargement and cultural integration policies.

The emblematic moments of contemporary art making throughout these two decades

follow the path of the political and economic episodes.

In the 80’s in spite of the military intervention and the anti-democratic constitution

the art got rid of its modernist dust and formalism due to the transition from state

capitalism to liberal economy and international communication amenities. The artists

embraced the concept and minimal art forms and mixed media installations and

spiritually jumped into a parallel course with international stream of interdisciplinary

production. The infrastructure of contemporary art scene was barren; it consisted of

two main universities (Mimar Sinan University and Marmara University) with their

yearly art festivals, a few independent artist’s group exhibitions, private galleries and

some corporate culture initiatives. The artists enjoyed their position as the fosterer of

post-modern culture and the new visual aesthetics. The earnest attempt to fund or

built a modern and contemporary art museum failed due to lack of interest from the

state and the private sector.