For our 495th art meeting, we visit Meşher, where approximately 300 books from the Ömer Koç Collection are on display. 

The exhibition, consisting of various rare artifacts from the Ömer Koç Collection, covers the period from the 15th century to the first quarter of the 20th century, when Istanbul was the Ottoman capital. A rich visual record of the city, the exhibition features more than 100 artifacts, including paintings of wide-angle views of Istanbul, engravings, rare books, albums, panoramic photographs, and objects from Istanbul's relics.

The producers of the works in the exhibition also show great diversity. From ship captains to travelers, from soldiers to ambassadors, from writers, painters and photographers to architects and urban planners, different techniques stand out in the works produced by Westerners, sometimes for political or military purposes, sometimes for aesthetic purposes. The images, which bear traces of the diplomatic relations, the transformations the city underwent, its multicultural structure and social life, are accompanied by excerpts from written sources. These excerpts create a dialog between the perspective of Western authors and artistic productions from 19th and early 20th century Ottoman/Turkish literature. The exhibition invites us to examine the diversity of the narrative and the diversity of the depictions, rather than to re-praise the city. We visit the collection with a guide. 

https://www.patronlardunyasi.com/omer-koc-koleksiyonu-mesherde-voltaireden-lord-byrona-yolu-istanbuldan-gecenlerin-izinde

*Our art meetings are free of charge for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children over 12 years old. For your guests, we kindly ask you to make a donation to our association account before the trip. 

Tuesday, February 25

12:00-13:00

Address: Meşher, Tomtom Mahallesi, Istiklal Caddesi No: 211, Beyoglu

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In our 494th art meeting, we visit artist Çağla Ulusoy.

Çağla Ulusoy (b.1989, Istanbul) moved to New York to attend classes at the Student's League of New York. Here, she met the American artist Pat Lipsky, one of the world's leading artists in the field of color in painting, who mentored her for two years, and by having the opportunity to study and work alongside him, Ulusoy developed her own technique. In 2018, she completed her master's degree in painting at the Royal College of Art in London. The artist lives and works in Istanbul.

Having lived and studied in many countries, Ulusoy's paintings are a distinct blend of different cultures. The artist never ceases to cross borders and embrace the foreign elements, histories and traditions she encompasses. Çağla Ulusoy's painting practice intertwines a rich sense of color with a unique style that emphasizes the surface of the canvas. In her approach to painting, Ulusoy plays with the idea of layers of color accumulating on the surface of the canvas to create ambiguous spaces. In his abstract and complex compositions, the artist reinterprets and recreates real memories and images from the past that have affected his consciousness.

*Our art meetings are free of charge for our members, 500 TL for their guests and 250 TL for children over 12 years old. We kindly ask guests to make a donation to our association account before the trip. 

Tuesday, February 18

12:00-13:00

Address: Belkıs Dilligil Çıkmazı Keçecizade Fuat Paşa Mansion 8/1 D.2 Moda 

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In our 493rd art meeting, we will come together in a conversation titled “Loneliness in Anatolia” moderated by our association member sociologist Aslı Sağal within the scope of our ongoing exhibition Impressions from Anatolia at IBB Bakırköy Art.

Impressions from Anatolia is a project in which we host successful students studying at fine arts faculties in different cities of Anatolia in Istanbul, introduce them to the art environment and contribute to their development. Students have the opportunity to present the works they produce in this process to art lovers in an exhibition with the same name.

In this special meeting, we will discuss how the concept of loneliness is shaped in the works of young artists from various cities in Anatolia. By reflecting on the power of art to express loneliness, we will evaluate how loneliness is expressed through art in individual and social contexts from a historical and sociological perspective.

About Aslı Sağal

After graduating from Istanbul Erkek Lisesi, Aslı Sağal graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Sociology and has been working on international curricula for 27 years. For the last 15 years, she has been teaching math and science on online platforms and developing various projects in the fields of art, education, cultural resilience and recovery.

Sağal, who took an active role in the field during the earthquakes in Sakarya, Van and Hatay, took part in the establishment and management of women and children's areas, and carried out preliminary training of teams directed to the region by organizations such as the Red Crescent. 

Address: IBB Bakırköy Sanat, Zuhuratbaba Mahallesi Özgürlük Square, Bakırköy

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We are visiting the studio of artist Nermin Er in our 492nd Art Meeting.

Nermin Er graduated from the Sculpture Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 1995. In addition to her professional career in animation, the artist has been holding regular solo exhibitions at Galeri Nev Istanbul since 2004. Her work titled “Tek Göz Oda” was exhibited at the opening of the Yanköşe platform that Kahve Dünyası launched in 2017. Her comprehensive exhibition “Siradaki Şarkı”, which includes works from the last 10 years of her production between January and April 2024, met with the audience at the Nilüfer Municipality Meteor / Balat Culture House. She also took part in the group exhibition titled “All Things Become Islands Before My Senses” organized by Perasma in Leros Island, Greece in the summer of 2024. The artist, who was invited by the NGBK / Depo Berlin Guest Artist Program in 2020 and spent 6 months at ZKU Berlin, has works in many institutional collections such as Mudo Collection, Polimeks, Evliyagil Museum, Ömer Koç Collection, Baksı Museum.

Nermin Er, who uses paper and ink as primary materials, searches for the boundaries and possibilities of the material in her works. Having worked in the animation world for many years, Er creates stories by combining the paper she uses with a minimal understanding with light and shadow in her works. In the cinematographic scenes constructed in silhouette form, elements such as people, cities, and nature in daily life are interpreted. Focusing on the concepts of pile/accumulation and visual and intellectual themes such as accumulation, dispersion, and collection, the artist creates micro spaces by adding-removing or stacking particles on surfaces. The artist's works from different series, in which she brings volume and dynamism together on the surface by creating dimensions, also create an integrative language of expression such as small sentences coming side by side. In addition to Er’s paper works, there are also animation works that can be described as a reflection of the process of studying the material. The artist lives and produces in Istanbul.

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests, and 250 TL for children over the age of 12. We kindly ask that your guests make a donation to our association account before the trip.

Tuesday, February 4

12:00-13:00

Address: Muradiye Bayırı Sokak İsmet Apartmanı No:46/6 Teşvikiye

491. We are visiting the artist Nermin Ülker's workshop during our Art Meeting.

born in Karadeniz Ereğli district of Zonguldak in 1974, Nermin Ülker studied at Zeynep Kamil Health Vocational High School. Ülker, who worked as a nurse in many hospitals in Istanbul after Eastern Anatolia, continued her education with Işık University with her passion for art. in 2012, she graduated from the Visual Arts Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Işık University in Istanbul, and then from the Master's degree program at the Art Theory and Criticism Program of the Institute of Social Sciences of Işık University. He taught sculpture at the same school for a while. The artist has participated in almost 30 national and international group exhibitions, 4 of which are personal. While the artist positions his three-dimensional works in space, he calls us to think about the works through our own journey on the axis of concepts such as inner-outer, objective-subjective, near-far by confronting this tension between the experiential ends that we do not focus on Decently in everyday life.

Based on the idea that Merleau-Ponty tries to make it visible how Cezanne's paintings touch us, we witness that the spatial space that we do not notice in the rush of daily life in Nermin Ülker's works, as we pass through and out, disappears under our feet, is transformed into a poetic language that is torn from the plane or floor, bent, stretched and pulled, verticalized and mediates our spatial existence. All this creation manifests itself in the work in the process of mutual formation, the bodily movements of the artist during the intervention of the material. In the process of making sense of the existence within the artist's work, it is like the rope that Ariadne gave Theseus to get out of the maze.

Space has a decisive role in Nermin Ülker's artistic production process. When we look at his life, his system of thought, it is clear that this preference is not accidental. We can easily reach the conclusion that the artist established this transparency not through his personal life or stories, but directly through his works and the names he calls them.

Ülker continues his art studies in his workshop located at the Maslak Atatürk Auto Industry Site in Istanbul. 

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children over the age of 12. For your guests, we ask that they be deposited to our association account as a donation before the trip. 

Tuesday January 28th

12:00-13:00

Address: Maslak Atatürk Auto Industry 2. Section 26. Street No:1108 

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490. In our Art Meeting, we will visit the culture house opened by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in memory of cartoonist Turhan Selcuk.

Turhan Selçuk, who is the pioneer of modern Turkish cartoon and gave his own style to contemporary cartoon, was born in Milas district of Muğla. While studying at Adana Boys High School, his first cartoons appeared in the Turkish Sözgü newspaper. He worked as a cartoonist for the magazines Red and White, Smash, Vulture, Depiction, Today and Aydede. He opened his first solo exhibition at the Istanbul City Gallery. Together with his brother Ilhan Selçuk, he published the humor magazine 41 Buçuk in 1952. He traveled around Europe and published his impressions in Milliyet newspaper. since the 1950s, he has appeared in the world press, international anthologies and magazines together with the great masters of the period. He approached the person in current events and phenomena with his knowledge of history, culture, art and knowledge. With Ilhan Selçuk, he published the humor magazine Dolmuş in 1956 and the Cartoon in 1958. His first book Turhan Selçuk Cartoon Album was published in 1954. in 1956, he won the Palme d'Or, the first prize at the International Bordighera Cartoon Competition (Italy). in 1957, he started drawing Abdulcanbaz in Milliyet newspaper. in 1958, he joined the staff of the Italian humor magazine Il Travaso. 140 Caricature (1959), Turhan 62 (1962), Hieroglyph (1964), Hal and Going Zero (1969), Söz Lineinin (1979), Human Rights (1995), First There was a cartoon album (2002) were published. He worked for Milliyet, Yeni Istanbul, Akşam and Cumhuriyet newspapers. in 1969, he founded the Cartoonists Association together with Semih Balcıoğlu and Ferit Öngören. He was detained during the military coup of March 12, 1971. Abdulcanbaz has been staged in many art institutions such as Dostlar Theater and Istanbul State Theater. Selçuk received the People's Artist award of the Union of Artists of Turkey in 1971 and refused the title of "State Artist" in 1998. in 1989, he was selected as the honored artist of the Tüyap Book Fair. in 1992, the Human Rights Cartoon Exhibition organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Europe was exhibited in various cities around the world. in 2002, "60 on the Line. Annual Art Night: Turhan Selçuk" event was held. He has opened numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. He has received many national and international awards. His cartoons have been published in many international newspapers and magazines such as Atlas, Can Can, Caricature et Caricaturistes, DDT, Die Weltwoche, Il Travaso, Inostrannaya Literatura, Nebelspalter, La Codorniz and Pardon. According to Turhan Selçuk, who constantly thinks about history, society and the world, caricature is the art of enlightenment, reason and intelligence. The artist, who has stood against the oppressive power in every period, has never compromised his thoughts and beliefs.

after his first cartoon published in 1941, the House of Culture, named after Turhan Selçuk, a cultural person who continued his productions in this field in various newspapers for many years and had an important place in the history of Turkish cartooning, came to life in the historical house of cartoonist Cemil Cem located on Cem Sokak. Curated by his daughter Aslı Selçuk, the exhibition includes 65 original cartoons from the family collection, personal belongings, awards and works gifted to Turhan Selçuk, as well as a total of 254 pieces. Turhan Selçuk's line, which developed starting from the first years of his career, is analyzed by dividing it into ten-year periods. The exhibition also testifies to the formation of cartoons that have gained a place in society, such as Abdulcanbaz and Hababam Class. Cartoons, magazine and book covers published in the international press give the opportunity to see that Selçuk is an international value and the diversity of its productivity. The exhibition, which also commemorates Cemil Cem, one of the cornerstones of Turkish cartooning, also includes 26 original Cemil Cem cartoons from the Osmantan Erkir collection. In the special room reserved for Cem, magazines taken from the archive of the Ataturk Library and visuals from various cartoons and a reproduction of the famous “Veli Efendi Meadow” painting in the collection of the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture are also on display. Mrs. Zahide, the venue manager, will accompany us at the exhibition. 

*Our art meetings are free for our members, 500 TL for guests and 250 TL for children over the age of 12. For your guests, we ask that they be deposited to our association account as a donation before the trip. 

Tuesday January 21st

12:00-13:00

Address: Caferaga Neighborhood, Cem Street No:6 Kadikoy

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