In our 543rd Art Gathering, we are visiting artist Mehmet Sinan Kuran.

Born in Ankara in 1964, the artist, who began his painting journey after the age of 45, quickly became a painter admired and appreciated by both viewers and collectors. In his drawings, the artist enriches his unique world with details, thus striving to both remain close to the miniature tradition of depiction and to visualize the time period in which he lives in a playful way using popular imagery. His diaries, reflecting his visual memory, are enriched with clues from both social and individual experiences on different levels. These diaries convey to the viewer how the artist shapes his own reality within the colorful kaleidoscopic world he has created. The artist's works are included in many prestigious art collections in Türkiye. He has participated in exhibitions both domestically and internationally.

Wednesday, February 11

12:00-13:00

Address: Çiftlik Mahallesi, Cumhuriyet Caddesi, Hamsi Sokak No:4, Çavuşbaşı/Beykoz

https://maps.app.goo.gl/W5NqpTc7YZUUkURS8?g_st=ic

At our 542nd Art Gathering, we are visiting the studio of Emin Mete Erdoğan.

Born in Istanbul in 1982, the artist graduated from the Painting Department of Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in 2010. In 2013, he held his first solo exhibition, "Entangled CERN Plans," at Sanatorium. His works have been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including "No 3" (Nesrin Esirtgen Collection, Istanbul, 2013), "Fracture" (Kare Sanat, Istanbul, 2014), and "Detail" (Blok Art Space, Istanbul, 2016). In 2015, he held his second solo exhibition, "Entroforming," at Xist Gallery. She also participated in Miami Pulse 2013, Art Stage Singapore 2016, Art Dubai 2016 and 2018, Contemporary Istanbul 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, and ArtInternational 2014 (Istanbul). In 2015, she was included in the book “Gestalten Illusive – Contemporary Illustration Part Four”.

The artist creates a hybrid language in her works, combining technical drawing with classical painting techniques. Her work sometimes draws inspiration from mythological narratives and sometimes from scientific thought. These two seemingly different approaches are brought together and conveyed to the viewer through the artist's contemporary interpretation. The crowded and epic scenes frequently encountered in her works allude to dystopian and utopian realms of thought. Instead of directly presenting images, the artist proceeds through representations related to the subject matter. In her compositions, she constructs image selections without being bound to a specific time or place. Past and present, East and West are used together within the same frame. This approach is described by the artist as "sub-time" and "sub-space."

The artist's creative practice is carried out in four main mediums: painting, sculpture, video, and relief. The starting point of the compositions is mostly painting studies. The artist believes that he prioritizes painting in the production process. The different approaches to the same image create varying emotions in the viewer. For example, the theme of a herd of animals creates a different atmosphere when depicted in a painting, while it creates a different perception in sculpture. In surface works, more mystified scenes are constructed through the artist's unique image language and use of color.

In sculpture, a clearer and simpler approach is adopted. Proportions are not consciously manipulated, and the use of color is mostly limited to white. In this medium, the desire to show what exists clearly and directly comes to the forefront. In relief and video works, an emotional space is created that lies between painting and sculpture.

Wednesday, February 4th

12:00-13:00

Address: Rasimpaşa Mahallesi İzzettin Sokak No:43/B (entrance shop) Kadıköy

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zAojj447yiqJGLx5A?g_st=ic

At our 541st Art Gathering, we are visiting the studio of artist Burçak Bingöl.

Burçak Bingöl, born 1976 in Görele, Ankara

Growing up in Ankara, Bingöl completed her doctoral-level fine arts education at Hacettepe University in 2008, her music education at Ankara State Conservatory between 1985-1991, and her photography program at New School New York in 2009.

She has had solo exhibitions in New York, Berlin, Istanbul, and Ankara, including at Tate St Ives, Cornwall. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Dialogues: Modern Artists and the Ottoman Past at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frieze Sculpture 2025: In the Shadows, and the 15th Istanbul Biennial, A Good Neighbor. As a curator, she has organized four exhibitions in Ankara and Istanbul. She participated in artist residency programs at Porthmeor Studios - Cornwall, IASPIS - Stockholm, Cite des Arts - Paris, Hunter College - New York, and Gate 27 - Ayvalık.

Her works are included in public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 21C Museum, Kentucky; Salsali Private Museum, Dubai; MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow, Poland; Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Istanbul; Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir; Baksı Museum, Bayburt, as well as private collections in Turkey, Europe, America, the Middle East, and the Far East.

She worked as a lecturer at Hacettepe and Istanbul Technical Universities; and served as the founding art director of Zilberman Gallery between 2011 and 2017. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Hacettepe University Institute of Fine Arts.

Bingöl designs new mechanisms of formation and relation with familiar representations through methods of copying, tracing, demolition, and reconstruction. Drawing on personal and cultural background, her work creates new narratives where material, object, and image are constantly deconstructed and transformed into one another; she establishes a visual research space by relating to space at conceptual, formal, and sensory levels. She lives and works in Istanbul.

Wednesday, January 28

12:00-13:00

Address: Müeyyedzade Mahallesi, Ali Hoca Aralığı Sokak 4/4, Galata, Beyoğlu. (Door on the right upon entering the building)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kA3RfckiSuJx8BN76?g_st=ic

At our 540th Art Gathering, we are visiting the studio of artist Vuslat.

Adopting an interdisciplinary art practice, Vuslat's works come to life in various forms such as installation, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics. Her works frequently explore concepts such as trust, interconnectedness, memory, and collective consciousness. Inspired by mythological narratives, nature-culture dynamics, and philosophical discussions, the artist's practice reflects a rich interaction between ideas and materials.

The concept of "trust" offers a profound perspective on values ​​such as trust, care, and protection; it embodies these values ​​as it transforms into practice. These works, in the light of ancient traditions and spiritual practices, serve as a kind of meditation on the act of healing and remembrance. Vuslat, who has been working in the field of art for nearly twenty years, had her first solo exhibition, *Silence*, curated by Chus Martinez, at Pi Artworks Gallery in London in 2022. In June 2023, the artist's first corporate exhibition, titled "Emanet" (The Trust), was hosted by the Baksı Museum in northeastern Türkiye. Curated by Martinez, the exhibition garnered attention from art critics from many countries. In May 2024, her third solo exhibition, curated by Ebru Yetişkin, opened at the MSGSU Tophane-i Amire Five Dome Hall in Istanbul. On May 25th, her second corporate exhibition, curated by Paolo Colombo, opened at the Troy Museum in Çanakkale. As of 2024, the artist is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Additionally, as of February 2026, she is teaching a semester course to undergraduate and graduate students at Tufts University on her self-developed concept and practice of Generous Listening.

Wednesday, January 21

12:00-13:00

Address: Mecidiyeköy Yolu No:12 Trump Towers İş Kule Floor: 2/33 Mecidiyeköy

https://maps.app.goo.gl/SNmM7tVbgQ5ZuXbw9?g_st=ic

At our 539th Art Gathering, we are visiting “The Collective’s Memory: IMM Collections” at ArtIstanbul Feshane.

Organized by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Department of Culture, Arts and Social Affairs (IMM Culture) and IMM Heritage, the exhibition presents a comprehensive selection from the IMM Art Collections, whose institutional background dates back to the initiative to establish a Museum of Revolution in the Atatürk House in Şişli in 1925 and which has developed in various locations to the present day.

The exhibition brings together 316 works selected from IMM’s main collections, such as the Atatürk Library, Aşiyan Museum, and City Museum, with 311 works added to the collection through donations from important figures in the art world. This broad selection, encompassing different periods and techniques, makes visible how Istanbul’s artistic, cultural, and social memory was formed and how it continues to produce meaning today.

The exhibition, which addresses the modernization process from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic within a holistic panorama, Bringing together important figures such as Giovanni Bellini, Tevfik Fikret, Abdülmecid Efendi, and Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu under one roof, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Art Collections also sheds light on the contemporary transformation dynamics of the city through its contemporary art productions. The rich visual archive offered by the portrait collection provides powerful clues about Istanbul's social and cultural memory.

Continuing to grow as a public archive, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Art Collections, with its structure shaped by donations and its participatory approach, makes the city's cultural heritage accessible to everyone. The exhibition also includes a selection acquired with the consultancy of collector Cengiz Akıncı and presented under the title "Akıncı Collection: The Memory of the Collective." We will tour the exhibition with Artİstanbul Feshane Director Bahar Çelik Ömür and a guide.

Wednesday, January 14

12:00-13:00

Address: Artİstanbul Feshane, Nişancı, Eyüpsultan

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FgS5oxmSzgGuvYCt6?g_st=ipc

At our 538th Art Gathering, we are visiting the studio of artist Sinem Dişli.

Sinem Dişli was born in Urfa. She graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University in 2004. She completed her master's degree in Photography at Marmara University with her thesis titled "The Use of Photography in 20th Century Art Movements and its Relationship with Avant-Garde Theory." Between 2005 and 2008, she worked in the photography department of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum. In 2008, she won a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts New York with her project "Özdirenç," which combines photography and visual art elements. She received art education at the ICP International Center of Photography and Cooper Union schools in the USA.

The artist's practice, driven by environmental concerns around Mesopotamia and the Euphrates River, questions the colonial framework of dominant archaeological and geological approaches. From highlighting biodiversity to linking geological time to environmental crises, her work reflects the materiality of nature and its relationship to diverse cultural practices. Her artistic practice encompasses photography, video, and sculpture, as well as experimental printmaking processes and scientific image-building methodologies.

Dişli has held solo exhibitions including Anxiety (2004), Remembrance (2010), Impression (2011), Exile (2014), Current (2015), Humidity (2017), Hollows & Mounds (2019), and Deep Time (2022), which feature her interdisciplinary work. She has participated in numerous international group exhibitions in many countries, including A Pillar of Smoke at the 2018 Arles Photography Festival in France, and was listed by The New York Times as one of seven artists to watch. Living in Istanbul and New York since 2008, the artist participated in programs such as Triangle Arts Residency (2015), ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York), Marble House Project, Vermont (2020), LMCC New York (2022), and Residency On The Road (2023).

Wednesday, January 7

12:00-13:00

Address: Arap Cami Mahallesi Perşembe Pazarı Caddesi No:15 D:8/9, Beyoğlu

https://maps.app.goo.gl/q5vcWMBEXLR2bySA6?g_st=iw