Category: Arts & Literature

Monitoring Desk

ISTANBUL: TRT World was able to preview autumn’s most hotly-tipped exhibitions at contemporary art museum Arter, and spoke with Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye’s curator, Eda Berkmen, about her show “Repetition”.

Contemporary art space Arter, in Istanbul’s Dolapdere district, is ready for the new season with five new exhibitions, in addition to two previous ones that have been extended.

Speaking at the news conference, Arter’s Founding Director, Melih Fereli, reminisces about how its new building was opened a year and a day ago. “If we are to count our Istiklal Street location, [which I do], it is our tenth anniversary this year,” he says.

Fereli speaks of having had to shut down operations due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 13, hoping that it would not last. Arter reopened briefly on June 16, he says, but then the administrators decided to close once more and return for the season of autumn with a host of fascinating shows.

Fereli is the curator of two audio-heavy shows, “For Eyes That Listen”, the third ‘sound art project’ by Arter, and “Rainforest V (variation 3)”, the fourth. “Eyes” can be viewed until April 25, while “Rainforest” ends on February 7.

Quoting famed Turkish pottery artist, Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye, who once said “the lever of my life is love and art,” Fereli says “health” has become the third element in the equation.

Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye says she was honoured to be featured at Arter, and that while she has been shown extensively abroad and in Turkey, this was the first contemporary museum show she has had, one that excited, thrilled and scared her at the same time.

TRT World was able to catch up with the curator of Ebuzziya’s show, Eda Berkmen. Berkmen says that the two had been planning it for the past two and a half years. She says many curators wanted the honour of curating Ebuzziya’s collection, but due to scheduling and other concerns, Berkmen ended up getting the job, she says with delighted laughter.

Berkmen tells TRT World that Ebuzziya planned her pottery works based on the space made available to her, and threw them in Paris, where she lives and works.

Asked about the Soren Kierkegaard connection, Berkmen says the exhibition borrows its title from the philosopher’s book “Repetition”. “Alev Ebuzziya had read the book when she was much younger and it has left a mark on her”.

“After all, Ebuzziya has been throwing bowls all her life, endlessly repeating herself; but at the same time, no two vessels are alike, as the viewer will find while walking through the exhibition”.

Quoting the exhibition guide, Berkmen says: “The inquiries addressed in the book on ‘whether or not repetition is possible, what significance it holds, and whether something is gained or lost in being repeated’ provide insight into the principles of Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye’s artistic practice.” She says the book explores the concept of repetition with sample stories, through which “you see that repetition is at once possible, and impossible.” She calls the book a very entertaining read which vacillates between two different perspectives.

Mentioning as an example the author repeating a trip to Berlin, Berkmen says “because he is trying to replicate his previous trip to a tee, his attempt is automatically a failure.”

“How can we define repetition so that it isn’t repetition? Or how can we define it, perhaps much more abstractly, intellectually, as a structure, maybe then it is possible [to arrive at repetition]” Berkmen muses.

“So perhaps Alev Ebuzziya is performing the ideal bowl in her works, we can say,” she clarifies. “She cannot specifically reproduce the exact same bowl, of course she can’t. So maybe she has an ideal in her head,” Berkmen says, noting that anything handmade is bound to have nuances, no matter how similar they may seem.

Asked if she would like to address future viewers of the exhibition, Berkmen says the works speak for themselves and that the intellectualisation is not necessary for their enjoyment.

Other exhibitions on display

In addition to the ‘sound art’ projects “For Eyes That Listen” and “Rainforest V (variation 3)”, and Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye’s “Repetition”, Arter has four more exhibitions on view.

Cevdet Erek’s “Bergama Stereotip”, a continuing exhibition curated by Selen Ansen, “takes the architecture and odyssey of the historical Great Altar of Pergamon as point of reference and reinterprets it.”

The Altan Gurman retrospective can be viewed until January 24, and provides an exhaustive look into the painter and graphic artist’s works.

Curated by Kevser Guler, “On Celestial Bodies” can be viewed until March 7, while the massive and highly impressive “KP Brehmer: The Big Picture” exhibition curated by Selen Ansen is on until January 24.

The Brehmer exhibition is a collaborative effort between Arter, Neues Museum Nuremberg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, and Kunstmuseum Den Haag. It is a colourful and thought-provoking look back on the artist’s oeuvre that is considered part of Capitalist Realism – and with more than a passing nod to Pop Art.

Courtesy: (TRTWorld)

Monitoring Desk

“I have been able to follow a Bosnian community over a period of 6 years, during which it has undergone dramatic changes. In the late 1980s people were working hard against economic crisis. In 1990 they were full of optimism for the future. In January 1993 the village was in fear, surrounded by war on all sides. In April 1993 it was attacked by Croat forces. In October 1993 none of the Muslims in the village remained. They had either fled, been placed in detention camps, or been killed.”

Thus begins Tone Bringa’s moving ethnographic account of Bosnian Muslims’ lives in a rural village located near Sarajevo. Although they represent a majority of the population in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Muslims are still members of a minority culture in the region that was once Yugoslavia. The question of ethno-national identity has become paramount in this society, and the author focuses on religion as the defining characteristic of identity. Bringa pays particular attention to the roles that women play in defining Muslim identities, and she examines the importance of the household as a Muslim identity sphere. In so doing, she illuminates larger issues of what constitutes “nationality.”

This is a gripping and heartfelt account of a community that has been torn apart by ethno-political conflict. It will attract readers of all backgrounds who want to learn more about one of the most intractable wars of the late 20th century and the people who have been so tragically affected.

Courtesy: (Arabnews)

By Mesut Varol

VAN (AA): A millennium-old Armenian church this Sunday celebrated a special mass in eastern Turkey.

The Armenian Akdamar Church of the Holy Cross – an invaluable piece of Turkish cultural heritage located in the Van province – hosted the mass amid precautionary measures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 1,100-year-old church is opened for worship once a year with special permission of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The mass, which normally draws thousands of local and international tourists, this year gathered a limited number of visitors due to virus safety measures.

The roughly two-hour mass ceremony aired live. A team of 25 people came from Istanbul to perform the ritual.

Speaking to the press afterwards, Van Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez said that due to virus measures: “Today, a small group of the Armenian community performed a symbolic ritual here.”

Sahak Mashalian, head of the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul, thanked officials who made it possible to hold the mass.

Akdamar Church, a medieval Armenian place of worship in Turkey’s eastern Van province, was built around 915-921 A.D. by architect Bishop Manuel under the direction of King Gagik I Artsruni.

The church, which has a special place in East-West Christian art, carries the most important adornments and the most comprehensive wall reliefs of its time and was added to UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage in 2015.

Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry has done extensive renovation and restoration work to bring the medieval church back to its former glory.

On Sept. 19, 2010, Akdamar Church hosted its first service after a 95-year break. The church opened for service every year for one day, with the last service in 2019 attracting thousands of local and international tourists to Van.

Monitoring Desk

ANKARA: A terracotta mask dating back nearly 2,400 years has been found during excavations in western Turkey, said the leader of the dig.

Archaeologist Kaan Iren, who heads the excavation team in the ancient city of Daskyleion in the Balikesir province, told Anadolu Agency that a mask of the ancient Greek god Dionysus, found in the city’s acropolis, is one of this year’s most interesting findings.

“This is possibly a votive mask. More information will become available over time with more research,” said Iren, a professor at Mugla Sitki Kocman University.

Legend has it that wearing a mask pays homage to Dionysus, the Greek god of carnivals and masquerades, by allowing you to free yourself from secret desires and buried regrets.

Dionysos is said to have concealed both his identity and his power, and is considered a patron of the arts.

Daskyleion is located on the shore of Lake Manyas in the Bandirma district of Balikesir, from when Asia Minor had many ancient Greek settlements.

Iren said that this year, a cellar was unearthed in the Lydian kitchen in the city’s acropolis.

“Work continues to obtain seeds and other organic parts from the excavated soil in the Lydian kitchen and its surroundings through a flotation process,” he added.

Through more research, the cuisine and eating habits of the region from 2,700 years ago will be better understood, the archeologist said.

In the seventh century BC, the city was named Daskyleion when the famous Lydian King, Daskylos, came to the city from Sardis due to dynastic quarrels, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism website.

His son Gyges was born in Daskyleion, and later recalled to Lydia. After Gyges became the king of Lydia, the city was renamed Daskyleion – the place of Daskylos – around 650 BC.

Courtesy: (Yenisafak)

Monitoring Desk

BERLIN: Hundreds of fans have attended a special kind of musical happening at a church in Germany: a chord change in an organ piece that is supposed to last for an entirety of 639 years.

The performance of the “As Slow As Possible” composition began in September 2001 at the St Burchardi Church in the eastern town of Halberstadt and is supposed to end in 2640, if all goes well.

The music piece by the American composer John Cage is played on a special organ inside the medieval church. The last sound has been the same one for the last six years and 11 months, and therefore the chord change on Saturday was a big event among fans of the John Cage Organ Project.

A chord change means that the sound of the organ pipes changes either because new sounds are added or existing sounds end. On Saturday, two new organ pipes were added.

Organisers say the performance is “one of the slowest realisations of an organ musical piece”.

A compressor in the basement creates energy to blow air into the organ to create a continuous sound. When a chord change happens, it’s done manually. On Saturday, two people changed the chord.

When the piece officially started on September 5, 2001, it began without any sound. It was only on February 5, 2003, the day of the first chord change, that the first organ pipe chords could actually be heard inside the church.

Cage was born in Los Angeles in 1912 and died in New York in 1992. He’s known not only as a composer, but also as a music theorist, artist and philosopher.

Chord changes usually draw more than 1,000 visitors to Halberstadt but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of guests allowed into the church was limited this year.

Courtesy: (TRTWorld)

Monitoring Desk

BINAN: When the coronavirus struck and cost Mary Mae Dacanay her factory job in the Philippines, the 23-year-old came up with a unique new source of income — turning leaves into celebrity art.

Dacanay saw her redundancy as chance to enjoy her favorite pastime — art — but at first had difficulty sourcing materials in a country that has had in place some of the world’s longest and strictest coronavirus measures.

With no luck finding canvas, Dacanay has instead picked leaves from a jackfruit tree outside her home, intricately cutting away tiny pieces to reveal well-known faces, from Robert Downey Jr and Oprah Winfrey to Michael Jackson and even the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte.

“Because of this pandemic, I wanted to try making artwork but purchasing art supplies in my town was very difficult because of the strict lockdown,” she said, speaking at her home in Laguna province, south of the capital Manila.

“The only way was to buy online but it was also difficult. I experimented using leaves as a makeshift canvas and it turned out really nice.”

After gaining thousands of followers on Facebook, Dacanay has sold hundreds of pieces of her “leaf art,” each for about 400 pesos ($8.24). The exact price varies according to the level of detail in each piece.

Now, instead of working seven days a week at the factory, plus overtime, she said her new venture allows her to enjoy her hobby, take things easier and still pay the bills.

“This leaf art has helped me so much financially during this pandemic,” she said.

“The money I use to pay bills, buy food for my family, and our other daily expenses are from my earnings from commissioned work.”

Courtesy: (Reuters)

Monitoring Desk

ISTANBUL: Pieces of numerous stone objects have been found at the temple of Hadrian located in the ancient city of Cyzicus in the western Balıkesir province in ongoing excavations.

These excavations in the ancient city on the outskirts of Kapıdağ Peninsula were resumed by a team headed by professor Nurettin Koçhan from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University on July 2. The excavation team continues to work at the temple, which is named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), Koçhan said that excavation work is supported by the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality.

Estimated to be 116 meters (381 feet) in length and 62 meters in width, the temple is as large as the Temple of Artemis in the ancient city of Ephesus located in Izmir and the Temple of Apollo in the resort town of Didim in Aydın. Koçhan noted that the relief arch of the temple is longer than 1.60 meters and the column heads are 2.49 meters tall, which is one of the highest among their equivalents.

Indicating that construction of the temple could not probably be completed at the time, Koçhan said: “There was probably an agora – central public space in ancient Greek city-states – just north of the temple. In 166, philosopher Aristides of Athens gave a speech in this agora and said: ‘You have built such a great temple that it replaced the mountains. Sailors know cities from mountains, but your city is known by the temple.’ Indeed, the temple has a magnificent structure. The decorations in the temple are painted with red, blue and gold gilding. During the excavations we have conducted here, we have recently unearthed head parts belonging to the relief arch of the temple and encountered gilded paint on the hair of a woman’s head sculpture.”

The stone pieces found by the excavation team mostly belong to the relief arch of the temple, however. They also unearthed some sculptures belonging to the temple. Noting that they found these works in pieces, Koçhan explained: “This is because this place was used as a lime quarry for hundreds of years in the ancient city of Cyzicus. Therefore, the people of the city broke the materials here and made some of it lime. What we can find today is the remaining parts of the works. For example, we have found the body of a figure with a shield, as well as parts of the head and arms of other figures.”

More details on temple

The recent excavations also revealed that the heads of the outer columns of the temple, built in the Corinthian order – which was the last developed of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture – were painted with gilding. Telling that the roof tiles of the temple were made of marble, Koçhan said: “It is such a monumental building, but it was damaged by frequent earthquakes. The region came under the rule of the Seljuks in 1085 when Istanbul came to stand out. So, ports in Cyzicus, which is considered one of the important trade centers with its three historical ports, were closed over time, and the city came to lose its former importance. That is why it started to collapse.”

The professor stated that they also found the northwest corner of the temple last year which has helped them determine the exact dimensions of the temple. He noted: “Accordingly, we will be able to restore the temple this year, albeit at least on a drawing scale.”

Dusty pages of history

It is known that the oldest tribe of the ancient city of Cyzicus, whose history goes back to 5000 B.C., is the Doliones. The region, where some tribes immigrating from the Aegean and the Balkans settled in 1200 B.C., remained as the colony of Miletus, one of the most important cities of Ionia.

Cyzicus came under the Persian rule with the fall of the rich Lydian state to which it was affiliated in 546 B.C. The city gained its independence in 364 B.C. but later came under the rule of the Macedonians when Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in 334.

The region was finally seized by the Romans and began to lose its importance in the 300s. Cyzicus suffered great damage in two earthquakes in the 7th and 8th centuries and was almost destroyed in an earthquake in 1063.

Courtesy: (Dailysabah)