By
Heidi Trautmann
TRNC
artists are spreading their wings and are participating in many important art
events in Turkey and other European countries. The arts have become an industry
and are organizing themselves as such with big art events, art bi- and
triennals, worldwide, following first examples in Venice and perhaps Cologne
with its Dokumenta; in the meantime you find these olypmpic size art fairs all
over the world, also in Asian countries such as China, Korea etc. Turkey is very art orientated, the
universities and municipalities support art and culture with the emphasis of
furthering modern, experimental and conceptual art, such as for example ‘paper
art’.
There
is the 2nd Izmir Art Biennale
to take place as from April 1 – April 5. I was there two years ago for the
first Biennale, you can read my review in my website under Cyprus Art News No.
247. The Biennale takes place on the fairgrounds in the city centre of Izmir
and in five more art venues such as cultural centres, galleries and museums. What
an offer of art! Visit website www.bienalizmir.org for more
details and the list of participants. The TRNC will be well presented this time
with 18 artists: Ismet Tatar, Inci Kansu, Emel Samioğlu, Gökçe Şekeroğlu, Eser
Kececi, Ayhatun Atesin, Güner Pir, Emin Çizenel, Hikmet Uluçam, Pembe Gaziler, Aşik
Mene, Mustafa Öztunç, Ilkay Onsoy, Ruhiye Onurel, Özge Refik Kutsay, Gamze Anil
Baykan, Alashia. Ismet Tatar shared her art work as a preview with me.
In
Kayseri, a beautiful place with old
culture, we will find our paper artists Inci Kansu, Emel Samioğlu
and Ismet Tatar meet with paper artists from Turkey for an exhibition at the
Erciyes University at the Sabancı Cultural Centre, organized by Hakan Pehlivan
also a IAPMA member (International Association of papermaking artists) just as
our artists are. Hakan Pehlivan has also taken part in the IAPMA workshop in
the TRNC two years ago at the Near East University. The exhibition will be from
April 22 – 27.
In
Norvich, England, Ismet Tatar has
also joined a very important art event circling around the theme of “Washi-The
Art of Japanese Paper” and IAPMA is one association to take part with an
exhibition during six weeks of exhibitions, lectures and workshops. You will
find the programme under www.artandsoulofpaper.com
İnci
Kansu and Simge Uygur,both internationally renowned paper artists and IAPMA
members participated in the exhibition MP
2013 “PAPER ART PROJECT” in
Aix-en-Provence, France. Following the nomination of Marseille as Europen Capital of Culture a series of activities throughout
the year of 2013 of over 400 events was created such as festivals, theatre and
dance performances, folklore, street art, conferences, concerts, workshops and
60 exhibitions in various art disciplines. Inci Kansu was impressed with the
offer of art and also with the determination of the French people to show their
pride of their country and its famous artists and intellectuals.
An
association of 30 independent galleries developed MP 2013 PAPER ART PROJECT and
offered a series of exhibitions with 13 titles devoted to all forms of Paper
Art. An itinerary
designed
to explore the plastic diversity of paper: a support for knowledge, a medium at
the
fringe
of innovation and design, but also a poetic object.
İnci
Kansu and Simge Uygur were among the 60 artists selected by the jury and
participated in the exhibition titled: “Paper Art Design and Recup” which was
in February and March.
It
is an enormous task for our artists and their efforts as ambassadors in matters
of art are to be recognized and honoured, also that North Cyprus has to be
reckoned with.