Visiting the new Rauf Denktas Culture and Congress Centre on the occasion of the Art exhibition ALASHIA

By Heidi Trautmann

With regard to arts and culture activities Famagusta has always been a little neglected, treated like an orphan, with Nicosia being the centre of it all, except for the yearly Music Festival held at Salamis or an occasional art exhibition at EMU (Eastern Mediterranean University) and oh yes, the Sand sculpture event at the EMU Beach Club every summer. Now, with the new building, the isolation seems to have ended.

I mean, it is still quite a long way to go for those who live in Nicosia, Kyrenia and beyond and there is no problem to make it in broad daylight but for evening events it will remain an obstacle the organisers will have to think about by, for example, offering a bus service. 

Ismet Tatar, one of the artists participating in the Alashia Exhibition curated by Ayhatun Atesin, and I decided one morning to go and visit the exhibition in the new venue, as we have missed the opening evening. Coming from Kyrenia, it took us one hour to get there but we enjoyed the drive through the Mesaoria. We had taken the highway Nicosia-Famagusta. We drove off towards Mutluyaka and Salamis Ruins to arrive at the Salamis Roundabout where we turned right and drove to the next roundabout which is next to the Lions Garden; there we turned left and there it is, just behind, a big building in the middle of fields. Impressing.

A modern architecture with lots of parking areas for the future. A wide entrance leading into a spacious hall, all in shiny marble. We followed the directions to the exhibition area which is….a wide corridor softly leading up in several turns to the second level where the theatre and conference rooms are. It is not a self-contained room, it is rather a passage. The hanging and lighting is excellent. However, a self-contained exhibition area would have been better. The main interest of the planning authorities have quite obviously been concentrating on theatre, music and conferences and not on exhibitions.

It was good to see the artwork of our many artist friends: Aşik Mene, Ayhatun Ateşin, Emel Samioğlu, Emin Çizenel, Eser Keçeci, Feridun Işıman, Gamze Anil Baykan, Gökçe Keçeci  Şekeroğlu, Güner Pir, Hikmet Uluçam Ilkay Önsoy, Inci Kansu, Ismet Tatar, Mustafa Öztunç, Nurtane Karagil, Özden Selenge, Özge Refik Kutsay, Pembe Gaziler, Pinar Yeşilada, Ruhiye Onurel (Ros), Şifa Alkapon and Vedia Okutan Gaydeler. This group exhibition, as I was told by Ismet Tatar, has been so far in Istanbul, then in Izmir for the Biennale and will go to Rome and further after the end of the exhibition in Famagusta.

The manager of the new centre, Mr. Hasan Haksayar, showed us around the place and opened for us the theatre houses, one for nearly 1000 audience, another smaller one for 280. And we saw one of the conference rooms where at the moment an important conference takes place, a conference about peace, an international conference looking at peace from a philosophical standpoint, I assume.

The whole project of the Centre is a joint venture between the Famagusta Municipality and the Eastern Mediterranean University; all the services necessary for international conferences will be delivered by the university such as interpreting services.

Artists who are interested in exhibiting or performing can contact the manager via his email address hasan.haksayar@emu.edu.tr . The costs for exhibitions are to cover the expenses such as electricity, around TL 300 a week, the hanging and organisation has to be done by the artists themselves.  Hasan Haksayar informed us that he will have the website for the Centre ready within a month’s time disclosing more details about the use of the centre.

On 13 December the Catalköy Municipality Theatre will be present in one of the beautiful theatre rooms with the play ‘SINIR’ on their tour through the island (see the Cultural Events Calendar).