Istanbul Modern Museum of Art

Istanbul Modern will open its doors to the public on Saturday, 11
December, 2004

Istanbul Modern
Meclis-i Mebusan Cad. Liman Sahasi
Antrepo No:4 Karakoy - Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 334 73 00
Fax: +90 212 243 43 19
info@istanbulmodern.org
http://www.designdirectory.cc/detail/4183/


The inauguration of the Istanbul Modern, the first museum of modern and
contemporary art in Turkey, will take place on 11 December 2004 under the
auspices of Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Situated at the shores of the Bosphorus and located in one of the
entrepots on the port, Istanbul Modern faces the historical peninsula with
Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia across the Golden Horn and leans back to
Pera.

As the founder of Istanbul Modern, which has been established under the
aegis of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the Eczacibasi
Group has provided the first investment and project management finance as
well as the core collection.

Recalling that art is an indispensable component of personal and social
development, Oya Eczacibasi, Chair of the Board, says: "Istanbul Modern is
opening its doors to exhibit our country's art heritage, and to create a
platform for our creativity, dynamism, cultural identity and universal
values. Our museum will always be open to innovation and change."

A Living Museum
In line with its aim of being a living museum, Istanbul Modern will seek
to create a vibrant, year-long program of diverse events that will set an
art agenda for Turkey and will contribute to mark Istanbul as a capital on
the world's cultural map.

Rosa Martinez, curator of the 1997 International Istanbul Biennial and
currently director of the Venice Biennial 2005 has been appointed as the
chief curator of Istanbul Modern. Martinez marks the importance of museums
as centers of artistic production and as critical cultural platforms.

Preserving its original structure and architectural character, the
renovation project has re-organized the spacious interior of 8.000
square-meters two-stories warehouse into galleries of different sizes.

The upper floor will host the permanent collection of Modern Turkish Art
and will exhibit the principal trends and works since the early 20th
Century. The inaugural show of the permanent collection "Observation /
Interpretation / Multiplicity" has been curated by Ali Akay, Levent
Cal•koglu and Hasim Nur Gurel.

The temporary exhibitions gallery situated on the ground floor is curated
by Fulya Erdemci and will present 3 to 4 shows a year. "The Making of
Istanbul Modern" which is a visual story documenting both Istanbul's
privileged status as a seaport and the stages of founding the museum will
be first exhibition of this gallery.

Istanbul Modern has a special gallery for photography curated by Engin
Ozendes and a new media area where visitors will be able to view examples
of video and digital art in a wireless network environment. The sculpture
garden at the entrance of the museum will present different surveys of
contemporary sculpture.

In addition to exhibitions, Istanbul Modern is developing diverse
activities and designed educational programs for a wide range of age
groups. Students will be able to attend workshops and lectures. The
museum's Art Library will be open to the public. The movie theatre will
present a program of independent productions and innovative films from all
over the world.

Istanbul Modern will be open every day except Monday between 10:00 and
18:00 hours. On Thursdays it will remain open until 20:00.

For further information please contact:
Handan Senkoken, Press Office
Tel: + 90 212 243 65 61
Fax: +90 212 243 43 19
handan.senkoken@istanbulmodern.org
Istanbul Modern

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