23 Sep 2011

Dream and Reality - Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey at İstanbul Modern

With the exhibition "Dream and Reality– Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey", İstanbul Modern aims to put on the agenda Turkey’s social and cultural transformation via the work of women artists. The exhibition, which is centered on the position of women artists in modern and contemporary art, offers a new, alternative perspective on the sociocultural history of Turkey.

Formed by curators Fatmagül Berktay, Levent Çalıkoğlu, Zeynep İnankur and Burcu Pelvanoğlu, the selection encompasses the production stretching from the mid-19th century to our day and incorporates many different disciplines from painting to video.

The exhibition, which is also like a summary of modern and contemporary Turkish art, links close to 80 artists, including pioneering women artists the lives and productions about which we know little and whose names are almost forgotten; the rediscovered moderns; and women artists who for the last four decades have been shaping the contemporary art scene with their intellectual attitude and practical actions.

The exhibition takes its title from the 1891 novel “Dream and Reality” coauthored by Fatma Aliye and Ahmet Midhat. As a romance novel the two-part book features many of the period’s symbolic characteristics; the first part called dream was written by Fatma Aliye and the part laying emphasis on reality by Ahmet Midhat. Fatma Aliye is featured on the cover of the novel with the penname “A Woman,” only indicating her gender, whereas the author of reality is male.

Taking the novel “Dream and Reality” as its reference, the exhibition investigates how women artists turn their dreams into reality and conveys through visual examples the relationship women artists establish with the different strata of reality in their production and this relationship’s place in today’s culture of contemporary art.

By drawing attention to the works of women artists produced for more than a century the exhibition aims to remind us of their position in the history of art while rendering visible on the one hand the ways in which, through their art, they convey their experiences in the social arena, and on the other hand, and more particularly, their pioneering and critical position in contemporary art.

The exhibition also opens to discussion the issue of female identity which in Turkey has taken shape via diverse sociocultural dynamics. Furthermore, in panels, symposia, and workshops held in conjunction with the exhibition, feminist theory, gender discussions, and women’s studies in Turkey will be analyzed by speakers from diverse disciplines.

Curators: Fatmagül Berktay, Levent Çalıkoğlu, Zeynep İnankur, Burcu Pelvanoğlu

Artists: Mihri Müşfik, Melek Celal Sofu, Belkıs Mustafa, Güzin Duran, Nazlı Ecevit, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Aliye Berger, Bedia Güleryüz, Sabiha Rüştü Bozcalı, Nermin Faruki, Sabiha Ziya Bengütaş, Hale Asaf, Maide Arel, Şükriye Dikmen, Eren Eyüboğlu, Semiha Berksoy, Füreya, Frumet Tektaş, Zerrin Bölükbaşı, Leyla Gamsız, Naile Akıncı, Tiraje Dikmen, Bilge Civelekoğlu Friedlaender, Bilge Alkor, Candeğer Furtun, Tülay Tura Börtecene, Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye, Füsun Onur, Nil Yalter, Tomur Atagök, Neş’e Erdok, İpek Duben, Nur Koçak, Nevhiz, Seyhun Topuz, Meriç Hızal, Nancy Atakan, Gülsün Karamustafa, Canan Beykal, Ayşe Erkmen, Azade Köker, Fatma Tülin, Hale Arpacıoğlu, Canan Tolon, İnci Eviner, Kezban Arca Batıbeki, Handan Börüteçene,  Canan Dağdelen, Hale Tenger, Selda Asal, Selma Gürbüz, Aydan Murtezaoğlu, Gül Ilgaz, Şükran Moral, Arzu Başaran, Gülay Semercioğlu, Mürüvvet Türkyılmaz, Neriman Polat, Canan, Nezaket Ekici, Esra Ersen, Ebru Özseçen, Elif Çelebi, Leyla Gediz, Bengü Karaduman, Aslı Sungu, İnci Furni, Nilbar Güreş, Seda Hepsev, Ceren Oykut, Ekin Saçlıoğlu, Gözde İlkin, Güneş Terkol, Atılkunst

İstanbul Modern is grateful to Mrs. TAMARA MANSIMOV for her generous support of all exhibition-related events.
Exhibition Sponsor: Eczacıbaşı
Technology Sponsor: LG