Modernity? Perspectives from France and Turkey

Modernity? Perspectives from France and Turkey explores the effects of modernity on contemporary art. The exhibition looks into the phenomenon of modernity and the confrontation of artists with the modernity project, which is still valid today.

FİKRET ATAY – SAİNTS OF THE CİTY from batmankultursanat on Vimeo.

The works in the exhibition focus on the dynamics of modern life, both criticized and considered as an endless opportunity for research by visual arts. In a globalized world, we are going through a period of diverse, profound, and complex relationships in which uses of new technologies and the social media form intricate structures. Modernity? Perspectives from France and Turkey attempts to remind us how the remnants of modernity, which constantly reappear in various ways, have seeped into our lives in today’s relatively directionless world. Featuring artists from Turkey and France, a role model for Turkey’s modernization, the exhibitionopens for discussion how the remains of modernity can transform the present and the future.

Artists: Nevin Aladağ, Fikret Atay, Kader Attia, Ayşe Erkmen, Cyprien Gaillard, Thomas Hirschhorn, Pierre Huyghe, Chris Marker, Sarkis, Hale Tenger, Nasan Tur

Curators: Çelenk Bafra, Levent Çalıkoğlu

Istanbul Modern – 16 January – 16 May 2013