IZMIR, Turkey — An art exhibition showcasing works by Turkey’s top artists in an ornate 19th-century building in Istanbul has become the latest escalation in Turkey’s culture wars, with Islamist groups and several members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) calling for the exhibition to be shut down, accusing the works of perversion and blasphemy.
The exhibition, titled “Starting in the Middle,” will display some 400 artworks by Turkey’s best-known and most valuable artists from June 24 to August 30 at Feshaneh, a former factory that produced military equipment and fez, the traditional flat red felt hats worn by men during the Ottoman Empire. The factory was expensively renovated over the past four years and reopened as an arts hub on June 23.
Mission accomplished…#İBBMirrors #Feshan pic.twitter.com/mghx5fghzW
— Mahir Polat (@mhrpolat) June 23, 2023
The opening exhibition, whose title is inspired by a quote from French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, features works by Paris-based Turkish painter Comet, who paints gloomy yet dreamlike scenes; Nes Erdok, known for his portraits of sad strangers; and Murat Morova, who combines calligraphy and traditional motifs with a striking modern language. Leading Turkish artist Taner Ceylan, known for his hyper-realist paintings that explore gender roles, also exhibits one of his best-known works, “Ingres,” in which he superimposes the face of French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres onto a portrait of Princess de Broglie.
