LEVENT, ISTANBUL-TURKEY.- The Proje4L Elgiz Museum of Contemporary of Art will present “MeltemofIstanbul”. Artists:Ramazan Bayrakoğlu, Ragıp Basmazölmez Tine Benz, Burak Delier, Nezaket Ekici, Friederike Feldmann, Özlem Günyol, Hayal İncedoğan, Yasemin Özcan Kaya, Mustafa Kula, Mustafa Kunt, Jonathan Meese, Ferhat Özgür, Lea Asja Pagenkemper, Johannes Wohnseifer, and İskender Yediler. Curator: Dr. Necmi Sönmez, Artistic Director of Kunstverein Arnsberg.

“MeltemofIstanbul” is an exhibition that consists of a vast array of artwork created by young German and Turkish artists chosen from the Elgiz Collection. The exhibition’s title refers to the tender breeze that sweeps through Istanbul. Its aspiration goes beyond the common group exhibition and gathers international pieces that have yet to be shown in Turkey.

Curated by Dr. Necmi Sönmez, this exhibition challenges the possibilities of current artistic _expression and comprehensively displays media ranging from painting, sculpture, performance, drawing, artist book, photography, video and multimedia, to installation.

By bringing emerging German artists together with young Turkish artists, the Elgiz Museum, in one regard, expands the dialogue between two cultures, and in another, becomes a platform for new formations. Some of the works have been produced specifically for this exhibition and refer to images exclusively unique to Istanbul. Within the context of “MeltemofIstanbul” the museum personates a different identity and becomes an experimental art forum for visual experiences.

Elgiz Museum, having the first international contemporary art collection in Turkey, aims to promote the passion for collecting art in a country in which this topic is still discussed. Consequently, some distinguished collectors from Germany have been invited to Istanbul to give conferences throughout the period of the exhibition.

The exhibition will also be presented to the public through a special feature catalogue compiled by Dr. Necmi Sönmez and well-known Turkish writer, Niyazi Zorlu, who lives in Frankfurt.