Love of art brings artists worldwide together in Ankara

Hundreds of artists from 20 countries, including Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the U.K., will participate in this year's "ARTANKARA" event, which will showcase the latest and most treasured examples of contemporary art, from paintings to sculptures, and from photography to installations and ceramics. With "ARTANKARA" set to be the scene of such interesting events, the capital city will be filled with art.

International Contemporary Art Fair Project Coordinator Liudmila Capsamun said the foreign participant portfolio of ARTANKARA has expanded, and invited the locals to the international exhibition center "ATO Congresium" from today to Sunday.

Noting that 600 artists and a total of 108 institutions, including 48 galleries, museums, universities and art initiatives, from Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, South Korea, Philippines, France, Switzerland, Italy, the U.K., Iran, Georgia, Greece, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein and Hungary, will be attending ARTANKARA, Capsamun said, "The fair, which will feature the newest and most valuable examples of contemporary art, from paintings to sculptures, from photographs to installations and ceramics, has become an important platform, where artists exchange ideas in its third year. The fair, which became the meeting point of 17,000 art lovers in 2015 and 32,000 in 2016, boosted the art market. This year we are expecting an increase in the number of visitors as well as the number of participants."

Exhibition for the miners

Capsamun said the results of the collaboration between the business and art worlds can be seen for the first time in the fair, adding, "The works of art created with aluminum and waste materials produced by the participating firms at the facilities will be seen at 'Art Goes to Work," which has been created with the belief that the meeting of the business world and artists can create positive and profound results for the quality of life."



Underlining that another remarkable exhibition for visitors under this theme will be organized for the miners, Capsamun said at the section titled "Getting Undressed" the works by 19 young artists will be displayed. The exhibition was inspired by the locker rooms of the miners and curated by Füsun Kavalcı from Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts Ceramic Department.

Capsamun informed that while Italian Neo Art Gallery will demonstrate the works by Davide Frisoni, Roberta Coni and Hale Karaçelik, the world-famous works of Claudia Schmidt's will be displayed by Gallery Schmidt. AB Gallery, on the other hand, will feature art works by formidable South Korean artists, namely Yong Moon Kim, Chang Yeol Kang, Donha Lee, Won Suk Choi, Sang Chul Won, Hae Soo Park, Jung Dae Kim and Tae Jong Kim. Georgian contemporary artists Nick Japaridze, David Popiashvili and Levan Urushadze will be at Art Iberia booth, and Aspect Gallery from Bulgaria will represent the works by Iliya Zhelev.

Capsamun noted that among the names that will meet the art lovers at the "Russian Creative Artists Union" booth are Andrey Kovalevsky, Vasily Kudrin, Galia Kushkumbaeva and Feodor Leonid, adding that the first of Koridoor Contemporary Art Programs, a nonprofit organization that produces cultural and artistic projects with a humane perspective, will be at the fair for the first time this year.

Informing that the organization, which was founded in London in 2007, will be attending the fair with "10 Countries - 10 artists," with the objective of developing a dialogue through art between the east and the west, Capsamun said the special exhibitions by various artists including Bubi, Devrim Erbil, Ergin İnan, Ertuğrul Ateş and Nikolay Yanakiev, can be seen as a part of the "Solo Show" event. She also added that within the framework of the said event, master of Turkish Contemporary Art Professor Ergin İnan will be signing autographs for his book dedicated to the 50th anniversary of his artistic life.

Social responsibility projects

Liudmila Capsamun explained that four different social responsibility projects will be carried out by various institutions. A social responsibility undertaker, RC Gallery's "Blue Brush" project will allow participants and artists to make acrylic paintings on small canvases, which will be donated to help fund scholarships from the education of the Turkish Educational Foundation (TED).

According to Capsamun, the works donated to Blue Brush will be sold at an auction to be held and the collected money will be transferred to TED again. The Portakal Çiçeği International Plastic Arts Colony will bring together artists and children with special needs and that they will all paint together, Capsamun said, adding that this year two awards will be given at the fair, including the "Honorable Artist Award" to Adnan Turani, who passed away last year, and the "Honorary Award for Contribution to Art" to Portakal Çiçeği International Plastic Arts Colony. Capsamun also noted that during the four-day fair, art talks, autograph sessions, concerts and dance performances will be organized with the participation of artists, academicians, journalists and art initiatives.