The exhibition featuring paintings from the "3rd Dream Melodies" painting competition, organized in collaboration between the Institut Français Türkiye and the Young Talents Empowerment Foundation (EMART), has opened at the Istanbul French Cultural Center. This year's competition, themed around French composer Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," was held with the participation of undergraduate and graduate-level young talents from fine arts and education faculties across Türkiye.
Valentin Rodriguez, director of the Institut Français Istanbul, expressed his happiness in hosting the exhibition. Referring to the "Carmen" opera performed at the event, Rodriguez noted that the young artists established a connection between visual arts and music. He emphasized their pleasure in contributing to the careers of young artists, stating: "There is a long-standing bond between music and art. The works in the exhibition are very special and surrealist."
Serkan Şahin, founding president of EMART, conveyed their desire as a foundation to increase the visibility of students receiving art education, stating: "We want to make them more noticeable in society. One of our efforts in this regard is our "Dream Melodies" project." Highlighting that Dream Melodies is an interdisciplinary project, Şahin said: "It's a project that combines painting art with classical music and opera. Today, you will both listen to the concert of the opera named 'Carmen' and see the works created by students receiving art education. We are bringing together the works of our students from various cities, from Van to Edirne, from Mersin to Ankara, with art lovers."
The event began with the screening of a promotional film about the competition. Notable attendees included France's Consul General in Istanbul, Nadia Fanton, and Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Vice President Çetin Tecdelioğlu.
Following the speeches, artists took the stage to perform Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen." The Dream Melodies painting competition is organized to increase interest in classical music and opera art and to support the artistic productions of students receiving art education. Participants are expected to listen to a selected opera, express the opera itself or any part, song or melody within it through a pictorial narrative language and write a text summarizing the emotions and thoughts they experienced during the creation process of this work.
The exhibition will be open at the Institut Français exhibition hall until March 1.
