The exhibition "Masks/Connotations," initially presented to art lovers at the Baksı Museum in Turkey's northeastern Bayburt province, will be now be displayed at Cocoon – Contemporary Istanbul Foundation's first production and exhibition venue – starting Thursday.

The organization was founded in 2019 to bring modern art to a wider audience, to encourage young people to become collectors, to support artists and to create awareness in various branches of art through education programs developed with national and international organizations.

Contemporary Istanbul Foundation is dedicating its first show of 2021 to the concept of the pandemic by exhibiting "Masks/Connotations." The program will be on display until April 21 and it will feature "mask" interpretations by 20 artists and designers. As part of the exhibition, masks – an element of contention since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic – are reshaped through artist and designer reimaginings in an attempt to find ways of making peace with them.

The exhibition, formed by an art committee consisting of Hüsamettin Koçan, the founder of the Baksı Museum, Feride Çelik, Banu Çarmıklı and Özlem Yalım, aims to bring light and energy to people at a time when life has come to a standstill as a result of the pandemic, through the works of artists and designers who interpret, analyze and offer alternatives to the chaotic environment we are in. While humanity has fallen into panic and despair in the face of this unexpected but audacious attack, artists are trying to expand and enrich the perception of masks, presented as the basic element of protection all over the world. While seeking solutions to the current relevant problems based on this context, they create a diversity that questions the ancient relationship of man and mask.