he sixth edition of Mamut Art Project, which will run until Sunday, once again aims to engage up-and-coming creative talents with new collectors, galleries and curators. Providing a potent platform for rising artists, Mamut Art Project will exhibit artworks at accessible prices across a wide range of disciplines including painting, photography, street art, sculpture, embroidery, digital art, new media and installation.

As partner and sales director of Mamut Art Project Seren Kohen said that last year's exhibition attracted over 20,000 visitors. From 1,000 applications across Turkey 50 emerging artists have been selected to exhibit their works by a jury of five multidisciplinary experts. The jury includes contemporary artist Ayşe Erkmen, collector and businesswoman Ayşe Umur, journalist and art critic Evrim Altuğ, founding director of Gallery Nev in Istanbul Haldun Dostoğlu and curator Selen Ansen.

Offering undiscovered artists the opportunity to showcase their works in 10 square meters of exhibition space for free, Mamut Art Project not only provides curatorial guidance, promotional support and networking opportunities during the exhibition but also offers ongoing professional development consultancy to artists participating in the exhibition.

Additions to 'Immaterial?'

Three years ago, Mamut Art Project started a long term collaboration with Simge Burhanoğlu, founder of Performistanbul, and Seyhan Musaoğlu, founder of Space Debris, to showcase the importance and power of performance art.

Since its third edition, Mamut Performances aims to strengthen this program with notable additions under the theme of "Immaterial?" For the first time in an art project in Turkey, the re-performance rights of the works in this section will be sold, staying true to the integrity of the works while maintaining the artistic copyrights. This initiation will mark an important chapter in the ongoing development of performance art in Turkey, focusing on the immaterial and experiential aspects of the discipline while also reaffirming the role, relevance and value of performance art.

Mamut Art Project's focus is to re-evaluate the hegemony of materiality introduced by capitalism in order to liberate authenticity through the conceptual framework of "Immaterial?" The goal in doing so is to bring forward the experiential feeling in line with the 21st century mindset and feature the importance of intangible ideas' existence. By doing so, Mamut Art Project paves the way for the development and improvement of performance art among other art disciplines within the framework of the same rights and properties. Mamut Art Project's 2018 performances are to go on throughout the exhibition dates ranging from 30 minutes to seven hours.

Accessible and affordable art

KRÜW is an Istanbul-based artist collective with 20 artists from different fields including illustrators, sculptors, graffiti artists and animation artists. For the sixth edition of Mamut, KRÜW will be creating an exclusive series of works inspired by mythological stories told across different territories and culture. A stated objective of the collective is to demonstrate that art should be accessible, and as such all works in "Mythz" will be editioned as attractively priced silkscreen prints throughout the Mamut event. KRÜW wishes to introduce amateur art enthusiasts to affordable works of art, show them that collecting is not necessarily expensive or unattainable, bring them closer to art in ways they have never experienced before and arouse a passion for collecting.

Mamut Kids by Atölye 5

For the 2018 edition, Mamut Art Project will launch a Mamut Kids section in a special area designed by Atölye 5. Children will have the chance to participate in interactive, colorful, fun and accessible activities focusing on process and experience.

Entrance to Mamut Art Project is free of charge for students, teachers and faculty members. Normal tickets are priced at TL 20 ($5) and are sold at the KüçükCiftlik Park ticket booth and online at biletix.com.