Art kicks off at Açıkekran Levent…

After Açıkekran New Media Arts, Turkey's only art platform focused on the new media and video, it has implemented to provide more access to the art field, Şekerbank has presented the world of culture with its second gallery that will include different medias of contemporary art, Açıkekran Levent, in its Head Quarter building.

With Ali Akay's curation, Açıkekran Levent has begun to welcome the art-funs with the exhibition called “States of Portraits” bringing the works of Leyla Gediz, Seza Paker, Şükriye Dikmen, Taner Ceylan and Yusuf Taktak together. Offering an up-to-date approach to the ‘Portrait’ painting, one of the oldest types of the art of painting, the exhibition can be visited by April 16.

19.02.2016

After Açıkekran New Media Arts it has implemented to provide more access to the art field, Şekerbank, which launched one of Turkey's first bank art galleries in Ankara in the 1980s, has brought its second gallery that will include different types of contemporary art together with the art-funs. The Bank that has conveyed the contemporary art to Anatolia through Açıkekran - Turkey's only art platform focused on the new media and video - via its branches, has opened the doors of its second gallery Açıkekran Levent, launched in the new Head Quarter building, with the exhibition called “States of Portraits” with Ali Akay's curation.

Differently from Açıkekran New Media Arts located in Teşvikiye and taking the video works out of the center through branches of the bank, Açıkekran Levent will bring the contemporary art works created in different medias such as painture, sculpture, photography and installation, which remain out of video and new media, to art-funs.

First exhibition in new gallery

The first exhibition of Açıkekran Levent is the “States of Portraits” that offers an up-to-date approach to the ‘Portrait’ painting, one of the oldest types of the art of painting. Curated by Ali Akay, the “States of Portraits” exhibition brings 5 artists from different generations together.

Şükriye Dikmen from 1950s, Yusuf Taktak from 1970s, Seza Paker from 1980s, Taner Ceylan from 1990s and Leyla Gediz from 2000s are in the exhibition with their paintures, photographs and videos. Taner Ceylan and Yusuf Taktak are making a reference to the portrait art tradition with their self-portraits, while Seza Paker handles the portrait in a “representation relation” with her photographs. Leyla Gediz, who uses two different medium masterfully in her work, and Şükriye Dikmen, with her abstraction reckoning with the memory, come together in the exhibition with a successful curation.

The reason why first exhibition of Açıkekran Levent is assigned to portraits...

In his evaluation of the first exhibition in Açıkekran Levent, the Curator Ali Akay said, “The reason why first exhibition of Açıkekran Levent is assigned to portraits is the necessity for a space to show first its own lines, features and facial expressions as it is a new place. A space reveals itself the same way human face and body speak. First of all, the enthusiasm or tranquility in the motions, scowling, expression in the eye, facial lines... Then comes the relation with the other objects around, nature, and environment, and the connections, relations of a body coming from the nature with other humans as well as its movements within the space. This exhibition will include both of these regards.”

The exhibition launched in Şekerbank’s new Head Quarter building in Levent can be visited on weekdays from 09:00 to 19:30 by April 16.