Elgiz 10

Famous British Artist Gavin Turk realized a site-specific project

A New International Meeting at the Elgiz Museum

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Elgiz Museum witnessed a new international meeting in its latest exhibition.

The exhibition “Elgiz10 Istanbul” presents a new selection of works from the Elgiz Collection from September 17, 2011 to March 17, 2012, accompanied by site-specific projects by İskender Yediler, Lale Delibaş, Burak Bedenlier and Nejat Satı in collaboration with British artist Gavin Turk.

On the opening day of the exhibition, September 16, three of the world's leading women collectors, Ella Fontanals Cisneros, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Basma Al Sulaiman, discussed their collecting experiences and the changing notions of social responsibility in art. Cisneros and Rebaudengo talked about the museums they have established in their countries and the support they give to artists, while Al Sulaiman presented the three-dimensional virtual museum called Basmoca, which he created using technological means to exhibit his collection since he could not establish a contemporary art museum in his country, Saudi Arabia.

Gavin Turk's Turkeys

Using elements of irony and black humor in his works, the British artist establishes a different relationship between contemporary life and art, referring to issues such as his own surname and the duality of identities. The turkey-patterned wallpaper Turk produced for the Elgiz10 Istanbul exhibition features a carpeted version of his famous work “Cave”. Next to this large-scale work is “Turkey Foil” and the Andy Warhol-inspired work “Golden Negative Fear Wig”. The large-scale image of an evil eye bead, which the artist produced for this exhibition, did not make it to the opening of the exhibition because the paint had not dried.

In the first part of the exhibition, Nejat Satı's wall sculpture titled “Breaks for Fahrünnisa” was specially created for two paintings by Fahrelnissa Zeid selected from the Elgiz collection. Zeid, born in 1901, comes together with Nejat Satı, born in 1982, on the same wall, while Burak Bedenlier's “Tower of Babel” made of thousands of terra-cotta cubes emphasizes the cultural diversity of the museum.

Due to the exhibition, works by artists such as Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeoise, Eric Fischl and Robert Rauschenberg, which have not yet been shown in the Elgiz Collection, are being presented for the first time in the museum. The shiny metallic strips covering the entire museum floor belong to Lale Delibaş's floor sculpture “Mecburi İstikamet”. İskender Yediler's inflatable sculpture “Wolke” stylizes yellow sunlight seeping through metallic-colored clouds.

Other artists taking part in the exhibition are as follows:

Darren Almond, Doug Aitken, Adnan Çoker, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Burhan Doğançay, Nejad Devrim, Tracey Emin, Jan Fabre, Gilbert & George, Murat Germen, Günter Förg, Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, Elke Krystufek, Azade Köker, Mustafa Kunt, Tunca Subaşı, Sol Lewitt, Bjarne Melgaard, Jonathan Meese, Paul McCarthy, Sarah Morris, Mateo Mate, Frank Nitsche, Abdurrahman Öztoprak, Marcus Oehlen, Ferhat Özgür, Jorge Pardo, Lisa Ruyter, Thomas Struth, David Tremblett, Johannes Wohnseifer, Tim White Sobiesky.

Thomas Struth, Barbara Kruger, Ferhat Özgür

Gavin Turk

Image from Elgiz 10 International Women Collectors Panel