CONTEMPORARY ART IN TURKEY

Course Objectives: This course, concentrating on the development of contemporary art in Turkey, will cover the birth, growth, key turning points, and current debates on art in Turkey. At the end of the course, students:

• Become competent in situating the key artists, actors, and institutions within various formative narratives of the contemporary art scene of Turkey and have a clear idea about what contemporary art is.
• Gain the ability to comment on contemporary artworks, linking their meanings to social phenomena outside the art world.
• Making site visits, students see how artworks are exhibited and be able to understand the complicated web of relations in the art industry that transgress the relationship between the artist and the viewer.

Course Content: Scrutinizing critical discussions in the contemporary art scene in Turkey, the course will cover the field’s history, focusing on formative texts, exhibition catalogs, and actual artworks. During the classes, there will be site visits and artist talks. Topics such as gender, migration, politics, and ecology addressed by contemporary artists will be discussed weekly through related artworks.