Surface And Beyond At Opening Of New Dirimart
Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city and its economic, cultural, and historic epicentre, is now home to Dirimart's second art gallery. Dirimart Dolapdere has just opened on May 26th and is now the city's largest commercial art space. The original Dirimart gallery began life in 2002 and has been instrumental in cementing Istanbul's presence amongst the global art scene by creating long lasting relationships with prominent international artists and galleries. With a desire to develop fresh Turkish talent, as much as attract the younger generations into art collecting, Dirimart has introduced to the Turkish art market acclaimed artists such as Thomas Bayrle, Hermann Nitsch, Shrin Neshat, Franz Ackermann, Peter Zimmermann, Sarah Morris, Ghada Amer and many others.
With an unprecedented surge in interest over the last decade, Istanbul's contemporary art scene has seen interest grow tremendously since the start of the new Millennium, where there are now just shy of 200 local and foreign art institutions within the city's boundaries. Dolapdere's Dirimart has officially opened and their opening exhibition is entitled "Surface and Beyond", bringing together the works of renowned international and Turkish artists that include the likes of Sarah Morris, Isaac Julien, Bernard Frize, Haluk Akakce, Eva Rothschild, Tomas Saraceno and others.
The art gallery itself has opened in an area that the city's officials feel that the local residents might be intimidated by such a new attraction. Via open glass walls and expansive outdoor public space gardens, the architect of the gallery explains "...It's important that art communicates with different ages and social backgrounds." Catering for tourists and locals alike, this friendly art gallery hopes to somewhat regenerate its immediate neighbourhood. Istanbul is certainly a hive of art and culture, and its mass appealing exhibitions have grown particularly popular by featuring collections from afar, as well as from the vast heritage and extremely mixed influences that Turkey has experienced with the passage of time.
Discover more about the new gallery at Dirimart.com
Photography credit : Dirimart.com