Serving the arts for 40 years

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), taking on an essential role in the field of Istanbul’s cultural life is celebrating its 40th Anniversary.

By Elif Türkölmez

 

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), taking on an essential role in the field of Istanbul’s cultural life is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts-İKSV is playing a leading role in the cultural life of Istanbul for the last 40 years, by presenting to the public world’s foremost performers and representatives in every field of art and culture, organizing classical festivals as well as avant-garde events offering the latest artistic trends. The Istanbul Film Festival, organized each year in April, the Theatre Festival in May, the Jazz Festival in July provide to Istanbul’s audiences the opportunity to get acquainted with the world’s best productions in their field. The Foundation was established in 1973 by a group of 17 business-men and art amateurs under the leadership of Dr. Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı, as a non-profit organization of public interest, with a view to organizing international art festivals.

The Istanbul Festival organized in 1973, the first of its series, coincided with the 50th Anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic. Its programme was consisting mainly of classical music, but in ensuing years, the festival added progressively film presentations, theatre, jazz and ballet performances to its repertoire and realized special exhibitions at historical locations. As a consequence of growing public interest and the increasing number of events, the festival had to be re-structured by being divided into several specialized festivals devoted to different art disciplines. Thanks to these festivals, Turkish audiences enjoyed the opportunity of meeting and discussing in Istanbul, with leading personalities of the international cultural arena, such as Federico Fellini, Béla Tarr, John Malkovich, Paul Simon etc…

40th Anniversary special events Publication of a special book in June 2012, devoted to 40 years of İKSV history, as narrated by its founders, members, employees, sponsors, artists and members of the public, will constitute the principal act of celebration. The book will describe the successive stages of the Foundation’s evolution since its inception, the featured activities and the important transformations that took place, as witnessed by per-sonalities who took direct part in this process. It will shed light on the progressive institutionalization and growth of Turkey’s first non-profit art and culture organization in a multifaceted manner through testi-monies and accounts based on, among other, personal experiences.

First in the series of special events, will be the performance of the experimental theatrical group La Fura dels Baus, founded in 1979 in Barcelona, known for their urban theatre, use of streets and unusual settings, performances of contemporary theatre and opera. They will present in Istanbul the world premiere of their new production com-missioned by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Art. The event will take place at the Golden Horn Camialtı Shipyard, on Thursday,  21St and Friday, 22 and June on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the inauguration of the first edition of the Istanbul Festival. The prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra will perform on Thurs-day, 27 September at the Golden Horn Convention Centre, under its appointed conductor Sir Simon Rattle. Young Turkish musicians of international renown, cellist Efe Baltacıgil and his brother contrabass artist Fora Baltacıgil will perform as soloists during the concert. One of the most eminent representatives of the contemporary art of dance, the Dutch dance company Nederlands Dans Theater, will present two special performances in Istanbul, on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 June 2012, on the occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the establishment of Turkish-Dutch diplomatic relations, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of İKSV. The 400th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands will constitute the occasion of yet another special performance, namely the concert of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam, under guest conductor Lorin Maazel to take place on Saturday, November 10, 2012 at the Golden Horn Convention Centre. The orchestra is composed of 120 musicians each one of them at virtuosic level. 2012 Year of Chinese Culture The İKSV Foundation will also take active part in the implementation of the Year of Chinese Culture in Turkey project, destined to foster cultural and political relations between the two countries, with events to be held throughout 2012.

This project will be complemented through the Year of Turkish Culture in China project, to be carried out in 2013; both projects aiming at allowing the populations of the two countries to be acquainted with each other’s unique cultural and artistic assets. In this vein, İKSV will devote special chapters to the Year of Chinese Culture within the programmes of the Istanbul Festival series to be held throughout 2012. The 31st Istanbul Film Festival will include aspecial category consisting of Chinese films. The 18th Istanbul Theatre Festival will offer two Chinese performances, namely the visual and musical feast of the traditional Beijing Opera and the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble presenting the contemporary features of modern Chinese art. The Ansai Waist Drummers will perform the drum dance which is a large-scale folk dance with an old history, an example of unique traditional Chinese street art. The Kite Workshop and Exhibition is an educational project intended for the youth. In addition to the 40Th Anniversary special events, the Foundation will organize in 2012, as in every year, the Istanbul Film, Theatre, Music and Jazz Festivals, the Leyla Gencer Voice Competition, the Film October and the first edition of the Istanbul Design Bien-nale. And the special performance hall “Salon İKSV” will continue, throughout the year, to be the venue hosting international and national representatives of current trends in modern music as well as events in the field of theatre and literature.

In addition to those activities, the İKSV contributes also to Istanbul’s culture, art and entertainment life through its headquarters since 2009, the Deniz Palas building in Şişhane, built in the early 20th century in Art Nouveau style by architect Georges Coulouthros. The seven-storey building of 4,200 square metres is home to the Foundation’s offices as well as a café, a restaurant, the performance venue Salon İKSV, the Leyla Gencer House and the İKSV Design Store, where works of great artists such as Abidin Dino, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and design products by contemporaneous designers like Ela Cindoruk, Şenay Akın are available for purchase. The X Restau-rant on the top floor offers unique views of Istanbul while sipping your drink.

40 years’ unforgettable moments

• The performance in 2003 of the dance act, called “Breath”, composed, choreographed and, dedicated to Istanbul by living legend of modern dance, Pina Bausch, attracted a much larger audience than expected, so that additional seats had to be placed on the stairs of the AKM (Atatürk Cultural Centre) main hall.

• The guest of honour of the 24th Istanbul Film Festival, Italian cinema’s living legend Sophia Loren, while thanking for the Prize of Honour she received from the Foundation, said: “ I will place this award next to my Oscar.”

• The poster of the 18th Istanbul Jazz Festival in 2011 de-signed as “Istanbul’s Jazz Heart” received great praise.

• The 39th Istanbul Music Festival was turned into a carnival by the performances of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. The orchestra composed of the group of poor “El Sistema” children performing for three consecutive days, was seen as a source of inspiration for similar projects to be undertaken in Turkey.

• In the framework of the 2007 Istanbul film Festival, a project entitled “Turkish Classics Again”, carried out in collaboration with İKSV, aimed at the restoration of the worn-out copies and introduction to present-day audiences of Turkish film history classics, provided for the restoration of “Selvi Boylum, Al Yazmalım” (English title: The Girl with the Red Scarf), a 1978 Turkish romantic drama directed by Atıf Yılmaz, which hence moved to the big screen again.

• The Istanbul Theatre Festival offered the opportunity to Turkish audiences to watch the live performance of actor Kevin Spacey in Shakespeare’s “Richard III”.

 

 TURSAB ENG

 

This article has originally appeared in “Müze” Magazine, published quarterly with the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We would like to thank TÜRSAB Museum Enterprises for sharing this piece with Istanbul Digital Platform followers. 

Mapwidget
Biletixheader
Buying Selling
USD 32.2596 32.3177
EURO 34.8189 34.8816