Celebrating its 10th anniversary with projects supporting contemporary art from Türkiye, SAHA opens the doors of SAHA Studio, its space for artists and curators in Beyoğlu, for its end-of-term exhibition and public programme on Wednesday, 29 September. The works of Yasemin Nur, Onur Gökmen, Ege Kanar, Bengü Karaduman, and Merve Ünsal, who have been conducting their research at SAHA Studio with SAHA’s support since January, will be on view from 29 September to 2 October 2021, daily between 13:00 and 19:00.
Public Programme
Wednesday, 29 September
16:00–16:30 | Sound Performance: Bengü Karaduman
14 Bölge
Friday, 1 October
16:00–17:00 | Conversation: Merve Ünsal & Nazlı Yayla
Sürçmeler, süreçler, sürüncemeler
Drawing on Merve Ünsal’s research during her time at SAHA Studio, the conversation explores the possibility of embracing slips, processes, and unresolved situations as artistic methods. Shaped by Ünsal’s ongoing dialogue with Nazlı Yayla, the discussion aims to trace potential directions for her practice beyond SAHA Studio.
17:15–18:30 | Conversation: Yasemin Nur & Emre Koyuncuoğlu
NE VAR NE ÇOK
Yasemin Nur, who has been working on stage design since 2013, and theatre director Emre Koyuncuoğlu discuss the adaptation of texts for the stage and their collaborative productions. The conversation focuses on the theatrical language they have developed together through different literary genres and their approaches to translating literary language into the language of performance.
Saturday, 2 October
13:30–14:30 | SAHA Studio Participants in Conversation with One Another
15:30–17:00 | SAHA Artist Books Presentation & Conversation with Kerem Ozan Bayraktar
With Çelenk Bafra, Yağız Özgen, Ulya Soley, and Ulaş Uğur
SAHA Studio Open
29 September – 2 October 2021
Daily, 13:00–19:00
For further information: www.saha.org.tr / info@saha.org.tr
HES codes will be checked upon entry, and visitors will be required to wear face masks. Attendance will be monitored throughout the events, with a maximum capacity of 50 people.
Since its establishment in 2011, SAHA has supported projects by more than 400 artists, curators, writers, and art initiatives at 170 non-profit art institutions across 39 countries. Established in Beyoğlu in 2019, SAHA Studio offers its participants opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and collective learning, drawing on SAHA’s partnerships in Türkiye and internationally. SAHA provides invited artists with long-term individual studios and shared workspaces, as well as research and production grants for their projects. Through group and individual mentoring and feedback sessions, the programme supports artists throughout their research, production, presentation, and exhibition processes. SAHA Studio welcomes not only visual artists from different cities across Türkiye but also international writers and curators, providing opportunities to develop their research through engagement with Istanbul’s art scene.
During SAHA Studio’s third term, Eva Vaslamatzi, a curator from Greece hosted in collaboration with ARTWORKS, conducted research at SAHA Studio in May and June. Building on this research, she invited three artists from Türkiye to participate in an exhibition she organized in Athens that autumn. SAHA Studio’s guest writer, Murat Alat, contributes a new essay each month to the SAHA Writing Series, focusing on a work by a different artist. Throughout the year, he also organises reading and discussion sessions for SAHA Studio artists.
SAHA Studio participants are selected by a committee that also serves in an advisory capacity to the programme. In 2021, the Selection Committee consisted of artist Gülsün Karamustafa, curator Özge Ersoy, and Çelenk Bafra, curator and Director of SAHA Studio. In selecting the artists, writers, and curators invited to participate in the programme, the committee also sought nominations from former SAHA Studio participants and advisors, as well as a group of independent curators, each of whom was invited to propose one or two candidates along with their portfolios. The committee reviewed the work of 40 candidates in total and selected participants for the January–September 2021 term, as well as the following term of SAHA Studio, scheduled to begin in October.
SAHA Studio Advisory and Selection Committee: Çelenk Bafra, Özge Ersoy, Gülsün Karamustafa
Nominators: Alper Aydın, Larissa Araz, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, Özgür Demirci, Övül Durmuşoğlu, Merve Elveren, Sibel Horada, Borga Kantürk, Vasıf Kortun, Gülşah Mursaloğlu, Zeynep Öz, Metehan Özcan, Başak Şenova, Aslı Seven, Fatoş Üstek, Dilek Winchester
