Published in City Brief
Hatice Utkan
However, this is not good news for Turkey’s art scene, as most of the large business groups try to enter the art world with their large financing facilities and become the main actors of this world.
Ten years ago a trend in art galleries started with “bank galleries” and that’s when they started to collect art from Turkey’s rich people.
Today this trend is moving onto company galleries. The company galleries and bank galleries make Turkish art more of a “business movement,” rather than developing deep art movements in the country.
The approach to art has changed and will continue to change with these new trends.
Everyone was waiting for D Gallery by Demsa Group. Demsa Group is one of the largest retail groups of Turkey. It is a well-known fact the owner always wanted to open a gallery with his large collection of artifacts.
However, this gallery, which was planning to situate at Pera has now turned into a urban legend.
The building, which had been bought to be an art gallery, is a historical building and it is restricted to make any changes or renovations without any permission.
As a result, the D Gallery will have to wait. But, already the affects of this gallery started to impact the art market.
The art market is a delicate market and should be scrutinized. The artifacts are the main characters. However, bank and company galleries are creating their own characters and these characters are the artists.
This will also change the relation between collectors, artists and gallery owners, which is a really important part of the art world. The relations between these characters will come to depend only on money. As a result, the perception will change and art will loose its deeper meaning.
From now on, the artist is the most important being in Turkey’s art scene, not the artifacts or their works.
The main problem is what will happen to the artists who do not belong to a company or bank gallery. The answer is easy: Their market share will decrease, while Turkish contemporary art will see more shallow artists and shallow works in the future.