The 100-year-old Yusuf Ziya Paşa mansion, owned by Borusan Holding, has been turned into a dual purpose contemporary art ‘office museum’ thanks to efforts by the company. The office museum, which will be the first of its kind in Turkey, will be open to the public during weekends
Istanbul’s art scene welcomed a new style of museum on Tuesday with the opening of the first dual purpose “office museum.”
The Borusan contemporary art collection has been gathered in Borusan’s offices in the 100-year-old Yusuf Ziya Paşa mansion, also known as the “Perili” (Haunted) Mansion, in the Baltalimanı neighborhood in the Sariyer district on the European coast of the Bosphorus Strait. The public opening of the museum will be on Saturday.
Speaking during the press conference, Borusan Holding managing director Ahmet Kocabıyık said: “Borusan contemporary has two main missions. One is to share its contemporary art collection with the public and the other is to increase interest in contemporary art in Turkey.”
The most important part of the collection is that all of these works belong to new media art, he said.
The collection comprises works in diverse techniques ranging from video to photography, from painting to installation, and from light sculpture and canvas painting, he said.
Functioning as an exhibition space with creative artworks during the weekends and as an active office space during the weekdays, the Borusan Contemporary Office Museum is an extraordinary model and a laboratory for experiencing a lifestyle symbiotic with contemporary art.
Movement and transition
Currently, the space is hosting two major exhibitions. The first one is the permanent collection titled Segment #1 curated by Nemci Sönmez. It includes works by the leading artists.
The Segment #1 exhibition centers on the idea of “transition, change and movement.” All the works have an aspect of transition or movement. This aspect also reflects the perception of Borusan’s Professional targets.
While the works reflect the “change,” communication aspect is another important reflection of the art works.
Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News, sculpture Bjoern Schulke said his piece, a large sculpture installation that stands in the entrance area, is an exclusive piece commissioned by Borusan.
The piece reflects movement and transition. It turns all the time, as the movement censors feel the movement around the work. “My work titled SV1 means Sound Voyage 1. This piece can be seen as a machine or a spacecraft or a rocket.” However, at the core of the sculpture, movement and transition take the lead.
Temporary exhibition
The second exhibition, which is temporary, is titled Seven New Works and curated by Mario Codognato and Sylvia Kouvali.
The exhibition focuses on the current geopolitical situation and places Istanbul and Turkey as a whole at the epicenter of the world’s most pressing relevant issues.
Within this context, the Seven New Works exhibition aims to present the most recent works by seven Turkish artists who come originally from Turkey but are active in the international scene.
Kocabıyık started to collect art 20 years ago. “At first I started with mostly print works,” he said, adding that his main attention was paid to Turkish artists in the past. “However, as time passed my tastes changed and now I am collecting works from the international scene.”
Currently, Kocabıyık is interested more in new media.
The Office museum, which will be open to the public during weekends, is the first step in Borusna’s big plan, said Kocabıyık, adding that in the future Borusan aims to open a large contemporary art museum.
The Borusan buildings in Salı Pazarı in Istanbul will be the location for the new museum, said Kocabıyık.