The second meeting of the collaboration project, in which the collections of Arkas Art Center and Elgiz Museum are mutually hosted, is taking place in Izmir, after Istanbul. After the “Nature, Gardens, Dreams in the Arkas Collection” exhibition opened at the Elgiz Museum on March 4, the “Myths and Dreams in the Elgiz Collection” exhibition was opened to the public on March 26 at Arkas Art Center.
Curated by Billur Tansel, the “Myths and Dreams” exhibition presents new perspectives by discussing the transformation and evolution journey of nature and humans over time through the concepts of ecosophy and autopoïese. The exhibition, which can be visited at İzmir Arkas Art Center between March 26 and July 31, 2022, was opened to visitors, hosted by Arkas Holding Chairman of the Board Lucien Arkas, with the participation of Elgiz Museum Founder Can Elgiz and representatives from the business world.
Arkas and Elgiz, who have contributed to the cultural and artistic life of Izmir and Istanbul for many years, shared their passion for art and their thoughts on collecting in an interview moderated by project director Müjde Unustası, Myths and Dreams exhibition curator Billur Tansel, and Nature, Gardens, Dreams exhibition curator Jean Luc Maeso. They talked about their exemplary cooperation in the collection exchange, which has many examples abroad.
Arkas: “This is a passion”
Answering questions about the Arkas collection, Lucien Arkas said, “I studied literature, I like painting and museums. With the desire to own what I saw in my childhood, I started as much as my budget allowed. It’s been 30 years. First, I bought a masterpiece by İsmail Hakkı that I liked. I didn’t start the collection for investment purposes or to get it that big. I don’t characterize it as a hobby, it’s a passion, and the Arkas Collection has reached a comprehensive dimension today consisting of paintings, carpets, glassworks, and sculptures. It is necessary to research, to know, and love. I try to understand what the artist does by feeling and establishing an emotional connection. Some of them make such beautiful portraits that you can’t get enough of seeing them for a lifetime. I struggle to get every single piece of art that binds me. When you buy a painting, you experience the happiness of owning that beauty. You live that moment every time you see it. You live with them and there is no end to it, you continue as long as your budget”.
Having always wanted to exhibit and share the Arkas Collection with a large audience, Arkas opened Arkas Maritime History Center and Arkas Art Urla, after the first art center, Arkas Art Center, which opened 10 years ago. Arkas is preparing to add three more art centers to İzmir shortly. Collaborating with national and international museums and collections, Arkas has made an exemplary collaboration with the Elgiz family this time.
When art and architecture come together…
Can Elgiz explain that his love of art came from his family and when he combined it with architecture, he started to own works within the framework of possibilities. He said that every piece of art finds a different meaning in every building in every exhibition and that it tells a different story with the pieces that come together.
Elgiz said:
“This exhibition excites me in two ways. The first one consists of the coming together of different works on two subjects with common and similar theses. While Lucien Bey’s collection consists of classical and very valuable ancient works under this title, our exhibition consists of contemporary, contemporary, and more avant-garde works. Secondly, we exhibited some of Lucien Bey’s works on completely modern, flat, and large walls in the Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, and we got a very, very successful result.
As I said, our works are contemporary, contemporary, and avant-garde works. Our works have created a very different texture in this classical building and classical environment at Arkas Art Center, which is also important in history and hosts Lucien Bey’s beautiful collection. Both exhibitions created a serious contrast. Such a collection exchange is a common activity abroad. The museums, the collections of the owners and founders of the museums can be hosted in each other’s museums and different exhibitions can be created under different titles. However, I have never heard of such a comprehensive collection exchange in Turkey before. Both collections have lent works to some exhibitions, but I have not heard of such a complete exhibition change in different venues in Turkey”.
A New Approach from the French Psychoanalyst Guattari: Ecosophy
Ecosophy combines three types of ecology, environmental, social, and mental. According to Felix Guattari, man and nature have a bidirectional relationship with each other, and he focuses on issues such as the climate problem, the damage caused by the material wastes that people use to live, to the ecological system. And in this context, he draws attention to the importance of the process of self-creation (autopoïese). The thinker also emphasizes the importance of the closeness of ethics and aesthetics, art and science. Art is especially important as it adds flexibility and creativity to the perspective. Only if these three types of ecology can be united in the aesthetic ethics of ecosophy, and if a collective perception can be created and a form of solidarity can be developed, there will be real harmony. These layers go down to the ethical and principle understandings and behavior patterns of societies.
Reflections of Ekosophy in Art at the “Myths and Dreams” Exhibition
The Myths and Dreams exhibition, created by curator Billur Tansel from the Elgiz Collection, aims to explore how artists from different cultures approach the concept of ecosophy and what kind of suggestions they make. The first part of the exhibition, called Myths, which consists of two different parts, focuses on the concerns and issues pointed out by the artists, while the second part, called Dreams, aims to think about possible solutions with art lovers to reach the world of dreams. During the exhibition, in addition to seminars and artist talks, various workshops are organized for children.
“Myths and Dreams” exhibition will meet art lovers at Arkas Art Center between March 26-July 31, 2022. According to the curator, there will be works created by artists with various concerns, questioning topics such as the relationship between human and nature, human behavior and existence, his place in society, and his responsibilities to society and the world.
Some of the artists whose works were included in the selection are as follows, “Alex Prager, Antonio Riello, Aslı Torcu, Azade Köker, Barbara Kruger, Bengü Karaduman, Burhan Doğançay, Cindy Sherman, Daniele Buetti, Danielle Kwaaitaal, Darren Almond, David LaChappelle, David Tremlett, Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Fausto Gilberti, Flavio Favelli, Friederike Feldmann, Guillermo Mora, Günther Forg, Hale Tenger, Hiroshi Sugito, Jack Vanarsky, Loris Cecchini, Murat Germen, Oleg Dou, Olivier Blanckart, Ömer Uluç, Özlem Günyol, Pan Yue, Paul Hod Piero Gilardi, Pieter Ombregt, Robert Gligorov, Steinunn Thorarinsdottìr, Thomas Struth, Tomur Atagök, Veijko Zejak and Xavier Veilhan”
“Nature, Gardens, Dreams” Exhibition at Elgiz Museum
The exhibition “Nature, Gardens, Dreams”, which focuses on the relationship between Nature and Human with works from the Arkas Collection, continues to meet art lovers at the Elgiz Museum in Istanbul since March 4, 2022. The exhibition, which brings together works produced in periods when nature was not subjected to human destruction as much as it is today, includes works from different fields and disciplines such as painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and textile art. These pastoral works from the 16th to the 20th centuries also reveal the change and transformation of artistic creation over time.
Alfred Sisley, Maurice de Vlamick, Maurice Denis and John William Godward, John Atkinson Grimshaw, Alfred de Breanski, Hoca Ali Rıza, İsmail Hakkı, Nazmi Ziya Güran, in the exhibition “Nature, Gardens, Dreams” created under the directorship of the Annunciation of the Gospel and curated by Jean Luc Maeso and Sami Yetik. The works of important sculptors of the 19th century such as Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse are also among the selection that makes up the exhibition.
The two exhibitions, which focus on dialogue between each other and nature as their common theme, can be visited free of charge.
