A Space of Insight: Akbank Sanat and 30 Years
December 6th, 2023 – January 20th, 2024
Curator: Hasan Bülent Kahraman
Exhibition concept and exhibition design: Bülent Erkmen
Memory is distinct from history. The historicity of history evolves over time. While history can be seen as a form of memory, it relies on and assesses memory in its most abstract sense to materialize itself. History in memory is different than memory in history. This refers to the difference between subjectivity and objectivity, and it is impossible to uncover unadulterated objectivity within subjectivity.
Over the past three decades, Akbank Sanat has cultivated a memory that corresponds to a substantial history. These thirty years, in which we have lived, and which reside within us, come with their own set of challenges and a wealth of experiences. They represent a lengthy period, too long to remember in hindsight, that laid the foundation for, influenced, and interlinked profound transformations in society, culture, and politics. To comprehend the profound impact of three decades, one must consider the abysmal depth it brings to history, often written in decades.
Akbank Sanat has pioneered for the last thirty years, making contributions to the advancement of contemporary art. It has fostered critical, inquisitive, and solution-oriented contemporary art produced in Turkey, providing a platform for self-expression, and transforming into an international space for this art form. Just like any other space, it carries its own unique temporality and historicity.
Time and history are integral components of contemporary art, just as memory and identity. When discussing Akbank Sanat and the exhibitions presented over the last three decades, recalling the intellectual vigor of these exhibitions, and the splendor of the accumulated body of work can be quite overwhelming. This intellectual accumulation, like any other, awaits being reassessment and reanalysis, as it serves as a testament to the realities of Turkey over the past thirty years.
Contemporary art functions as language, and no language can remain silent. Each language forges its own memory, identity, and consciousness in a distinct manner.
Each exhibition represents a lived insight within a particular space.
Celebrating 30 years, we reflect upon thirty-one exhibitions that mark significant milestones in our enduring journey.
Hasan Bülent Kahraman