Museums around Turkey launched a week-long series of activities to mark the 2012 Museum Week, which got under way on May 18, the date the world celebrated International Museum Day.
Turkey has been celebrating Museum Week since 1982, five years after the foundation of International Museum Day by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 1977. Many state-run and private museums in Turkey celebrate the week, which will run through May 24 and include free admissions and special activities.
İstanbul Modern opened its doors with free entry until 10 p.m. on Friday for the occasion. Amongst the exhibitions which visitors had the opportunity to see free of charge was the extended collection “Yeni Yapıtlar, Yeni Ufuklar” (New Works, New Horizons) and “Dünden Sonra” (After Yesterday).
“Yeni Yapıtlar, Yeni Ufuklar,” occupying both permanent and temporary display spaces on two floors of the museum, offers viewers a comprehensive look at the evolution of the contemporary arts in Turkey.
Curated by Engin Özendes, “Dünden Sonra” is an exhibition of images from the İstanbul Modern photography collection. The exhibition explores the technical and conceptual development of photography in Turkey from the Ottoman era to the present day.
Speaking to Sunday’s Zaman, İstanbul Modern’s chief curator Levent Çalıkoğlu said the gallery’s aim is to increase the number of museum-goers in Turkey and to reach out to broader segments of society.
“A total of 646,375 people visited our museum in 2011. Seventy-six percent of them were between ages 19 and 45, and 64 percent were women,” Çalıkoğlu said, adding that the number of visitors to İstanbul Modern has increased every year since 2004, when the museum was established.
In honor of Museum Week, a comprehensive selection of works from the 50-year career of pioneering Turkish contemporary artist Burhan Doğançay will go on display on May 23 at İstanbul Modern and run through to Sept. 23. Titled “Fifty Years of Urban Walls: A Burhan Doğançay Retrospective,” the exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue containing images of the works alongside explanatory texts providing different perspectives on Doğançay’s oeuvre, while documents and photographs from his life will bring to light his identity as an urban traveler.
Several other museums — including the Pera Museum, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) and the İstanbul Archeological Museum — stayed open until midnight on Friday and Saturday with free admission as part of the Museums at Night 2012 celebrations.
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Visitors to the SSM on Saturday enjoyed a concert given by Turkish jazz band Sujazz, followed by a performance by Turkish alternative rock band Shuffle, as well as exhibitions currently on display at the museum: the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy collection and “Where Darkness Meets Light: Rembrandt and His Contemporaries.”
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also launched special activities in museums such as panels discussing the nation’s cultural heritage and its preservation and the perception of museology in Turkey. The Alanya Museum, the Diyarbakır Museum, the Edirne Museum, the İzmir Archeological Museum, the Hatay Museum and the Side Museum are among the various museums that will celebrate the week with special activities.
Professor Tomur Atagök, founder of the museum studies graduate program at Yıldız Technical University, told Sunday’s Zaman that the number of museum-goers is an indicator of the financial welfare of Turkey’s citizens.
“Visiting a museum remains a luxury for many with a low income,” Atagök said, adding that museum-going is not a part of people’s lifestyle in Turkey.
“State-run museums fall short of arousing people’s interest in cultural heritage being presented in museums as they do not hold interesting and attractive activities. The number of staff working in museums is not sufficient and they are mostly not well-trained with regards to museology. Our aim in starting a graduate program [at Yıldız Technical University] on museum studies was to train museum specialists to be employed in museums,” Atagök further stated.
Çalıkoğlu, on the other hand, said both state and private-run museums stepped up their game to attract more visitors after the concept of museology came into the spotlight in the 2000s.
“We [the İstanbul Modern] offer education programs to people from all age groups and walks of life to help them take an active part in the learning process, rather than being just observers, and to create a bond between the piece of art and the audience,” Çalıkoğlu said, adding that these programs make museum visits more fun and worthwhile, especially for kindergarten, primary and secondary level students.
Atagök also emphasized the capacity of such education programs to help museum-goers live authentic experiences.
“An autonomous body should be established to oversee state and private museums to create more sustainable and autonomous museums,” Atagök suggested, adding that museums should adopt a more human-oriented, socially aware and thematic approach.
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