Centre of Gravity

"Centre of Gravity", Istanbul Modern’s first international exhibition, was curated by the museum’s Chief Curator Rosa Martínez and facilitated by Türk Ekonomi Bankası, the exhibition’s main sponsor.

The exhibition brought together works of 13 prominent international figures in contemporary art – Janine Antoni, Pilar Albarracín, Ghada Amer, Monica Bonvicini, Louise Bourgeois, Christian Boltanski, Anish Kapoor, Rem Koolhaas, Jeff Koons, Juan Muñoz, Santiago Sierra, Richard Wentworth, and Maaria Wirkkala – and three leading names from Turkey – Haluk Akakçe, Gülsün Karamustafa and Kemal Önsoy.

Other institutions and companies that have helped make the exhibition possible were Petrol Ofisi, the British Council, the Frame - Finnish Fund for Art Exchange and Bautek İnşaat.

Interrelating many levels of meaning and multiple aesthetic perspectives, "Centre of Gravity" marked certain significant moments in the aesthetic production of the past few decades, presenting artists of international renown.

The exhibition coincided with the celebration of the 9th Istanbul Biennial and other cultural events that complemented one another, turning the city into a genuine international centre of gravity.

The title of the exhibition, "Centre of Gravity", is ripe with meaning. Not only does it refer to the continuous play between equilibrium and uncertainty to create new and meaningful conceptual and aesthetic worlds, it also refers to the multiplicity of trends in contemporary art and the emergence of new geographical centres of cultural significance. In this sense, the exhibition brought together the search for individual balance and the balance between the periphery and centre of contemporary art.

The title of this first international exhibition also played with the idea of Istanbul Modern as a new gravitational centre in relation to its geopolitical area and to the global context of new international museums.

Curator: Rosa Martínez