The “Timeless Curiosities” exhibition at Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern’s latest exhibition, “Timeless Curiosities,” focus on how contemporary technologies and digital culture influence the methodologies artists think and produce. With Nescafé’s sponsorship aiming to support young artists, “Timeless Curiosities” welcomes visitors between February 15 and August 11, 2024.

Focusing on digital culture, the “Timeless Curiosities” exhibition brings together artists who make use of unique elements in their artwork and showcase innovative production methods that offer experimental perspectives. Sponsored by Nescafé, the exhibition reflects on digital transformation, a process affecting all our lives, through the perspectives of artists witnessing it.

The exhibition features the works of 16 artists, artist duos, and artist collectives who often incorporate digitalization in their research processes and prioritize experimenting with new technologies. The works that epitomize the digital culture, which address the subjects that art has been gravitating since cave paintings, are explored as productions that will carry the history of art from today to the future. “Timeless Curiosities” physically presents various images and expressions within the museum, which are rather seen online and in digital applications, through the works of artists who approach these with various methods.

Curated by Ümit Mesci and Nilay Dursun, the exhibition includes the works of Cem A., Atıf Akın, Ozan Atalan, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Mehmet Berk Bostancı, Cihad Caner, Yasin Arıbuğa-Toprak Fırat, Beste İleri, Alican İnal, Yelta Köm, Ebru Kurbak, Oddviz, Özcan Saraç, Ahmet Rüstem Ekici-Hakan Sorar, Meltem Şahin, and Berkay Tuncay, who use physical and digital means of expression.

Works Reflecting the Impacts of Digitalization

Talking about the exhibition, curator Ümit Mesci said, “The ‘Timeless Curiosities’ exhibition specifically promotes the productions of young artists. The works center around themes that have stood out in various fields of art throughout history, such as nature, history, architecture, city, identitiy, and society. Mirroring the impacts of digitalization, these artworks examine the current link in a narrative chain that can be traced back from the early periods of art history to today.” Mesci also added: “The exhibition aims to record the transformation in artists’ perspectives on various themes through novel techniques of expression enabled by digitalization. Focusing on asking questions and challenging notions rather than reaching absolute conclusions, our exhibition prioritizes revealing the uniqueness of each artist regarding their research and expression.”

Award-winning Projects Meet the Audience for the First Time

Speaking about how the “Young Productions in the Field of Digital Art” program, carried out by Istanbul Modern with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, impacted the research and development process of the exhibition, curator Nilay Dursun remarked that through this project, Istanbul Modern has brought together young artists working with digital productions in different disciplines. Dursun continued: “We launched the program while preparing for the opening of our new museum building, which marked the beginning of multifaceted works that Istanbul Modern would carry out with young artists. The projects by the participants of the program that focus on Istanbul and particularly the immediate area of the museum were taken into consideration to become a part of the exhibition. We are displaying the award-winning projects that received support for their production from the program for the first time in this exhibition, among which are “Coincidence” by Yasin Arıbuğa-Toprak Fırat and “SENTIMAP Istanbul” by Beste İleri.” 

Supporting Young Artists with the Exhibition

Hüseyin Necdet Kalkan, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Türkiye’s Beverages Business Unit, highlighted Nescafé’s support for young artists through the “Timeless Curiosities” exhibition, stating: “As the favorite coffee in Türkiye, Nescafé is pleased to keep company to not only coffee lovers but also artists and art enthusiasts with its Nescafé Gold brand. Through our sponsorship of Istanbul Modern’s latest ‘Timeless Curiosities’ exhibition, we reveal how young artists address the reflections of technological transformation in all areas of art and promote their productions on digital culture. We will continue to implement programs that support the creativity and productivity of young artists.” 

Three Sections

Relevant to the main themes in Istanbul Modern’s collection, the artworks in the exhibition are brought together within three sections without strict boundaries.

Offering the opportunity to reassess familiar subjects from fresh perspectives, the exhibition’s first section begins with the possibilities of new narratives enabled by digitalization. This section focuses on language and expression and delves into the new critical thinking habits brought about with digital tools.

The second section takes a closer look at the discussions around nature and history in the context of digitalization and the constantly evolving technological tools. Artists producing in this direction explore fields such as archaeology and philosophy at the intersection of science and art with the guidance of artificial intelligence and similar technologies.

The final section is about architecture and urbanism. Sensory landscapes of Istanbul and components that form the city’s topography, which are occasionally overlooked, are analyzed with digital tools. The exhibition includes works focused particularly on the museum and its immediate surroundings and offers a variety of experiences to the audience.

Exclusive for the Exhibition

8 works by 7 artists and artist duos will be presented to the audience for the first time at “Timeless Curiosities”. Other works, adapted to the exhibition space to respond to the exhibition’s conceptual framework, enrich the audience’s explorations. The works of Cem A., Atıf Akın, Mehmet Berk Bostancı, Yasin Arıbuğa-Toprak Fırat, Beste İleri, Alican İnal, and Meltem Şahin meet with the audience for the first time in this exhibition.

Parallel events are also underway in conjunction with the exhibition, supported by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul and the Goethe-Institut Istanbul. Furthermore, the Istanbul Modern Store presents a selection of products for art enthusiasts, prepared exclusively for this exhibition.