Art International is the younger sister of Contemporary Istanbul, the latter takes place in November hosting 87 galleries from 27 countries; whilst Art International this year welcomes many first-time participants including Victoria Miro (London), Sakshi Gallery(Mumbai), The Empire Project (Istanbul), Aspan Gallery (Almaty), Aicon Gallery (London, New York) and Galerie du Monde (Hong Kong). A particularly stand-out booth was presented by Parisian gallery Suzanne Tarasieve who brought what might have been the most impressive piece in the entire fair, a Markus Lüpertz, Die Vertreibung aus dem Serail (1987) created in the Sainte-Irène church of Istanbul for an edition of the Istanbul Biennial. The work was presented alongside Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Venus of the Rags and Arnulf Rainer’s series Faces of Christ.
Other highlights include Jérôme Poggi’s presentation of two large works on paper by Larissa Fassler entitled Taksim square : March 31-June 9. Realized during a residency in Istanbul earlier this year, Fassler played witness to the concerns of the Turkish people in the lead up to parliamentary elections last spring that eventually did not result in the formation of a government. Fassler represents Turkey’s symbols in the Barthesian sense: a red flag with its white crescent, simit, a Turkish bagel, not drawn but present in writing, like the Police, or, Polis, or union birlik. The absence of people in this work gives added strength to these inscriptions.
Galerie Lelong, who will also participate in the November edition of Contemporary Istanbul came with works by Jaume Plensa — currently exhibiting at the Biennale di Venezia —, Kiki Smith, a work by Markus Lüpertz and a portrait of Sena by Ramazan Bayrakoğlu who will exhibit at the gallery in Paris next week.
