Istanbul is a melting pot of yabangees from different backgrounds and professions. I was fortunate to meet Anastasiia Piletckaia quite soon after relocating to the city. We met at Istanbul University where we both study Art History. Recently, I sat down with Anastasiia to speak about her international project, which aims to connect Russia and Turkey more on an artistic level. As a curator, she will be present both at the 4th Ural Industrial Biennial and the 15th Istanbul Biennial.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I am an art historian. Art has always been a part of my life and I love working with art and artists. I came to Turkey to gain more knowledge about Turkish art and culture and share this knowledge in Russia. While studying in Russia, I noticed that it was difficult to get information about Turkish art and there was a lack of knowledge about Turkish art and culture.
As you’re from Russia, how did your interest in Turkish art come about?
It all started in 2011 when a famous American Artist asked me to meet at the Istanbul Biennial. Before that, I never planned to visit Istanbul. So I bought tickets and went to Istanbul. I was amazed by the galleries and museums here. I visited Istanbul Modern, Salt Galata and other galleries. It seemed like a whole new world opened up to me. As soon as I returned to Russia I realized that there are almost no books on Turkish art available in Russian. So I decided to get the knowledge and write a book. (And the funny thing is, that artist who invited me, actually then couldn’t come to Turkey.)
Are there any established relationships between Turkey and Russia in the art field?
This is a very interesting question. When I returned from my first trip to Istanbul in 2011, where I visited the Istanbul Biennal, I started researching Turkish art. It surprised me that there was almost no information about the topic in Russia. I could only find two interesting articles in Soviet newspapers from the 1970s. There was even no information about Mimar Sinan, the most famous of the architects. When I continued my research, I found out that because of the political relationships during the Cold War, the cultural relationships between Turkey and Russia were bad. I think that in recent years, this has started to change and cultural connections between these two countries are growing richer. I am happy to be in Istanbul now when this rebirth has started and I believe that the result can be very good for both countries.
What is your experience in the field of curating modern and contemporary art?
All my life I have been surrounded by art and artists. I myself was never really creative in a sense of having artistic talents, however, I wanted to help others to show their talent and works to the public. I got my first experience in Sankt Petersburg and my first big curatorial project happened in 2010. That year, one gallery from Paris invited me to Paris to curate an exhibition in the scope of French – Russian cultural relationships. This was also the point in my life when I decided to dedicate myself to art professionally and to pursue a career in curating art.
Many people don’t understand art, let alone contemporary art. How do you reply to a person who asks you, “Is this art?”
Oh, I get this question a lot! Many people wonder when an object becomes an art work. There are many books on this topic. My reply is very simple. I usually ask people this question, “When is something that you write in your notebook, for example, becoming literature?” The answer would be, “When you show it to the public.” A similar thing applies to an art work. We need the public; we need to say that this is art. But this is only the first level. It’s also important where this object is shown and what critics say or write about it. The institutions and curators also play an important role here. If the institution where the object/piece of art is exhibited and the curator, who works with it, is renowned, then an object becomes more interesting.
Are there any challenges you face as a foreign curator?
Actually, my project for the Ural Industrial Biennial is a huge challenge for me. The Turkish art sphere is quite closed, many artists don’t have trust in you at the beginning, they don’t know how serious you are and they don’t know your taste. In Russia, it’s much easier, especially after the glass or two of vodka. (laugh) But in Turkey, these formal meetings and arrangements take time, many glasses of çay have to be had before making a deal. As I was really tight on time for the preparation for the biennial, I really didn’t have time to drink so much çay. I wanted a quick answer from the artist if they wanted to participate in this project or not. Just later I realized, that most of them actually wanted to be a part of it, they just needed time to get to know me and the project. It seems that Turkish artists are pickier when it comes to deciding where and with whom they want to exhibit their works and how this can influence their future.
Could you tell us something about your latest project?
This fall I am participating in two biennials as a curator: in Russia with eight Turkish artists (Emirhan Eren, Eda Aslan, Elçin Ekinci, Ekin Saçlıoğlu, Sami Aslan, Güneş Terkol, Gökçen Dilek Acay and Merve Kılıçer) and in Istanbul’s Biennial with a Russian artist Andrey Budko and a project titled Carpet like a Russian.
The topic of this year’s Ural Industrial Biennal is new literacy and how the new technology will change our life in the future. I was contemplating the relationship between the “old fashioned” or “classical” type of museums in Russia (especially archaeological and natural history museums) and contemporary art. In most part of Russia, especially outside big cities, many people still think that only old objects, that is, objects usually exhibited in archaeological museums, can be regarded as art. So I asked myself a question, “How will museums look in the future?” And that is how I got this idea of a pseudo-documentary. I decided to integrate chosen contemporary artworks of Turkish artists between old artifacts of the biggest archaeological museum in Yekaterinburg. As these objects are made from natural materials, they look similar to objects exhibited in the museum, so it will be a visitor’s task to distinguish between the old and the new.
The project for Istanbul’s Biennial centers around good neighbors. I was thinking about Turkish-Russian neighbor relationships and carpets came to my mind. I think that nowadays that no one in Russia thinks about the fact that carpets were introduced to Russian society by Turks. For this project, I am collaborating with a Russian designer Andrey Budko, who researched about carpet culture in Soviet Russia. It’s interesting that because of the massive production, lower classes could also afford to buy carpets in Russia. However, carpets were still perceived as a luxury item, that’s why no one would put them on the floor, but instead would hang them on walls. Even if these cheaper carpets were kitsch, our childhood memories are still full of these typical Russian home and carpets on the wall.
Could you recommend three galleries of contemporary or modern art in Istanbul and three Turkish artists everyone should know?
Firstly, I would recommend Kasa Gallery in Karaköy, curated by my teacher and friend Derya Yücel. Secondly, Zilberman Gallery, located on Istiklal street. What I like about this gallery, is that they have two spaces — one of which is dedicated to young artists, where you can often encounter a surprising work of art. My third recommendation would be Salt Galata, which is a gallery and education center as well. You can also follow my gallery recommendations on my Instagram account Istanbul Art Life.
Among the artists, I would recommend Hera Büyüktaşçıyan. When I moved to Istanbul, her exposition was one of the first I had seen here and it left me breathless. Secondly, I like the work of Burçak Bingöl. She is creating in ceramics and reinterpreting Turkish traditional art in a contemporary way. And the last but not the least is photographer Ali Taptik. I like his works about geometry and architecture and I find his work very visually attractive.
Featured image courtesy of the interviewee.
