Having marked its 15th anniversary in 2019, Istanbul Modern hosted 360,000 visitors and brought together 55,000 children and young people with art in free art education programs. In 2019, Istanbul Modern offered the works by 38 artists to art lovers in collection exhibitions and seven periodical exhibitions. Art lovers met with photographs by Yıldız Moran, Ara Güler and Lütfi Özkök as well as exhibitions "Anthony Cragg," "The Event of a Thread," "International Art Movies" and "Canan Tolon." Besides, Istanbul Modern Cinema hosted 208 film screenings in 10 special programs.
Istanbul Modern CEO Oya Eczacıbaşı said that the museum, which marked its 15th anniversary recently, has reached 8 million visitors. According to Eczacıbaşı, Istanbul Modern hosted 67 collections and periodical exhibitions, 39 photograph exhibitions, 13 video exhibitions and 17 overseas exhibitions, welcoming over 1,000 artists. Also, it brought together 810,000 children and young people with art as part of educational programs. Besides, Istanbul Modern Cinema screened nearly 4,000 films in 328 film programs. "We continue to promote the modern and contemporary art of our country with projects we implemented in cooperation with Turkish Airlines and Istanbul Development Agency in 2019," Eczacıbaşı said.
In 2019, some 55,000 children and young people joined over 100 education programs designed by Istanbul Modern, which continues to work in and out of the museum so that children and young people can take advantage of art education opportunities.
Cooperation with Turkish Airlines
A new project has been launched in cooperation with Turkish Airlines to introduce Turkey's modern art to the world. An exhibition titled "A Selection from the Collection of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art" was opened at a space reserved for Istanbul Modern at Turkish Airlines' VIP Hall at Istanbul Airport. In the exhibitions, which will be renewed periodically, the works of artists from different periods from Turkey will meet passengers. Another project implemented in cooperation with Turkish Airlines was the distribution of travel bags to international passengers in economy class flights. Travel bags designed based on the works of Fahrelnissa Zeid, one of the leading female artists of modern painting in Turkey, were presented as a souvenir to passengers.
This year, Istanbul Modern launched another two new projects with the support of the Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA): Art Maker Lab Learning Center and the International Guest Artist Program. Art Maker Lab Learning Center, developed, designed and implemented by Istanbul Modern for children and teenagers aged 7-15, aims to reach out to some 20,000 little art lovers. The project aims to bring a different aspect to technology-based art education practices in museums.
The Istanbul Modern International Guest Artist Program, which started with the arrival of 10 guest artists from all over the world to Istanbul to produce with artisans, is also being held for the first time under the umbrella of a museum in Turkey. The works to emerge from this project, which will make a difference in the international promotion of Turkey through art, will be exhibited in Istanbul Modern in February 2020.