Art Projects

Kale Group supports projects that protect our cultural heritage in line with its social responsibility approach. Since its foundation, Kale Group has sponsored numerous projects in arts and culture. To leave our cultural legacy, primarily ceramic in arts, to next generations Kale Group continues to provide sustainable support to the works of old and new generation artists alike.

Füreya

As part of Kale Group’s 60th anniversary celebrations, Kale Group curated an exhibition consisting of select works by Füreya, Turkey’s first contemporary ceramic artist, marking the most comprehensive ceramics exhibition in recent years.

The exhibition stemmed from the idea of not only remembering but also understanding and elucidating Füreya. Curated by Károly Aliotti, Nilüfer Şaşmazer and Farah Aksoy, the exhibition aimed to introduce younger generations to Füreya, who never gave up in the face of challenge at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, inspire many more Füreyas to come, and showcase ceramics and design to everyone.

Taking over a year to put together, the Füreya exhibition opened its doors on 18 November 2017. Due to high demand, the exhibition was extended until 28 January 2018. Visited by more than 50,000 people, the exhibition marked not only the most comprehensive retrospective exhibition ever but also supported young artists through a scholarship fund created with the proceeds from the products sold at the exhibition store. The workshops dubbed Füreya Meetings and the workshops for children were also highly popular.

Due to the high level of demand, the Füreya exhibition has been transformed into a permanent 360° virtual exhibition that offers a digital archive for visitors to access all of the exhibition events as well as printed and visual materials.

Elif Uras - The Source

Sponsored by Kale Group and under the leadership of Galerist, Elif Uras’s site-specific installation The Source, drawing from cultural traces from different geographies, was realised in 2018 alongside her first monograph that documents her works in recent years. The Source was the artist’s first work to be on view since her solo exhibition Hayal Meyal at Galerist in 2016. The Source was also instrumental in the transformation of a historic site situated next to the Galata Greek Primary School which has been long-awaited to be opened to the public.

Supporting Turkish-born, internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Elif Uras’ original project The Source, which was visited by hundreds of people between 24 November and 30 December, Kale Group added another notch to its belt of initiatives to protect Turkey’s cultural heritage. A digital archive was created to put Elif Uras’s site-specific installation on permanent view for all art lovers and promote her first monograph to the public.

Land of Dreams: Troy

The Land of Dreams: Troy exhibition was realised in 2018 with the support of Kale Group in collaboration with EPOS 7 (Ethnic and Popular Arts Preservation and Development Association) and new generation artist platform BASE on the occasion of the Year of Troy declared by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to mark the 20th anniversary of Troy’s inscription on UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage List.

Showcasing reinterpretations of Troy, one of the world’s most known and talked about ancient cities, by new generation artists The Land of Dreams: Troy exhibition was first displayed at the Piri Reis Museum in Çanakkale between 27 July and 27 August. The exhibition opened its doors to Istanbul’s art lovers at the Archaeology Museum’s Darphane-i Amire (Imperial Mint) Building 14.

Curated by Derya Yücel, the exhibition showcased reinterpretations of ancient legends on mixed media including prints, glass, installations, photography, graphic design, paintings, ceramics and videos created by 29 young artists from various parts of Turkey.

At the end of the exhibition, a digital archive of the Land of Dreams: Troy exhibition was made accessible to all art lovers in line with Kale Group’s aim to ensure that the art projects that it supports live on.