Ali Kazma's “Landscapes of the Mind” at Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern is hosting Ali Kazma's solo exhibition "Landscapes of the Mind." The exhibition, sponsored by Burgan Bank's digital banking brand ON Digital Banking—a longtime supporter of the museum's photography exhibitions in its new building—showcases the artist's video and photography works on books, libraries, literature, and writing culture created since the 2010s.

The exhibition features works by Ali Kazma from various locations, including his video work "Sumi" (2025)—shown for the first time at Istanbul Modern—which documents a traditional ink-making process practiced in Nara, Japan, for six centuries.

Making their Turkish debut, “A House of Ink” (2023) and “Sentimental” (2022) explore author Orhan Pamuk’s personal archive and living space, while “Alberto in Lisbon” (2024) chronicles the relocation of the Argentine writer and book historian Alberto Manguel’s library from France to Portugal.

"Landscapes of the Mind," curated by Öykü Özsoy Sağnak and Demet Yıldız Dinçer with Yazın Öztürk as assistant curator, features "Calligraphy" (2013) and "Tattoo" (2013)—both previously exhibited at the 55th Venice Biennale Türkiye Pavilion. The exhibition also showcases photographs documenting rarely accessible libraries, printing houses, paper mills, bookbinders, restoration workshops, and bookstores, tracing the evolution of literary production through time.

Oya Eczacıbaşı, Chair of the Board of Istanbul Modern, said of the exhibition, "We are delighted to host 'Landscapes of the Mind,' which showcases Ali Kazma's works exploring human history, production culture, and intellectual heritage. As the first and only photography gallery within a museum in Türkiye, Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery continues to promote the importance of lens-based media like photography and video in contemporary art. Through its unique dialogue between analog and digital works, this exhibition illuminates art's multi-layered nature."

The exhibition preview was attended by artist Ali Kazma, the curators, and Aslı Koçer, Executive Vice President of Wealth Management at Burgan Bank.

Ali Kazma: "It is so precious to share the work you have dedicated your life to in your own city, in your own home."

Speaking about the exhibition "Landscapes of the Mind," Ali Kazma said, "I prepare all my exhibitions with great care, but I put extra effort into the ones in Istanbul. These exhibitions represent the intersection of my personal history, present, and future. Opening an exhibition in my own city at a major institution like Istanbul Modern after a ten-year hiatus means so much to me. I'm especially excited that my aunts, cousins, and former students—who rarely get to see my exhibitions abroad—will be able to visit. The 'Calligraphy' and my collaborations with Orhan Pamuk are displayed just steps from where they were created. Pamuk's house is merely two hundred meters away, and during the filming, I could actually see Istanbul Modern. It thrills me that this work—a product of two and a half years of dedication, deeply rooted in Istanbul and Beyoğlu—is premiering in this very neighborhood and in Türkiye. It is so precious to share the work you have dedicated your life to in your own city, in your own home."

Aslı Koçer, Executive Vice President of Wealth Management at Burgan Bank, shared the following comments: "As Burgan Bank, we are delighted and proud to have supported the photography exhibitions in the museum's new building from day one. Our long-standing partnerships with major cultural institutions in our country, such as Istanbul Modern, help bring art to a wider audience. The exhibition 'Landscapes of the Mind,' created through Ali Kazma's unique perspective, powerfully illustrates the relationship between art and intellectual and creative processes. With its innovative approach, the exhibition reveals a distinct dimension of art that aligns with our bank's innovative and dynamic spirit. We will continue supporting culture and art to strengthen our deep connection with the arts."

Istanbul Modern Chief Curator Öykü Özsoy Sağnak and Photography Curator Demet Yıldız Dinçer noted that the idea for the exhibition arose from a desire to bring together works focusing on Ali Kazma's interest in books and literature, adding: "'Landscapes of the Mind' consists of videos, photographs, and ephemera that explore writers' spaces and writing processes, along with the printing presses, libraries, bookstores, and ink that make this process possible. Through this exhibition, Kazma continues his inquiries into human activities—this time through literature and writing—inviting viewers to reflect on video and photography's potential to make the invisible visible. The exhibition marks the artist's first large-scale museum exhibition in Türkiye after a long hiatus."

Sumi's debut

"Sumi," premiering with the "Landscapes of the Mind" exhibition, extends Ali Kazma's exploration of hidden places and production processes. The artist examines the art of writing through a concrete lens, showcasing the traditional ink-making process passed down through generations in Nara, Japan, via video and photography. Through this tangible form of production, Kazma offers fresh insights into work, labor, and craftsmanship, presenting the age-old process of writing from an entirely new perspective.

Special publication for the exhibition

The exhibition catalogue for "Landscapes of the Mind" provides comprehensive details about the displayed works. It features essays by Orhan Pamuk and Alberto Manguel on Ali Kazma's artistic practice, the artist's own reflections on creating video works about these two writers, and curatorial essays discussing the exhibition and Kazma's body of work.

Art and literature meet

Artist Ali Kazma and writer-book historian Alberto Manguel will come together for a conversation on Saturday, June 14, at 15.00. At the intersection of art and literature, they will explore Kazma's works, which aim to create a “poetic” map of the world, and Manguel's intellectual world, described by the artist as a “conversion portal between reality and imagination." One of the exhibition’s curators, Demet Yıldız Dinçer, will moderate this conversation, which will be the first public program of "Landscapes of the Mind."

"Ali Kazma: Landscapes of the Mind" will be on view from June 13, 2025, to February 1, 2026.

About Ali Kazma

Born in 1971 in Istanbul, Türkiye, Ali Kazma is a lens-based media artist living and working in Paris.  He holds a Master of Arts degree from The New School in New York City. 

Questioning social organization and the value of human activity, he highlights the relationship between the visible and the invisible aspects of reality by looking closely at the management of labor, time, bodies, gestures, space, and processes. Kazma’s attentive eye collects specific activities in a broad range of economic, industrial, scientific, medical, social, and artistic spheres. 

He has an interest in spaces of social and cultural significance, places of production, industries, and handicrafts, as well as the details of machinery and ritualistic, repetitive daily tasks. 

The artist, who represented Türkiye at the 55th Venice Biennale, Pavilion of Türkiye in 2013, had a comprehensive solo exhibition at Jeu de Paume, Paris, in 2017. Ali Kazma’s other solo exhibitions were held at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (2023), Albergo Diurno Venezia (Milan, 2018), MUNTREF (Buenos Aires, 2018), Arter (Istanbul, 2015), and Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, 2010).

Group exhibitions and biennials include the 6th Kuandu Biennale (Taipei, 2018), 7th Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2017), MAXXI (Rome, 2016), Musée d'Art Contemporaine de Lyon (2013), 30th Sao Paulo Biennial (2012), Istanbul Biennial (2001, 2007, 2011), Muzeum Sztuki Lodz (2012), Istanbul Modern (2011), Museum Kunstpalast (Düsseldorf, 2010), and New Museum (New York, 2010). 

He received the UNESCO Prize for Promotion of the Arts in 2001 and the Nam June Paik Award in 2010. The artist’s works have been included in a number of institutional collections, including MoMA (New York), CNAP (Paris), Istanbul Modern, MEP (Paris), Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, MONA (Hobart), Sztuki Museum (Lodz), Tate Modern (London), Fondation Cartier (Paris), TBA21 (Vienna), and VKV Foundation Collection (Istanbul).