10th anniversary collection at the Istanbul Modern Store

10th anniversary collection at the Istanbul Modern Store

8 artists and designers have created original designs for Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary

The Istanbul Modern Store celebrates Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary with a special collection. For Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary, the works of 8 artists and designers form a special collection available at the Istanbul Modern Store.

Turkey’s first museum shop, the Istanbul Modern Store opened with the museum in 2004, offering a vast collection ranging from original giftware inspired by the museum collection and exhibitions to art books, designer’s home and office accessories, and children’s products.

With the aim of highlighting the store’s rich content, artists and designers were invited to create original designs for Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary. Six designers working in diverse fields and two artists whose works feature in the museum collection have designed new products for the 10th anniversary collection of the Istanbul Modern Store.

Levent Çalıkoğlu, the director of Istanbul Modern, stressed the importance of the 10th anniversary collection as follows: “Centering on an interdisciplinary approach in its projects and exhibitions, Istanbul Modern continues the same approach in this special collection prepared for its 10th anniversary. We have brought together active and creative contemporary artists and prominent designers from Turkey who have designed original products in their field. We have attempted to represent a new, participatory, and different aspect of the affinity between design and the visual arts. It gives us great pleasure to encourage such a collaboration and production under the umbrella of a museum.”

Limited edition objects were produced within the scope of the project for the collection of the store: Erdem Akan, Ümit Altun, Ali Bakova, Ela Cindoruk, Meriç Kara, and Kunter Şekercioğlu produced designs inspired by the museum’s 10th anniversary while Taner Ceylan and Seçkin Pirim created special products.

Erdem Akan, who for the past two years has been working as a design consultant for the Istanbul Modern Store, has designed the series of vases Impossible Square for the collection.Erdem Akan designed the vases based on his view that impossibility “is the greatest illusion which disappears the more we believe and strive.” Inspired by this fact, “which Istanbul Modern has been showing to us for 10 years,”the vases“make reference to Istanbul Modern’s square-shaped logo.”

For Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary collection, Ümit Altun has designed a Stylus Pen which can be used with tablet computers. The stylus pen’s development coincides almost exactly with the age of Istanbul Modern. For over 6000 years, humankind has been using pens to draw and write. But with the changing technology, in the past 10 years during which tablet computers with capacitive screens have started to be used extensively, the pen has transformed into the tablet pen. Frequently used by children and designers, the Stylus Pen is presented in its special felt case and offered in three different color options: red, white, and black.

Based on Istanbul Modern’s square-shaped logo,Ali Bakova has designed theM:X Square Bag, which is “a bit like a slender square painting hanging on the wall in the museum; it’s almost as slender as digital communication devices; it has a few too many pockets and is a little too expressionistic; it’s a bit naïve; and extremely natural.” Made of naturally finished leather, theM:X Square Bag has four pockets and is fastened by a single magnet.It is offered in three different color options: red, green, and black.

The “X” series designed by Ela Cindoruk for the 10th anniversary collection is inspired by how Istanbul Modern brings forward different artistic disciplines in an all-encompassing manner. Cindoruk describes the “X” series as follows: “My aim was to combine “X”s –10 in Roman numerals– from different fonts so as to create a form, a design, a unified whole; just like Istanbul Modern presents the different perspectives in contemporary art within a rich and unified whole...”

For Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary, Meriç Kara uses a plain approach to reinterpret her notebooks fastened with rubber bands: “The rubber bands are positioned on the cover in the form of an X, which is a 10 in roman numerals, emphasizing the 10th anniversary. At the same time the rubber bands can be fastened in different ways, allowing the user to create diverse graphics. The notebooks can also be fastened to one another, thus offering the user a playful experience.”

For the 10th anniversary collection, Kunter Şekercioğlu has designed a “Root” vaseusing ceramics –an Anatolian material which has a past of 8000 years– to bring forth the values shared and preserved by Istanbul Modern.

Taner Ceylan designed his cup based on the snake; an animal which has been a symbol for many civilizations. For Ceylan, the snake that might appear in the coffee grounds nourishes creativity and aesthetics through its own oppositions.

“In many cultures the snake is both the most respected and the most feared of beings. It is the symbol of power, health, and energy. The snake shares the most important of characteristics with art: its venom has the power of healing. My wish is that on its 10th anniversary and in the future, both Istanbul Modern’s life and the works of art, which have enough poison to heal our souls, be as eternal as the infinity sign drawn by the snake I have depicted.”

The objects Seçkin Pirim has designed for the 10th anniversary collection have an organic bond with his artworks. Through the centerpieces and bookend he has designed, the artist transfers his sculptures to the sphere of everyday use. About these products, which can also be described as sculptural forms which have acquired a function, Pirim says: “Finally, what took shape was a bookend which could be placed on the table, which would hold the books on the table, and which, together with the books it holds, could become a work of art. Apart from this, you will see 3 forms transformed into centerpieces which can also be used on the table and which I use as sculptures. Rather than designs, I prefer to call them usable sculptures…”

The limited edition objects in Istanbul Modern’s 10th anniversary collection are available at the Istanbul Modern Stores in the museum and at Point Hotel Barbaros as well as on the online store. www.istanbulmodernmagaza.com