Support Fund

The proceeds of all SPOT Membership Packages and sponsorships form the SPOT Support Fund to create alternative resources for art education and production. The aim of SPOT Support Fund is to contribute to the education of Turkish artists, and to create resources for new art production, art events and organizations. SPOT Support Fund had realised curatorial art production yearly or biannually and created opportunity to exhibit the works produced.

17th Istanbul Biennial

Cooking Sections “Wallowland”

17 September – 20 November 2022
Istanbul, Turkey

Spot Support Fund is among the supporters of the artist and activist duo Cooking Sections’ project titled “Çamuralem / Wallowland” at the 17th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Amar Kanwar and David Teh. Nominated for the Turner Prize, one of the UK’s most influential art awards, Cooking Sections’ long-running large-scale project specifically prepared for the biennial, traces the effects of the endangered wetlands around the city on the water buffaloes of Istanbul.

The project “Çamuralem / Wallowland” can be seen at Büyükdere 35 in Beyoğlu during the biennial as a site-specific installation. At the pudding shop, installed as a part of the work, researches on nutrition and growth of organisms will be presented with different materials, tastings and sounds. For the next three years, by means of this project, long-term research will be carried out and the life cycle of buffaloes will be examined in more depth.

This year, for the first time, a Buffalo Festival is organized as part of the biennial in order to draw attention to the interspecies studies carried out by Cooking Sections and to emphasize the cultural and ecological importance of water buffaloes. The festival, which will be held in Arnavutköy on Saturday, September 17, will feature special tasting events and guided walking tours. In addition, the premiere of the song specially prepared for the project by the alternative music group, Wiseslang artist Gülinler, will also be held.

The project of Cooking Sections was produced with the support of Goethe-Institut Istanbul and British Council. ifa – exhibited with the support of Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and Acción Cultural Española (AC/E). The first edition of the Buffalo Festival will be held with the support of Spot Projects.

Click for detailed information about the “Wallowland” project of Cooking Sections.

5th Mardin Biennial “The Promise of Grass”

20 May – 20 June 2022
Mardin, Turkey

Spot is one of the supporters of 5th International Mardin Biennial. The biennial, curated by Adwait Singh, had taken place between 20 May – 20 June 2022. 

Exploring the possibility of a social ecology, “The Promise of Grass” exhibited the works of artists from 21 different countries including Denmark, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, South Africa, Haiti, Switzerland and USA. 

Click for more information on 5th International Mardin Biennial.

Aşina Project

Sevil Tunaboylu “On the Edge of Seeing”

2022
Istanbul, Turkey

Spot Support Fund supported Sevil Tunaboylu’s publication titled “On the Edge of Seeing” through the Aşina project carried out by the Center for EU Studies Association and implemented with the support of the European Union.

“I think of this book as a document of the resistance of a hand that writes, draws and carves with the stream of consciousness against the fast flow of time. It is a document on the relics, the language of the thing, the memory of the object, the thinking exercises that go back and forth between the concepts of belonging and rootlessness, the images that testify to the intensity of the experience, the emotions and occurrences suspended in the air.”—Sevil Tunaboylu

Click for detailed information about the Aşina Project and Sevil Tunaboylu’s publication.

SPOT Projects X SENKRON ‘Concurrent Video Exhibitions’

SPOT Projects X SENKRON ‘Synchronized Video Exhibitions’
Eda Şarman “watery world”

15 – 30 April 2021
Istanbul, Turkey

SPOT Projects took part in SENKRON, which was organized for the first time in 2021 to focus on works in the field of video in Turkey, with Eda Şarman’s exhibition titled “watery world”. Eda Şarman’s two videos and an installation, exhibited for the first time, met with the audience at SPOT Projects’ venue in Karaköy Juma Art, as part of the SPOT Support Fund 2021. Parallel to the exhibition, an online talk between Eda Şarman and Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty Member Dr. Aylin Kılıç Cepdibi took place on April 20. 

Click here to see the works in Eda Şarman’s “watery world” exhibition.

Pera Museum, “Miniature 2.0 – Miniature in Contemporary Art”

CANAN, “Adams and Eves (2020)” and “The Beauty and the Beast (The Lion and the Gazelle) (2020)”

11 August 2020 – 17 January 2021
Istanbul, Turkey

SPOT Support Fund provides production support for CANAN’s recent works, “Adams and Eves (2020)” and “The Beauty and the Beast (The Lion and the Gazelle) (2020)”, exhibited at the “Miniature 2.0 – Miniature in Contemporary Art” exhibition at Pera Museum in 2020. The exhibition curated by Azra Tuzunoglu and Gulce Ozkara, bringing together the works of 14 artists can be seen at Pera Museum until 17 January 2020. 

Click for the details of the exhibition.

16^th Istanbul Biennial “The Seventh Continent”

Güneş Terkol & Güçlü Öztekin “WORLBMON”

September 14 – November 10, 2019
İstanbul, Turkey 

SPOT Support Fund provides production support for the work of Güneş Terkol & Güçlü Öztekin, “WORLBMON”, commissioned by the 16^th Istanbul Biennial. This year’s biennial is titled “The Seventh Continent” and curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. “WORLBMON” can be viewed at MSFAU Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture until November 10, 2019. 

“For the biennial Terkol and Öztekin built a space that is a meeting point for visitors and artists in the show. The space contains paintings, tulles, curtains, sculptures, masks and costumes. The result is a convivial place for viewers to mingle, while reflecting the production of two artists and their shared or divergent visions.” – bienal.iksv.org

For further details about the WORLBMON please click here.

Sinopale 7 “here and where” A Politics of Location

Conceptual framework by Asli Serbest, Mona Mahall

August 15 – September 20, 2019
Sinop, Turkey 

Building on its long-term micro-political and emancipatory efforts as organizer of the Sinop Biennial, the European Cultural Association, in co-operation with international curators, takes a contextual and collective approach to the biennial, their events, thematic and discursive direction. It fosters investigations into various forms of engagement through local movements, initiatives from civic society and nongovernmental politics.

Sinop Biennial, founded and directed by Melih Görgün, consists of a multitude of events of different formats. Without hierarchical structures, workshops, field trips and ephemeral performative events spread out into the entire town of Sinop and into the region.

For further details about the Sinop Biennial please click here.

AICA Turkey (International Association of Art Critics) 

“Çağdaş Sanat Nasıl Oluyor Yani?” 

May 2019
Istanbul, Turkey

SPOT Projects supported the production of a publication prepared by AICA Turkey. The book titled “Çağdaş Sanat Nasıl Oluyor Yani?” intends to become a resource for researchers and individuals interested in arts. The book  concentrates on how Turkey’s contemporary art scene has shaped in the past thirty years. 

Domates Biber Patlıcan Produce 2012-2016: The Compendium of an Event

April 2019
Istanbul, Turkey

“Domates Biber Patlıcan Produce” series that took place between 2012 – 2016 under the curatorship of Zeynep Öz and had provided resources for the production of new artworks of 32 artists through SPOT Support Fund and sponsorships turned into a publication titled “Domates Biber Patlıcan Produce 2012 – 2016: The Compendium of an Event”. The compilation of the Produce event series is edited by Süreyya Evren, copy-edited by Pınar Ummar and Yağız Alp Tangün and  designed by Okay Karadayılar.

Protocinema

PEERS AT HTTPDOT.NET / “blokchain is… / …for nothing” 

February 23 – March 23, 2019 
Athens, Greece

Protocinema presented an exhibition by “peers at httpdot.net”, titled blockchain is… / …for nothing, at Aetopoulos, an artist-run space in Athens, Greece between February 23 – March 23, 2019. The exhibition consisted of newly commissioned works, funded by SPOT Projects, applying blockchain logic to art theories, in particular, the dematerialization of the art object. 

For further details about the exhibition please click here. 

Huo Rf, “…was here“

September 22 – October 13, 2018
Istanbul, Turkey

For further details about the “…was here” please click here.

4th International Mardin Biennial: “Beyond Words”

May 4 – June 4, 2018
Mardin, Turkey

The International Mardin Biennial, based on the theme “Beyond Words”, was held between the dates of May 4-June 4, 2018. From the very outset, that is as of 2010 when it was first held, the International Mardin Biennial received much acclaim both in its own region and on a global scale. This 4th edition of the biennial was curated by a team consisting of Fırat Arapoğlu, Nazlı Gürlek and Derya Yücel. 

The 4th International Mardin Biennial under the directorship of Döne Otyam and hosted by the Mardin Cinema Association and included works centering around the concepts of perception, the body and limitations that  are collected under the theme of “Beyond Words.

For further details about the 4th International Mardin Biennial click here.

Performistanbul “Needed: YOU”

16 February – 16 March 2018
Istanbul, Turkey

Performistanbul, an international performance art platform in Turkey, organized “Needed: YOU” the live process that lasted for 28 days and 672 hours straight with no intervals, between the dates of 16 February – 16 March 2018.

Curated by Simge Burhanoğlu, 10 performance artists presented 9 performances and invited us to a live process, presenting transparently all stages of a performance.

For further details on Performistanbul’s “Needed: YOU” click here.

“Ektik, Biçiyoruz” 

29 March, 2016
Istanbul, Turkey

Support night for Produce 3 was organised in 2016 and titled “Ektik, Biçiyoruz”. 500 guests were welcomed at the event that was held at 

Karaköy, Colonie and supported by the committee including SPOT members.  The event also included artists and DJ performances and all the resource formed by the ticket sales was transferred to SPOT Support Fund on behalf of Produce 3.

Domates Biber Patlıcan Produce 1, 2 ve 3

2012, 2014, 2016
Istanbul, Turkey

Under the curatorship of Zeynep Öz, the SPOT Support Fund had provided resources for the production of new artworks of 22 artists as well as talk programs, lectures and film screenings in conjunction with the Domates Biber Patlıcan Produce 1, 2 and 3 editions.