June 5, 2015 - February 14, 2016
In 2015 Pera Museum celebrated its 10th anniversary. To commemorate this celebration, the museum commissioned Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett to create a special and inspiring artwork for the museum’s façade.
Couched in the historic quarter of Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu neighborhood the impressive museum building was originally conceived as the Bristol Hotel – originally designed by Greek architect Achilleas Manussos in the late 19th century. In 2005, the building was renovated preserving the exterior façade.
Conceived in response to Pera Museum’s historic façade for the cultural space’s 10th anniversary, “sea/see/saw” invited viewers to re-examine a familiar space through a new lens. sea/see/saw’s use of lenses playfully spoke to changes in perception, celebrating Pera Museum’s contribution to Istanbul’s cultural landscape, with an eye focused on the future. Constructed from 10,000 eyeglass lenses, the installation intended to mirror the dynamic and shimmering surface of the Golden Horn, and introduced movement to the otherwise static structure, as drawn by the wind. Built from used glasses that merge to create a simple, geometric form, sea/see/saw invited viewers to engage in a momentary shift of perspective.
If eyes are “windows to the soul,” how do lenses revise our vision of the world around us? Do our former accessories carry faint ghosts of those who used them? As the materiality of the installation became apparent, the watchers became the watched, and this spectacle of spectacles took on another subtext as an icon for collective vision, compound perspectives, and the power of collaborative sight.
The exhibition “Look At Me! Portraits and Other Fictions from the ”la Caixa” Contemporary Art Collection” examined portraiture, one of the oldest artistic genres, through a significant number of works of our times. Paintings, photographs, sculptures and videos shaped a labyrinth of gazes that invite spectators to reflect themselves in the social mirror of portraits.
He had imagined the court room as a big place. It wasn’t. It was about the size of his living room, with an elevation at one end, with a dais on it. The judges and the attorneys sat there. Below it was an old wooden rail, worn out in some places. That was his place. There was another seat for his lawyer. At the back, about 20 or 30 chairs were stowed out for the non-existent crowd.
Organized in collaboration with the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, the exhibition explores Giacometti’s prolific life, most of which the artist led in his studio in Montparnasse, through the works of his early period as well his late work, including one unfinished piece. Devoted to Giacometti’s early works, the first part of the exhibition demonstrates the influence of Giovanni Giacometti, the father of the artist and a Swiss Post-Impressionist painter himself, on Giacometti’s output during these years and his role in his son’s development.
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 19:00
Friday 10:00 - 22:00
Sunday 12:00 - 18:00
The museum is closed on Mondays.
On Wednesdays, the students can
visit the museum free of admission.
Full ticket: 200 TL
Discounted: 100 TL
Groups: 150 TL (minimum 10 people)
