Maçka Art Gallery celebrates its 50th anniversary with the exhibition 50 Yıldan Kareler (Squares from 50 Years). On view through February 28, the selection takes the square form embedded in the gallery’s architecture as its point of departure, revisiting five decades of exhibition practice through a spatial memory.
One of the most established galleries in Turkey’s contemporary art scene, Maçka Art Gallery marks its 50th year with this special exhibition inspired by its architectural identity and institutional memory. Having sustained its presence for half a century in the same location, within the same architectural framework, and with a stance preserved across generations, the gallery represents a rare continuity in Turkey’s art landscape.
50 Yıldan Kareler (Squares from 50 Years)
Founded in 1976 by sisters Rabia Çapa and Varlık Sadıkoğlu, the gallery has, since its very first exhibition, provided space for artists working with critical and questioning approaches. It was also among the first venues in Turkey to introduce works produced under the umbrella of conceptual art to the public. Maintaining a line resistant to the mainstream and attentive to longevity, the gallery has offered early visibility to many artists who today hold significant positions in the art world.
The architectural foundation of this continuity is as defining as its program. Designed in 1976 by Mehmet Konuralp, the gallery has preserved its original architecture to this day. The square tile layout that characterizes the space now becomes the conceptual starting point for the 50th anniversary exhibition.
Dialogue with the Past
The exhibition 50 Yıldan Kareler (Squares from 50 Years) draws inspiration from the square form embedded in the gallery’s architecture. Works produced at the gallery across different periods—each engaging directly or indirectly with the square—are brought together. In doing so, the exhibition makes visible not only a formal motif but also a sense of spatial memory and continuity.
Participating artists include Ayşe Erkmen, Ayşen Urfalıoğlu, Daniel Buren, François Morellet, Füsun Onur, Güneş Çınar, Halit Demirel, Murat Germen, Ömür Tokgöz, Rabia Seyhan, and Serhat Kiraz.
Extending from internationally renowned figures to younger artists, the selection reflects Maçka Art’s longstanding relationships with masters while also recalling the space it has opened for new generations.
Didem Çapa: “In Every Curatorial Framework, We Returned to the Space”
Maçka Art’s fifty-year history encompasses international projects and biennials. 50 Yıldan Kareler (Squares from 50 Years) offers a space-centered perspective on this extensive exhibition practice.
Didem Çapa, who has led the gallery’s second phase since 2021, describes the point of departure for the anniversary exhibition as follows:
“Whatever curatorial framework we considered, encompassing everything would have required vast spaces,” she explains. The solution, she notes, was found in the space itself: “We proceeded through artists who engage with the gallery’s squares. This allowed us to remain faithful to the space while also including key figures from past exhibitions.”
Works that were inaccessible or originally occupied the entire venue are presented through two separate screens. One screen is dedicated to artists and architects who engaged with the gallery’s square form. The other features Serhat Kiraz’s memory project spanning fifty years. Titled Görüntü Düzlemi (Image Plane), the work transforms openings, talks, and gatherings held at the gallery into a spatial archive by coding them through color. Each area is marked with a distinct color, enabling visitors to immediately understand which square, which room they are in.
A Half-Century of Memory
Çapa also describes the exhibition process as a personal journey:
“My mother and I revisited a fifty-year history together. Fifty years is no small span of time. Moreover, we are speaking of a structure sustained by generational continuity and preserved within the same architectural framework. There are very few galleries like this in the world. We are happy to be one of them.”
50 Yıldan Kareler (Squares from 50 Years) is not merely an anniversary exhibition; it is a way of looking back at the gallery’s fifty-year memory. It makes visible the dialogue with space, intergenerational continuity, and the climate of an independent gallery. Having provided space for art and artists for half a century, Maçka Art greets its past with this exhibition while also pointing toward the future.
The 50th anniversary exhibition of Maçka Art Gallery can be visited through February 28, from 12:00 to 19:00, except Sundays and Mondays.
