A New Exhibition at Salt Galata in Turkey Explores Religion, Spirituality

DAILY SABAH
By Kaya Genç

Descend the stairs of SALT Galata building on Bankalar Caddesi, turn right and you will hear amplified voices of Shiite Muslims who commemorate the Battle of Karbala during Muharram in an Istanbul neighborhood.

TURKEY---Religion is not the favorite subject of Turkish contemporary art. In the past, artists rarely touched on the subject. Realized with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and curated by Sebastian Cichocki and Galit Eilat in collaboration with SALT, "Rainbow in the Dark" is one of the most evocative shows of the year. "One of the major phenomena in contemporary society is the growing influence of monotheistic religious practices," the exhibition program informs us. "Radical movements in Islam, Christianity and Judaism appear to penetrate the ever-widening areas of social life, to the point where they threaten the more traditional understanding of religion." [link]


Featured artists: Kader Attia, Fayçal Baghriche, Miroslaw Balka, Fatma Bucak, Köken Ergun, Nilbar Güreş, Jonathan Horowitz, Gülsün Karamustafa, PawelKwiek, Virginia de Medeiros, Mujeres Publicas, Teresa Murak, Walid Raad, Zofia Rydet, Wael Shawky, Slavs and Tatars, Zbigniew Warpechowski and Artur Zmijewski.