Press Release 12 August 2014

Language of the WallGraffiti / Street Art

On view from 13 August – 5 October 2014

“…no, it is not enough to think of the childlike desire to see one's name ride by in letters large enough to scream your ego across the city, no, it is almost as if we must go back into some more primeval sense of existence, into that curious intimation of how our existence and our identity may perceive each other only as in a mirror.”

“The Faith of Graffiti” by Norman MailerEsquire, May 1979

This summer Pera Museum is hosting, for the first time in Turkey, an exhibition on one of the art world’s hottest topics – Graffiti and Street Art. Artists from all over the world are being exhibited, providing interesting examples examining the concept of ‘graffiti’ and ‘bringing the street to the museum’, as well as creating a platform for discussion and debate.

Hosting more than 20 artists from America, Germany, France, Japan, as well as Turkey, the exhibition, curated by Roxane Ayral, will include works by distinguished names from different generations and disciplines such as Futura, Carlos Mare, Cope 2, Turbo, Wyne, JonOne, Tilt, Mist, Psyckoze, Craig Costello (aka KR), Herakut, Logan Hicks, C215, Suiko, Evol, Gaia, Tabone, Funk and No More Lies, along with selected photographs from the archive of leading artists Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant and Hugh Holland.

Graffiti and street art have moved out of their underground era and are no longer recognized as vandalism, but rather as a global art movement. Since the 1990s, the appreciation for graffiti and street art in Turkey has increased significantly having influenced not only a small artistic circle, but several generations, and with the exhibition Language of the Wall: Graffiti / Street Art, this art form is being presented in a museum setting for the first time.

As artists create an international value through their increasingly diversified works of different styles and techniques, this art movement evolves from being an individual struggle for existence and addresses larger masses by embracing social issues. Expanding its audience as a result of the subculture they create through music and dance, graffiti and street art are not just artistic forms of expression, but they also manifest a certain way of living.

As society embraces graffiti and street art, museums, galleries and publications respond to the increasing demand. Receiving more importance and categorized now within a more professional context as Contemporary Urban Art, graffiti and street art continue to be a hot topic of debate among art circles.

The exhibition Language of the Wall: Graffiti / Street Art continues throughout the city with the contribution of the Municipalities of Besiktas and Beyoglu.

About Pera Museum

The Pera Museum in Istanbul was inaugurated in 2005. Funded by the Suna and Ínan Kıraç Foundation, this private museum is in the historic Tepebası quarter of the city, and the building, originally the famous Bristol Hotel, has been transformed into an impressive suite of galleries across several floors housing both the Foundation’s permanent collection and hosting a program of national and international loan exhibitions. This program of activity and its successful collaboration with many international art institutions has ensured that the Pera Museum has become a leading cultural center in Istanbul

Press ContactFatma Colakoglu, Film, Video and Communication ProgrammingPera Museum, Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundationfatma.colakoglu@peramuzesi.org.tr(+ 90 212 334 09 00)

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Language of the WallGraffiti / Street Art

CuratorRoxane Ayral

Project ManagersBegüm Akkoyunlu ErsözTania BaharFatma Çolakoglu

Project AssistantsUlya SoleyAlanur Ataç

CoordinatorZeynep Ögel

Contribution by Spray Can Sponsor Contribution by Gallery Wall paint sponsor

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İstanbul, Turkeywww.peramuzesi.org.tr