Contemporary Istanbul Announces Regional Focus on Tehran

Istanbul, Turkey.
Photo: Xinhua/Lu Zhe.

Contemporary Istanbul, now in its tenth year, has announced the list of exhibitors for its upcoming edition, with a special focus on contemporary art from Iran.

Each year, the fair chooses a geographical region which will be heavily represented at the fair, and this iteration will see several galleries from Tehran represented in Istanbul, including, Parkingallery Projects, Aaran Gallery, and Ehsan Lajevardi Foundation.

“We are thrilled to have Tehran as this year’s focus for Contemporary Istanbul,” said Ali Güreli, founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul. “This city has an incredible history and a strong emerging contemporary art scene which we want to present to the world. It has always been the interest of CI and its collectors to discover new artists and promote exciting art scenes from around the world.” 

The fair, which takes place in November, will also continue its new media section “Plugin” which will explore the relationships between the physical and the digital. Plugin will also host game and design labs, studios, and maker spaces. The space will include galleries from Berlin, Basel, Tehran, and Istanbul.

This announcement comes as the much anticipated Istanbul Biennial opens this week with many people from the art world flooding to the city.

Contemporary Istanbul takes place from November 12-15 at Istanbul Congress Centre (ICC) and Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Centre (ICEC).

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