'New: Now 3.0' puts youth at center of CerModern

Welcome back to Al-Monitor Istanbul.

This week, the Istanbul newsletter makes a detour to Ankara, then on to Brussels and Vancouver, as we chase the works of internationally recognized and emerging artists. So follow me to CerModern, to a great fish restaurant in a landlocked capital and to the work of a new voice in fiction.

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Thanks for reading,

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: ‘New Now’ 

Robin Coban’s sculpture “Toward the Flow.” (Photo by Nazlan Ertan)

“New: Now 3.0” at CerModern is a snapshot taken at full speed. Curated by Attila Gullu, the exhibition marks the third edition of a project CerModern has committed to repeating annually — a deliberate move to give young artists continuity.

Gullu’s premise is precise. “What we cannot predict, know, or foresee — what unsettles societies and spreads fear — can be traced today by looking closely at young people,” he writes in the curator’s text. “If we can visualize and make our present visible, we can shape tomorrow.” The artists gathered, mostly around 30 or younger and from refreshingly diverse backgrounds, are invited into CerModern’s main hall — a space usually reserved for established names — to test that proposition in real time.

The difficulty is addressed upfront. Young artists are asked to say something unsaid, to create images not yet seen. It borders on the impossible. But, as Gullu reminds us, impossibility has always been youth’s natural territory. The works thrive on intersections: hybrid forms, convergences and ruptures, shaped by digital fluency, relentless work habits and what the curator describes as an almost inexhaustible energy.

The placement of works in the vast space sharpens these conversations. Robin Coban’s figurative sculpture “Toward the Flow” appears almost like a three-dimensional fragment that has slipped out of Mehmet Akan’s tall, commanding oil paintings just behind it. The pairing is intentional. “They share the same studio,” Gullu noted. “I did not want to separate their works.”

Elsewhere, Baris Seval’s “The Lonely Waves” introduces a quieter register, offering a pause within the exhibition’s otherwise kinetic rhythm. Ilhak Altiparmak’s embroidered eiderdown — “Is it possible to love someone softly?” — contrasts with the architectural lines and circles of Ece Duran’s “Garden of Temporalities.”

Firat Koc’s haunting “Portraits.” (Photo by Nazlan Ertan)

The show’s most unexpected interlocutors, however, are its youngest visitors. On school break, children run through CerModern’s vast hall, calling out opinions with enviable confidence. Six-year-old Delfin stops in front of Zeynep Uyanik’s “Spiral Series“  — three delicately twisting sculptures on adjacent pedestals. “These are my favorites,” she declared. “They twirl beautifully and make me think of seashells and sun.” Few curatorial texts manage such clarity.

“New: Now” unfolds alongside two other CerModern exhibitions worth catching — and fast. Ergin Inan’s “Between Time and Traces” brings together the artist’s long meditation on time, memory and calligraphic mark-making, anchoring the winter program with a quieter, introspective gravity. The “METU Architecture 524” exhibition marks Middle East Technical University’s anniversary with a compact look at architectural thinking and pedagogy, on until Jan. 31. “Roots and Traces: Frida” closes Feb. 1, a reminder that CerModern’s calendar — like “New Now” itself — moves quickly.

📍Where: Altinsoy Cad. No:3, Sihhiye

🗓️ When: until March 1

2. Word on the street: Trilye

Trilye: great fish, desserts and a serious wine list. (Photo courtesy of Trilye)

When your favorite Danish couple says you’re meeting at Ankara’s best fish restaurant, expectations are high. Unsurprisingly, the choice is Trilye’s new place in Gaziosmanpasa. Founded in 2002 and decorated with international awards, Trilye delivers great mezes — crunchy broccoli, bulgur with beetroot, crisp salads — as well as fish grilled to perfection. A rare bonus for a fish restaurant is a serious wine list and great desserts.

📍Where: Kuleli Cad. No.32, Gaziosmanpasa

3. (Beyond) Istanbul diary

Permanent collection at Erimtan Museum. (Photo courtesy of Erimtan)

• Located in the historic heart of the city in Ulus, the Erimtan Archaeology and Art Museum’s permanent collection is worth repeated visits. A new “Litho Wall” exhibition in the museum cafe presents a rotating selection of original lithographs from Dou Print Studio, available for purchase through Feb. 27.

• Turkiye Is Bankasi Ankara Sanat Galerisi hosts a flavorful selection of food-themed paintings, previously shown in Istanbul, drawn from the bank’s 2,000-strong collection of works by Turkish artists.

• Istanbul and Ankara work together: “Upon a Rock, I Grew,” centered on Melike Abasiyanik Kurtic’s works and readings, runs at Istanbul’s Galerist until Feb. 21, in collaboration with Ankara-based Galeri Nev and with support from Kale Design and Art Center.

• Back in Istanbul, these are the last days at Pera Museum to see two compelling exhibitions: Asa Jungnelius’s “A Verse Written with Earth, Fire, Water, and Air,” where glass and marble sculptures shaped by Turkey’s landscapes meet process photographs; and “Feelings in Common: Works from the British Council Collection,” which brings together major British artists to reflect on time, material and what museums choose to preserve. Until Feb. 8.