Mr. Güreli could you please tell us how your interest for art was initiated.
The initiation of my relationship with art goes back to my higher education years. I have studied Business Management at ODTU University in Ankara, and then went to Paris to pursue my masters degree. The charm of Paris was stronger than the master’s degree itself; coincidentally I found myself indulged into a very rich art scene. I had the opportunity to meet all of the Turkish artists that lived in Paris at the time. We also visited regularly all the regions where art galleries were located, and took part in all the arts activities. I had the opportunity to meet many artists and gallerists. Centre Pompidou was newly founded at the time and it was the centre of attention. We attended all the exhibitions there. To be a part of the latter was a privilege. We were three friends and all of us were highly infatuated with art; later on, Güllü Aybar who was one of those three became the Director of one of the most influential galleries in Istanbul of the time, Urart Gallery. And our other friend, Faruk Sade founded the Siyah Beyaz Gallery in Ankara. This year Siyah Beyaz is celebrating its 30th anniversary and will be presenting its 30th year book at the fair. It became one of the most important galleries in Turkey. So this was how it all started.
How was the Art Hotel idea born?
The Art Hotel idea came to being because there were no such undertakings at the time. It was important to present differentiated products and services as compared to those of other hotels in existence. The aim of this hotel was to attract all the world’s art entousiasts to Istanbul. We have other Hotel projects on the way.
What about the Art Fair? How was this concept born? Had you done a feasibility study before it was initiated?
The idea was brought up in the midst of a chat amongst friends; we were visiting many art fairs abroad at the time, we asked ourselves why we were not initiating such a fair in Istanbul. We did a feasibility research of course but it was always undersigned by Ali Güreli; there was always an unfinished part to the research and that was completed as we progressed.
Amongst the fairs you have visited abroad, were there any sources of inspiration for you?
I was very impressed with Art Basel. The first time I have visited the latter, it was the year 2004, I believe. That was when I started thinking about how it could be done in Istanbul, I could see that there was a high potential there, and after seeing Basel, I was fully convinced of that… There are approximately 400 – 500,000 people living in Basel and Basel has become a highly visited city due to the Basel Art Fair. Istanbul stood more of a chance of success considering its advantageous location, it is one of the easiest destinations from anywhere around the world.
It is also a beautiful city with an important cultural heritage, a city that is the point of focus for the contemporary art scene nowadays and people enjoy being here.
Another important advantage we have is of course the Turkish Airlines, it works very effectively and facilitates the trip from all countries around the world. It deserves a recognition for that.
When the fair was initiated in 2005, there were less foreign galleries, weren’t there? How many galleries will be participating this year?
There were no foreign galleries at Art Istanbul, we initiated this with Contemporary Art Fair. The fist year we had only 9 foreign galleries and a total number of 49 galleries. This year, there are 60 foreign galleries in a totality of 100. We will have 11 foreign galleries solely in the ‘Plug In’ New Media section.
Istanbul has become a world recognized art market thanks to your efforts since the beginning of the fair, what is your strategy to draw a conscious and knowledgeable crowd to the fair? Can you tell us about the VIP Programs?
The essence of what we do is networking. To bring people together by creating different occasions. We put together a very strong VIP Program this year, my wife Rabia Güreli is at the head of this programme and she was very successful in it. Networking does not occur through newspapers, people have to see each other physically. Word of mouth is very important, if one collector says to another he is going to Istanbul to see the fair, his friend is likely to follow him as well. Because the number of art fairs and the competition amongst them is ever increasing, it is important to design a fair that is more ‘sexy’ and appealing to everyone.
How would you compare the first year to this year? What are some of the new developments ?
In 2005 the administrative team consisted of eight or nine people, whereas today it is 24. We have made investments to the infrastructure of the fair. We have talked with the congress center Managers and asked them to include more catering possibilities, we will work on the lighting of the fair next year; the aim is to increase the comfort of the viewers.
We expanded the fair grounds to 18,000 square meters of space this year from 16,000. Since day one, we’ve added novelties to the fair: conferences, lectures, events abroad and this year we will have ‘Plug In’ New Media, Editions, we have a new magazine entitled CI Magazine, CI Editions, always improving VIP Programs, more followers, events organized throughout the year. AS per sales, last year 67 percent of the artwork exhibited were sold at a value of 91 million dollars in sales, we aim to increase this ratio every year. As per sponsors, Akbank continues to be one of our main sponsors, Turkish Airlines continues its support, we have a new important sponsor Maslak 42.
