The activities performed, could be gathered under 8 main titles:
1. The Museum Project;
one of our primary aims in establishing this foundation was to form a contemporary art museum. In order to realize this, a contract was signed with İstanbul Municipality, together with Mimar Sinan University, for the restoration of Sütlüce Slaughterhouse and the building was assigned to the foundation. Subsequently, after long hours of working, the architecture of Paris Grand Louvre Museum Michel Machary was hired to prepare the preliminary drawing and the model, which was then approved by the Committee of Conservation Cultural and Natural Assets.
However, in 1994, because of some bureaucratic reasons the project was cancelled and EKAV Art Center was activated on an area of 1000 m2, provided by Avrupa and Amerika Holding.
2. “Westernization of Art and Osman Hamdi”;
M.S.Ü. academician Prof. Mustafa Cezar’s work Westernization of Art and Osman Hamdi , aims to let Osman Hamdi Bey, the founder of Academy of Fine Arts and İstanbul Archeology Museum, the representative of the orientalist movement and an archeologist, be better known in national and international scale. This improved and updated second edition has been welcomed with appreciation by the related science and art institutions, business society and media.
3. Osman Hamdi Paintings Photography Exhibition;
because of Osman Hamdi Bey’s 150th birthday, the slides of 50x60 and 100x100 sizes were arranged to be exhibited in coloured photographs. The exhibition was first displayed in Mimar Sinan University for the opening of the new semester and then in universities in İstanbul and other Anatolian cities as well as in galleries of Ministry of Culture and in Cyprus. In this way, the new generation had the chance to get to know Osman Hamdi Bey and his works closer.
4. İstanbul, the Ottoman Capital;
among our works in 2000, there is also the book by Prof. Mustafa Cezar, which is on İstanbul’s historical and ethnical constitution from 1453 until today. The graphical design is made by Ersu Pekin. Some regions of the city were photographed from the sky, so that they could be compared with the old ones.
5. EKAV TV Awards;
As stated in our official document, the foundation aims to encourage the artists to give works. Thus, Turkish art would be improved to reach the contemporary art level. In order to realize this goal, The EKAV Award was created and the 1995 EKAV Awards were arranged in memory of Hande Mumcu and Salih Peker from Show TV, whom we lost at a very young age. 17 works from the “News” category and 26 works from the “News Scene” category were evaluated by the jury and the following results were obtained;
For the “News” category Esat Pala with “Çiller’in Esat Kıratlıoğlu’nu Azarı”,
For the “News Scene” category Haluk Günay and his friends with “ Gazi Mahallesi Olayları”,
For the “News Program” category Uğur Dündar and his team with “Engin Civan’ın not defteri ve İsviçre” were awarded.
6. Scholarships for studying in Turkey and abroad; :
According to the objectives in the official document of the foundation, we give scholarships to postgraduate students to study at universities abroad or in Turkey. The scholarships to study abroad are given to those who are selected by Turkish Education Foundation and want to make a master’s degree in U.S.A. 7 students have been graduated successfully so far. On the other hand, postgraduate scholarship are given via Turkish Education Foundation to the students of Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts.
7. F7. Fahr el Nissa Zeid from 1994 to today;
one of the outstanding figures of contemporary Turkish painting art, Fahr el Nissa Zeid’s works that she created abroad were for the first time displayed in Cemal Reşit Rey Hall in 1994 and in EKAV Art Center in 2000 by our foundation.
Our art center welcomed the following exhibitions :
Hamdi Telli/Noktanın Boyutları in 2004, Pesent Doğan, Fügen Baş and Sevinç Demirelli in 2005 and Prof. Sadun Ersin-Leyla Ersin Ekmekçiler, Edis Tezel-Ayla Algan (workshop) in 2006.
2006 Exhibition Calender:
March 22nd-April 15th Mahir Güven and workshop students
April 22nd-May 6th Prof. Sadi Öziş
May 11th- June 10th Meray Topsakal and Pınar Yeşilada (ceramic)
June 14th- July 1st Sevindik Yalçın
September 7th- October 7th Arzu Çılgın (enstalasyon)
October 12th- October 22nd E.Zara Georgiadou painting exhibition
November 1st-November 15th (TEV) Photography Exhibition
December 7th- December 30th Tamer-Tangül Akakıncı exhibitions are going to take place.
8. Panel, Concert, Workshop:
at the foundation’s art center, a panel called “Catching your own star” will take place with the presence of pshychologist Prof. Dr. Acar Baltaş. On January 28 2006, Prof. Sadun Ersin gave a “Santur” concert.
Within the Ezis Tezel painting exhibition between February 22nd- March 18th, Workshop activities were organized under the guidance of Ayla Algan on February 25th, March 4th and March 11th 2006.
