Creatopia Art Center
Something is happening in —and many more things are yet to come… Our aim, our intention, is to transform this “unique, one-of-a-kind, and beloved” land in the heart of into an extraordinary center for the arts. Our greatest strength on this path is, without doubt, art and nature themselves.
Inspired by Yaşar Kemal, who wrote “As if a tribe of fairies came to Anatolia from the steppes of Asia, taking their tents, mounting their horses and gathering their camels, sheep, goats and belongings. Each of them touched a stone, and it became embroidery. Every stone they held became embroidery…”, the stones touched by İsmet Öztanık and Özgür Karaçak are becoming embroidery and preparing to turn into an art space. The event and art center we will establish in collaboration with Lucis Initiative and Artists&Collectors will bring art projects in different disciplines to life, so that Cappadocia makes the news around the world not only for its stone and soil but for its art. How?
In Cappadocia, artist and collector collaborations, exhibitions of special selections and related side events will offer visitors a new experience, while artist residency programmes will encourage artistic production in Cappadocia. Open studio tours and talks will support the artists’ work, and visitors will thus become part of the process.
Permanent artworks left in Cappadocia by artists from different branches of art will become iconic over time and part of the city. With a new one added every year, an open-air sculpture park that can only be experienced here will take shape and will undoubtedly become a tourist attraction.
Of course, new media, today’s rising value, is also in our focus… New media artists will design an experience space that merges with the historic fabric through digital works spread across the entire valley. This time, Cappadocia will open the door to entirely different experiences with the touch of digital fairies.
While hosting art from an international perspective through all these events and projects, these natural caves will be positioned as a supportive center in the art world, with the space they open to artists of all ages. And in Cappadocia, the setting of many local and international films, a cinema screen is a must… Short film screenings will be held in the historic atmosphere with a drive-in cinema concept.
And auctions, which almost everyone interested in art wants to experience… Through the auctions to be held, international visitors will meet Turkish artists, and our artists’ works will live on in different homes on the other side of the world.
Cappadocia, which will become a meeting point for artists of different disciplines and all ages, will become our artists’ subject and turn into a work of art itself. It will travel in visitors’ suitcases as they leave this enchanted region. Beyond buying souvenirs, guests will be offered the alternative of making art part of their lives. A wide range of specially designed merchandise will also be offered.
