Tanas

About:

The project space Tanas is meant to further follow the continuous developments of contemporary Turkish art and to present them in Berlin - in close cooperation with Turkish persons engaged in the cultural sector and independent from representative duties. Tanas is supposed to be a platform for the steady discussion and interaction of Turkish artists and curators with the German and international audience. Berlin represents the proper position for this purpose with regards to the local cultural landscape as well as the social and political implications. Not least Istanbul and Berlin are connected by a sister-city arrangement since 1988 within the context of which a fine tangle of relations in the field of art has been created, for example by grants and cooperations of cultural institutions.Tanas is managed by René Block who now continues his long-standig examination of contemporary art from Turkey. 

Notes:

There is a very large Turkish population in Berlin (the largest concentration outside of Turkey). I'm not sure what the percentage is but it does account for a fairly high percentage of the population. I'm not sure how much you know about it but basically in the 50s, 60s and 70s Germany opened up immigration to Turkey for 'migrant workers' to come and work in the service/construction sector that was missing workforce. Thousands of Turkish people came to work on guest work visas, started families and never left, many invited relatives from Turkey too. Since there is such a large number of Turkish people in Berlin (& Germany) there are Turkish communities that are not integrated into German customs and language. Anyway this has been a topic of debate here for a long time. 

The project space is very well organized and beautiful. From the current show to the archive, it looks like and interesting centre to work with. It does position itself as being Turkish but considering the high population of Turkish in Berlin it is representing quite a significant aspect of the Berlin art world.

Go to Tanas