about the place
Art Journey Halicarnassus starts in Bodrum (Halicarnassus), an ancient Carian settlement on the western cost of Turkey by the Aegean sea between Turkey and Greece.
Bodrum was founded by the Carians in the 11th century B.C. on the site of Halicarnassus, one of the most well-known cities of the ancient world. The region was invaded and occupied by a number of different peoples. In ancient times, as at the present day Anatolia was divided into different regions. According to the ancient writers, Caria reigon extended from Meander in the west to the Dalaman on the east. The region was inhabited by the Carians and the Lelegians. “In the Iliad, the Carians are referred to as an indigenious Anatolian people who were said to have joined the Trojans in their struggle against the Greeks…” (The Blue Civiliztion, Sözen, G. 1995, İstanbul: Akbank Culture and Art Publications/60)
The Halicarnassus of Historians and Writers
Bodrum is represented by two symbols, one of them being Heredotus, the father of history who lived from 490 to 425 B.C. The great historian was a native of Bodrum.
The Second symbol belongs to our age: Turkish writer and environmentist known as the Fisher man of Halicarnassus, Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı who has tremendous effect on Bodrum and the Mediterrean region of Turkey.
İpek has created a project called SPORAD to honour this incredible figure.
About US
İpek Çankaya (Curator, Cultural Researcher, Educator)
İpek is a narrative developer who turns them into conceptual frameworks or visual expressions for curated art exhibitions. She is a writer of poetry and short stories.
She works on diverse layers of arts management. She teaches and makes academic research on arts and theories of culture. She has a decade of experience in running an art space, helping artists and conducting an international Artist-in-Residence Programme. She started to design halka sanat projesi as a not-for-profit art initiative in Istanbul in mid-2000s while she was pursuing her MA in Arts Management. She is its director since 2011 and resident curator since 2016. In 2017 she became a Doctor of Philosophy with her Ph.D. dissertation “A Critical View on the Relations of Art Capital, Public Space and Art Initiatives in Turkey”. In 2019 she co-initiated Art Halicanassus with Doğu Çankaya in Bodrum where she currently lives and works.
Doğu Çankaya (Artist, Initiator, M.D.)
Doğu is a painter and sculptor.
Starting from the mid-1990s his work has been shown in private galleries, independent spaces and international art organisations and made part of private collections. KargART İstanbul (2000 – 2006), Kadıkoy IDO Sanat Galerisi (2009), Teşvikiye GaleriMiz Istanbul (2012 – 2013), Dibeklihan Bodrum (2013), Bonnafont Gallery San Francisco (2012 – 2015), Trafo Bodrum (2016), DEPO Istanbul (2016) and Contemporary Istanbul, International Art Fair (2014 - 2020) are some examples. Since the mid-2010s he has mostly been exhibiting with halka sanat projesi which he is among the initiators and currently one of its main supporters. He lives and works in Bodrum, Muğla and has another artist studio in Istanbul. He is the co-initiator of Art Halicarnassus, an art practice and research space in Bodrum. Çankaya is also a medical doctor specialized in Underwater Illnesses and Hyperbaric Medicine.
CONTACT: arthalicarnassus@gmail.com
İpek Çankaya & Doğu Çankaya
