Art and Culture
SAKIP SABANCI MUSEUM
Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) has been focusing on sustainability, the preservation of cultural heritage and its transfer to future generations since 2002. Emphasizing the protection, research, development and interpretation of Türkiye’s holistic artistic heritage with its collections, SSM focuses on digital archiving, digital preservation and transferring technological artworks to the future. With the digital SSM project implemented in 2013, the museum transfers its cultural accumulation to the digital platform and creates a significant digital art archive that will contribute to the preservation of Türkiye’s cultural heritage.
Along with the past masters, SSM introduces contemporary artists from Türkiye while hosting very significant international artists and conveys its comprehensive cultural knowledge by presenting the turning points in local and global art history. With the temporary exhibitions it has held since its establishment, SSM hosts the solo exhibitions of some of the world’s most important figures such as Picasso, Dalí, Miro, Monet, Anish Kapoor, Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramović, while presenting art enthusiasts with cultural works from the pioneering names of Turkish art history such as Abidin Dino, Kuzgun Acar, Feyhaman Duran, Selim Turan, and SSM painting collection – From the Reformation to the Republic: Master Artists, Master Students – by artists such as Hoca Ali Rıza, Abdülmecid Efendi, Hüzeyin Zekâi Paşa, Ivan Konstantinoviç Ayvazoski, Şevket Dağ, Hikmet Onat, İbrahim Çallı, Nazmi Ziya Güran and also the pioneering woman artist Mihri Müşfik.
The museum has continued its activities during the pandemic by making past exhibitions available online. The museum has continued its activities during the pandemic by making past exhibitions available online. Offering transformative cultural experiences in physical and digital spaces, SSM implements programs for children and adults with its Learning Programs, while providing areas of interaction with a wide variety of activities such as open-air cinema, concerts, festivals, conferences, and seminars. Meanwhile, SSM Store makes its products and services accessible to everyone with its awareness of sustainability and social responsibility for its collections and temporary exhibitions. The processes and outputs of the scientific research that involved the conservation studies of six paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey housed in the SSM painting collection and also the exhibition titled Şeyh Hamdullah on the 500th Anniversary of His Death were transferred to the international culture and art platform Google Arts & Culture with the digitalSSM archive resources. The project “Protection of Technological Artwork,” which was initiated in collaboration with Sabancı University has maintained its activities online in 2021. SSM Online Learning Programs activities for children in different age groups continued both in the museum and online during the mid-winter and mid-summer terms. In addition to the workshops parallel to the exhibitions, various independent workshops and guided tours were organized for students and disadvantageous groups, covering subjects such as art movements, abstract art, paintings, science and nature. Sakıp Sabancı Museum has licensed its archive and research resources in 2020 in accordance with the modern museology standards.