Summer Exhibition 2016

With the support of Sabancı Holding, Turkish filmmaker and artist Kutluğ Ataman’s monumental multi-image video installation THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI is being displayed at the The Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition 2016 until August 21, 2016.

THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI was commissioned by the Sabancı family in 2011 to mark the ten-year anniversary of the passing of Turkish business leader and philanthropist Mr. Sakıp Sabancı, and was selected for display by leading British sculptor and Royal Academician Richard Wilson, who is coordinating this year’s Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.

THE PORTRAIT OF SAKIP SABANCI is one of the largest examples of video art in existence and is adapted to fit each unique space that it is presented in. It is formed of approximately 10,000 LCD panels of passport-sized photographs—each one an individual portrait of one of the tens of thousands of people who crossed paths with Sakıp Sabancı. It reflects the businessman’s thoughts on human beings, life and art as well as his energy; collectively the photos form his portrait.

The video installation, constituting a moment of silence in honour of Sakıp Sabancı, took three years to complete and uses state-of-the-art technology to create a work where the “raw material is, as a whole, human.” The work is part of the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection, Istanbul, and was previously displayed in Okwui Enwezor’s All The World’s Futures exhibition at The Arsenale at the 56th International Venice Biennale in 2015.

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2016 runs from June 13 until August 21, 2016.

About Kutluğ Ataman
Kutluğ Ataman, born in Istanbul in 1961, is an artist whose main medium of expression is the moving image. Ataman’s works have been exhibited at international art events including the 56th Venice Biennale, 2015, and Documenta in Germany in 2002, as well as major museums including MoMA in New York, Tate Britain in London, and Guggenheim Bilbao. He received the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh in 2004, was among the four finalists for the Turner Prize and was awarded the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2009. Ataman was the joint winner of the European Cultural Foundation’s Routes Princess Margriet Award in 2011 and was named artist of the year by The Observer newspaper in the UK. His works are included in private and institutional collections around the world including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Vienna, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection in Athens and Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

About The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection
The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection is a private fine arts museum in Istanbul, Turkey, dedicated to calligraphic art, religious and state documents as well as paintings of the Ottoman era. Located in Emirgan, one of Istanbul’s oldest settlements on the Bosphorous, the museum was founded by Sakıp Sabancı and was opened in June 2002. The building was previously Sakıp Sabancı’s home and for many years housed his rich collection of calligraphy and paintings.

In 1998, together with its collection and furnishings, the mansion was bequeathed to Sabancı University by the Sabancı Family to be transformed into a museum. Aside from its celebrated permanent displays the museum hosts national and foreign temporary exhibitions. Each year, Sakıp Sabancı Museum aims to represent significant art movements, artists and historical periods in the cultural history of the world in its galleries in a liberal, objective and critical context, aiming to inspire and facilitate change. Each exhibition project at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, from contemporary art exhibitions focusing on the work of Anish Kapoor (2012) and ZERO movement (2015) to masters of 20th century art, Pablo Picasso (2005), Salvador Dali (2008) and Joan Mirό (2014), is organized to enlighten and inspire hundreds of thousands of visitors in Turkey. The yearly programming of the museum is welded together with the world of cinema, music and literature, with a rich schedule of exhibitions in addition to conferences, concerts, symposia and publications to better illustrate the societal and historical aspects of the world of art.

For further information or high res images for Kutluğ Ataman and the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum please contact Louise Collins, Sutton PR on T +44(0)20 7183 3577 or louise [​at​] suttonpr.com.

For further information about the RA Summer Exhibition please contact Monique Kent, RA Press Office, on T +44(0)20 7300 5615 or press.office [​at​] royalacademy.org.uk.