Work in Progress

Arter’s new group exhibition Work in Progress brings together a selection of works drawn from more than three hundred artworks that the institution has supported over the past fifteen years—some of which have been incorporated into the collection—alongside new commissions produced specifically for the exhibition. Organised with the support of Koç Holding on the occasion of the Koç Group’s centenary, the exhibition features 39 works by 27 artists in its first chapter. In the second stage of the exhibition, opening in October 2026, many of the works presented in the first chapter will give way to others, and new works created in this context will also be included. Curated by Emre Baykal, Work in Progress also foregrounds Arter’s longstanding commitment to fostering creative processes through its production processes. Extending across Arter’s galleries as well as various publicly accessible spaces in the building, Work in Progress will be on view free of charge as of 1 April 2026.  

Artists featured in the exhibition: Murat Akagündüz, Volkan Aslan, Can Aytekin, Fatma Bucak, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Nermin Er, Cevdet Erek, Ayşe Erkmen, İnci Furni, Babak Golkar, Deniz Gül, Eric Hattan, Emre Hüner, Gözde İlkin, Ahmet Doğu İpek, Šejla Kamerić, Esen Karol, Ali Kazma, Lucia Koch, Hans Peter Kuhn, Nuri Kuzucan, Füsun Onur, Yasemin Özcan, Sarkis, Serkan Taycan, Canan Tolon, VOID

Initiated as a “space for art,” Arter has embraced the support of artistic production as a core principle of its mission since its founding. Acknowledging the equal value of all media and modes of practice, the institution has facilitated projects and works through a support model tailored in varying scales to artists’ creative processes, presenting the resulting works in both solo and group exhibitions. Work in Progress brings forth a selection from this extensive body of work—drawn from both recent and earlier exhibitions—resituating them within Arter’s institutional history and a broader constellation where they generate new dialogues, proximities and shared trajectories.

Organised with the support of Koç Holding on the occasion of the Koç Group’s centenary, Work in Progress is conceived in two chapters to reflect the temporal, dynamic and multidimensional nature of artistic and intellectual processes. Extending across Arter’s entrance and lower-ground-floor (-1) galleries as well as various publicly accessible spaces in the building, Work in Progress repositions works drawn from the past within new spatial and relational contexts they collectively create, while also expanding Arter’s repertoire of production through newly commissioned works. The entrance gallery presents works that invite us to reconsider our engagement with the world, exploring themes such as ‘leaving imprints’, the ‘reshaping of nature’, and the ‘construction of historical narratives’. The lower-floor gallery, meanwhile, incorporates Arter’s own construction processes into its scope, bringing together works that trace architectural references, explore ‘cultural and spatial memory’, reflect on ‘spatial organisation’, and examine thematic dualities such as the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’, the ‘public’ and the ‘private’.

The publication titled Work in Progress: Arter, published for the first chapter of the exhibition, also incorporates various modes of production embedded in the institution’s memory. Adopting a predominantly visual flow, the book addresses the making and presentation processes of Arter’s exhibitions to date; its architectural design and construction processes as an art space; its publishing activities; its continuously evolving collection; the gradual expansion of its programme to encompass diverse artistic disciplines; and learning and events programmes developed around these contents. A new book, focusing specifically on the exhibition, will accompany the second chapter of Work in Progress, which is scheduled to open in October 2026.

Visit here for Arter’s current and upcoming programme. 

Press contact: Senem Çelikörslü, senemc@arter.org.tr.