Erol Tabanca Tabanca Collection

Kuma

What was the frst work of art you purchased for your collection? Was there a specifc moment that was a catalyst for the start of your collecting?

About 20 years ago, I went to an auction with a friend. Even though I wasn’t planning to buy an artwork, I took a liking to a small oil painting and ended up buying it.

This was the frst piece in my collection. After this, I started reading about art and visiting museums and galleries around the world. At frst, I collected mostly modern Turkish pieces, however, as I gained more experience and knowledge in the feld, I decided to develop the collection with a particular focus on contemporary art.

Today, the collection comprises over a thousand pieces of modern and contemporary art spanning the 1950s to the present day with a particular focus on artists from Turkey.

How have you amassed your collection? Is it through a particular dealer or gallery?

I buy artworks from galleries and auction houses in Turkey and from art fairs internationally. While I sometimes seek professional advice, I always buy according to my own personal tastes.

Are there any artists or works that you especially value, or any artists you are particularly excited about?

I have developed a personal and unique connection with each piece in the collection. However, in general, I enjoy artworks that reveal something about their creative process and the artisanship behind them, such as Ahmet Doğu İpek’s Construction Regime ; Guido Casaretto’s Historical Connotations and TUNCA’s Lacus .

Your latest philanthropic project is a major new museum - tell about what inspired you to embark on this venture.

Ever since I frst started acquiring art, I’ve been excited about sharing the experience these artworks bring along with them. It happened gradually—frst by exhibiting these works on the offce walls, getting positive feedback and observing the ripple effect they create; then by designing Polart specifcally to further exhibit, preserve and foster meaningful conversations on art.

These experiences showed me that art blossoms when shared.

There is no point in keeping your artwork in the storage. I like to share things, and good interactions make this passion of mine all but more meaningful.

Clearly, appreciating art requires a visual literacy and discipline. To travel and see new things, to read and allocate time to these practices is all very important. When I frst started thinking about the museum project, I vividly remembered how there were no art i nstitutions offering that experience in Eskişehir when I was growing up.

I truly think sharing these artworks with the public will be tremendously benefcial for adults and students, retirees and children alike.

Art feeds the spirit. If others, too, can beneft from this spiritual nourishment, it means we are in fact building and running a project in social responsibility.

Even if it amounts to only a few drops in the ocean—people from different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds simply walking in and establishing some sort of intimacy with art—that alone is enough for me.

Our goal is to make art accessible in everyday life and make new perspectives available to everyone through art.

The museum will display works from your permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions. What do you want the cultural experience to offer visitors?

With its striking design, we hope that OMM will stand as a new landmark of Eskişehir and of Turkey at large. We hope that visitors from all over the world will interact with the design of the building while enjoying the artworks on display.

OMM will also create a multicultural hub and public meeting place in the town, while helping to preserve the cultural heritage of the district.

What stories do you want the museum to tell about Turkey and its art scene? How will OMM change the cultural landscape in Turkey?

Turkey has an incredibly diverse and talented art scene, and I want to refect this through both the collection and exhibition programme.

The unique position between East and West, and the social environment, have led our artists to produce some of the most interesting work of the 20th and 21st centuries. I hope that by showcasing these artists alongside internationally renowned names we can reaffrm their position within the canon.

You’ve been a huge supporter of the Turkish art scene for many years. In the context of contemporary geopolitics, why is it important to support the arts?

I think that artists need support in order to produce artworks and in order to create sustainability in the arts sector. Today, not only in Turkey but globally, arts can only survive with special funds and with the support of individuals and organisations.

With regards to my collection, recently I’ve focused on young emerging artists. I am interested by their new approaches, the way they integrate with the world and their inspiring artworks and these have changed the scope of my collection. I would be very happy if, by this way,

I provide support to the production process of young artists. Providing support in arts is very important to have sustainable art production and to create richness.

Your background is in architecture and construction. What’s your relationship with architecture and why was it important to house your collection in an iconic building?

I’ve always been drawn to art and design, and I studied architecture as a student after completing my studies at the Art Institute in Eskişehir. In choosing an architect to design the building, we wanted something that was personal to my collection, led by a partner who shared our vision and ambition and who would bring a fresh approach to the project.

OMM is designed by world-renowned architects Kengo Kuma and Associates. How did this relationship come about?

We chose Kengo Kuma and Associates because we were impressed by their striking and distinctive style. Moreover, we shared the same vision of creating a strong connection between the museum and its unique surroundings.

I believe that this is an extremely important consideration when creating new buildings in historic locations. Finally, KKAA’s preference for using natural materials, like wood, was an important factor in our decision.

OMM is a signifcant investment for the city of Eskisehir. Do you have any hopes for how the museum will impact the cultural capital of the region in an economic sense?

Eskişehir is becoming a cultural destination for local and international tourists and is widely considered to be Anatolia’s capital of culture. The city is home to around 20 museums, three universities, numerous cultural events and a young and dynamic population.

OMM has great potential to increase visitor numbers to the city, which brings not just economic, but also social and cultural benefts.

How does being the founder of OMM sit alongside your role as the Chair of Polimeks construction?

In the projects we developed under Polimeks, arts has always had a special role in creating a unique aspect. In the realisation of OMM, the sectoral experiences we had with Polimeks were very useful. Hence, I think these support each other. With Polimeks so far we’ve fnished 134 projects.

On the other hand, OMM is a very fresh, brand new platform for us and I can say that, as it will refect my personal interests and display my collection, OMM is like a place for me to take breath, a new excitement and passion in my busy life.

Finally, what do you hope is the legacy of OMM?

OMM is located in Odunpazarı, the heart of the unique city of Eskişehir. Named after the historical timber market it once hosted, Odunpazari (meaning ‘wood market’) is Eskişehir’s oldest area of settlement, dating back to the Seljuk and Ottoman period, and is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Odunpazari is best known for its narrow meandering streets and traditional wooden houses.

With its distinctive stacked timber design by Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA), OMM draws inspiration from Odunpazari’s traditional Ottoman wooden cantilevered houses that are synonymous with the district, and pays homage to the town’s history as a thriving wood market.

Inspired by the history of the region, this contemporary design of the museum I think has already created a cultural legacy.

With our strong and extensive exhibition and activity programmes which will involve artists and students, we will develop this legacy even stronger. I hope that OMM will create a memory between generations to keep the legacy of the modern and contemporary arts in Turkey and beyond.

The Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM), ‘‘a major new institution designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, opened in the vibrant but ancient university city of Eskişehir in Turkey in September. With stylistic echoes of Kuma’s V&A Dundee, the museum’s stacked timber design refects surrounding wooden houses from the Ottoman era, and is named after its historic “wood market” district—Odunpazari. The museum will house and show Turkish and international Modern and contemporary works from the 1,000 piece collection of Erol Tabanca, the architect and partner in Polimeks Holding, a leading Turkish construction frm. Eskişehir, in western Anatolia, frst founded in 1,000 BC and whose name means “old city”, boasts three universities.

On the high-speed train line between Istanbul and Ankara, its parks and heritage make it popular with day-trippers from Istanbul, and the OMM is set to be a modern fagship for nearly 20 other museums running to archaeology, aviation, and typewriters.

“Positioned at the cross-section between history and modernity, between the East and West, Turkey has produced some of the most interesting art and artists of the past 70 years,” Tabanca says. “Through opening up the collection, we hope to draw international attention to Turkish art and artists and reaffrm their position in the canon of modern and contemporary art.” He said the museum would be a new landmark for the city and the country.

The inaugural exhibition is curated by Haldun Dostoğlu, the founder of Istanbul’s Galeri Nev, will show around 200 works by 60 Turkish artists. International artists in the collection include Britain’s Julian Opie and Marc Quinn, the award-winning Spanish sculptor Jauma Plensa, and from the US the painter and sculptor Robert Longo and the UK-born, US artist Sarah Morris, whose work is in the Tate. A new site specifc piece by Japan’s Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, known for his giant swirling creations of woven bamboo, will go on show.

Major Turkish names in the collection dating back to the 1950s include the painter Erol Akyavaş, artist and flm-maker Gülsün Karamustafa, and her teacher Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, the poet and painter whose work won frst prize at the Brussels Fair in 1958. They include emerging and established artists, such as Canan Tolon, Ramazan Bayrakoğlu, and İnci Eviner.’’ T.A.N.