Hacettepe University International Macsabal Silk Road Symposium

Macsabal Silk Road Symposium at Craftİstanbul Fair

The Silk Road was the name given to the trade route in the past, and starting from the city of Xian in China, which is in the easternmost part of Asia, dividing the entire Asian continent in the middle, passing through the Middle Eastern countries, Anatolia and Egypt, it reached the Mediterranean and stretched from there to Europe. The Silk Road, where products such as silk, spices and porcelain were transported with the most primitive methods, has been a trade route used throughout history, but it has created a route where different ideas, religions or various cultures come together. It is a very important route in human history in terms of the beginning of intercultural communication through trade.

Today, by reinterpreting the route of this trade route, we want to draw the Contemporary Silk Road route, which starts from the capital city of Korea, Seoul, instead of the city of Xian in China, and extends to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. This time, art provides intercultural communication instead of commerce. Again, works will be exhibited in a commercial environment, that is, at the art fair, but the emphasis is on the international communication and unity established by art. Macsabal Symposium, which has been held by Kim Yong Moon in Zibo, China, since 2005, is called Macsabal Silk Road Symposium. Thanks to the Macsabal Symposium, which has been held in Ankara for eleven years with the contributions of Hacettepe University and the Korean Cultural Center, Ankara has become the meeting point of Turkish and foreign artists. Now, we want to bring Macsabal Artists together in different countries on the silk road route and in Istanbul. We would like to thank Mr. Bilgin Aygül for giving us this opportunity at the Craftistanbul Fair held in Istanbul by Atis Fairs, and Fatih Municipality for supporting the symposium.

Art events are organized more frequently in Turkey and around the world in order to ensure the proliferation of works of art in the public spaces of the city. Bringing the universal language of art to the city we live in and introducing art to the public will bring environmental awareness to the society. A person who can perceive his environment more sensitively is an educated person. Art develops perception and personality. Art education is a subject that concerns not only the individual who receives that education, but also the society that can affect and change the environment with their works. The work is not an object produced unilaterally, but has a value that can be shared and developed. Art cannot exist without this mutual relationship.

This project has been prepared because it is a necessity to catch up with the era and it is a necessity to see original-contemporary works in our environment. For eleven years, Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts in Ankara, Turkey has been hosting the International Macsabal Silk Road Symposium. We are very happy to hold the symposium in Istanbul for the first time this year.

3 Turkish Artists, 2 Koreans, 4 Ukrainians, 1 German, 1 Lebanese and 1 Hungarian artists were invited to this event, which will be held at an international level. The panels produced by the invited artists for 9 days will be donated to the symposium sponsor Fatih Municipality and will be mounted on a wall belonging to the municipality.

Assoc. Dr. / Doç Dr. Mutlu Başkaya Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi, Seramik Bölüm Başkanı Faculty of Fine Arts, Head of Ceramics Department