PLATFORM ISTANBUL – ON CHALLENGES AND CHOICES

Anna Zizlsperger talks to Nuran Terzioğlu, gallerist, curator

To begin with, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

You know, I’ve always been interested in art, ever since I can remember. I made my first art books together with the help of my grandmother. Each Hayat magazine had a center spread on art, which we collected. Then we bound them together and made big books. At that time, when I was little, there were no books on art in Turkish. I went to an American School, Robert College, where I took Creative Art and Art History as electives. When I moved to Germany with my husband, I studied at the Werkkunstschule in Frankfurt and then in Offenbach. When my husband was invited to the States, I took courses at the University of Maryland. And then we came back to Turkey. I was very lucky to experience all those political eras and times in Germany and the States.

When did you return to Turkey?

At the end of 1968. We moved to Ankara, and of course we witnessed the student movements there at that time. I had two children. After they’d grown up, I started working in 1983, at the age of 39. And then in 1994, we thought of moving back to Istanbul. And I had a feeling that this Beyoğlu area would regain its cultural identity. 
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