SAHA—Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey
SAHA—Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey has been a Supporter of CIMAM since 2022. It is an honor to count on institutions such as SAHA, a dynamic organization dedicated to supporting artists and the production of knowledge and projects of contemporary art from Türkiye, in our global network of curators, and museum directors. CIMAM and SAHA have successfully collaborated in the past through the Travel Grant Program. Today we are grateful to them for becoming not only Supporters of CIMAM but also for having renewed their contribution to the Travel Grant Program enabling Turkish contemporary art professionals to attend the CIMAM Annual Conference.
July 2022
What is your activity's nature, and through what actions and projects are you linked to the world of culture and art?
SAHA aims to develop a dialogue with art organizations and networks around the world and to expand the learning and production possibilities for artists, curators, and writers working in the field of visual arts. Working with art organizations to realize artwork and publication projects of artists and curators, SAHA supports international non-profit art programming. While endorsing art organizations and professionals from abroad to conduct research in Türkiye, SAHA enables artists and curators from Türkiye to participate in residency and research programs abroad through the international partnerships it establishes. In order to maintain the sustainability of independent art production SAHA supports contemporary art biennials, independent art initiatives, and support programs geared towards artists and art writers.
What are your company's values, mission, and vision, and at what level does modern and contemporary art intervene as a channel or platform to communicate your value proposition?
SAHA Association was founded to support artists, curators, and writers working in visual arts from Türkiye in improving their production and development environments, and enhancing their interactions with international art institutions and networks. Founded in 2011 by nine founding members, SAHA believes in the importance of collective effort to create an independent “field” [saha] that helps integrate art from Türkiye into the universal artistic ecosystem. SAHA is a not-for-profit organization that offers its support to visual arts through a participatory and democratic approach to governance and fundraising with its members, institutional supporters, project partners, and consultants.
What is your mission to support the contemporary art sector, and what results would you like to see your contribution achieve in the future?
Over the course of the last 12 years SAHA has collaborated with art institutions from 46 countries and facilitated the achievement of the projects of over 650 artists, curators, and art writers. In 2023 alone, SAHA has provided support to 80 artists, curators, and writers within the scope of 32 international projects and 10 institutional partnerships. SAHA revisits and constantly widens its scope to conceive new projects and develop new opportunities to meet the needs of the art ecosystem. SAHA Studio, established in Istanbul to achieve this goal in 2019, helps artists, writers, and curators from many different locations to carry out their research, produce works, and make new contacts. SAHA’s activity programs emphasizing the importance of learning, are enriched by international study trips, museum and exhibition tours guided by curators, meetings with artists and collectors, as well as publications, conversations, and discussions on the contemporary issues in the art ecosystem.
Which of CIMAM ́s projects are most suited to developing your action plan to support the sector of museums and collections of modern and contemporary art?
CIMAM’s mission and growing network, as well as programs and projects such as the Annual Conference and the Museum Watch programs, are indispensable for SAHA’s mission of advocating universal values, including, democracy, transparency, and sustainability.