Turkish artist Hayri Karay wins İGA ART Art Project Contest

Ports, whether water or air, are liminal epicentres of cultural exchange that transcend borders. Built on this foundation, IGA Istanbul Airport conceptualised a cultural intersection as one of the largest transportation hubs. This initiative dubbed the İGA ART Art Project Contest, has transformed into one of the most significant awards for arts and culture in Turkey. İGA Istanbul Airport’s manifesto is to embody the airport’s spatial, temporal, social, and cultural variables through art. In other words, to unite artists from across the globe, bridging Anatolia’s cultural memory and Istanbul’s global identity to compass multiculturalism and creative endeavours. It aims to integrate the architectural characteristics of Istanbul Airport, Turkey’s geography, and culture into the universal values system, focusing on ecological sustainability. To this end, the İGA Istanbul Airport held an open call to choose an artwork within a diverse array of mediums, and the winner was to display their artwork at the designated airport places.

The accolade was recently awarded to Turkish artist Hayri Karay (b.1952) from Balıkesir, who was presented the award at a ceremony held at İGA Istanbul Airport. Karay’s winning work uses light and shadow techniques to create a visual dance that illustrates the ethnography and diversity of Anatolian culture in his semi-abstract work. The artwork highlights harmony, balance, disparity, and movement of opposing geometric and organic shapes. By the end of 2024, the painting will be finished and on view at the İGA Istanbul Airport. Karay was selected from over 170 project submissions from across the world that were submitted to the İGA ART Art Project Contest, organised in two phases. The first phase was held in January 2023, when the top 10 finalists were announced. The second phase of the contest, which included jury evaluation of the scale models by the ten finalists, in which Karay’s work was voted to win the grand prize of 2 million Turkish Lira.

Acting CEO of İGA Istanbul Airport, Selahattin Bilgen, in his speech at the award ceremony, said, “We believe that it is significant to bring our society and artists together at a common point at İGA Istanbul Airport, where we welcome more than two hundred thousand passengers every day. Artists represent the future of a nation, even the future of all humanity. İGA ART is an exemplary global platform, embracing artists from all walks of life, regardless of religion, language, race, or age, and providing the ‘free space’ that art and artists need the most, enabling them to make their voices heard worldwide. Thus, İGA Istanbul Airport deserves to be counted as the biggest public art space within the borders of our country. I wholeheartedly congratulate Hayri Karay, the Winner of this year’s İGA ART Art Project Contest. At İGA Istanbul Airport, we will continue to contribute to promoting our country by bringing our passengers together with the healing and peaceful power of art.”

Karay completed his studies in sculpture from 1970-1975 at the State Academy of Fine Arts. He worked as an assistant professor at the same academy and instructor-lecturer at sculpture workshops between 1976 and 1984. He received his doctorate (‘Proficiency in Art’) in higher education. Karay is also the author of a research book, Geometry in Sculpture, and has won awards at various competitions, including the 1973-74-75 Ahmet Andiçen Sculpture Competition, the 1974 Hadi Bara Sculpture Competition, the 1975-76 Istanbul Festival Archeology Museum Painting-Sculpture Competition, the 1976 Yarımca Art Festival Sculpture Competition, the 1977 Istanbul Art Festival New Trends Exhibition, and the 1987 Contemporary Artists Sculpture Exhibition. Karay’s artworks have been exhibited at national and international art events and are also a part of various museums and private collections.

İGA ART’s Executive Board Member Prof. Gülveli Kaya, congratulating Karay, said, “İGA ART brings together the values and artists of our country with the world, with the mission of being the cultural cradle of Anatolia. As Mevlânâ said, “Either appear as you are or be as you appear.” İGA ART is an organisation both as it is and appears to be. While it is possible to collaborate with world-famous artists in the international arena, it is essential to open the way for artists in our own country with our resources. In this regard, we are delighted to meet here again with the unifying power of art.”

Karay, the honorary prize winner, commented, “I would like to thank İGA ART for their contribution to art. It is a great honour to have created this artwork on the 100th anniversary of our Republic. I want to dedicate my work to our Republic’s 100th anniversary.”