Naturally, the leading museums of Turkey, that come to mind when we say culture, arts and children, are striving to fill both their digital as well as their actual agendas in this respect. The related efforts of Istanbul Modern, Arter and Sabancı Museum are as follows:
Online Modern and Contemporary Arts Program, for the 4-12-year-old age group on the weekends organized within the scope of online education programs of Istanbul Modern, started on September 26. The event to last until January 17, 2021, will explore examples from the history of art through works included in the collection of Istanbul Modern and cover art movements, techniques, production types, and works from contemporary art. The program consists of eight workshops in total inspired by issues tackled in artistic productions and different approaches to contemporary art.
With workshops titled What is Contemporary Art?, Describe Yourself as an Artist, Story of Figure, Transformation of a Landscape, Lyric or Geometric? , Inspiring Cubism, Art with Ready Objects, and Art with Codes, the program takes children on a short journey in the history of modern and contemporary art. The participating children can choose one or more of these workshop titles and register. “Online Modern and Contemporary Art Participation Certificate” will be awarded to children participating in all workshops in the program. The workshops are held between 11:00-12:00 on Saturdays for children aged 4-7 and between 11:00-12:00 on Sundays for children aged 8-12.
For information: +90212 334 73 41, +90212 334 73 26 and egitim@istanbulmodern.org
Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum will be hosting online learning programs for the children aged 7-12 as of October. At the workshops to be held on weekends between 12:00-13:00, informative themes in a wide range of topics from Renaissance to conceptual art will be tackled. Children may enjoy pleasant hours while learning about the history of art at the same time.
At the workshop titled The Art of Renaissance, children will find out about the Renaissance era, when art turned its face to humans and nature and was liberated, and at the same time examine the techniques of prominent names of the period such as Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
At the impressionism workshop, children will observe the transformation of nature in time via objects and plants they see outdoors and just like Impressionist painters, they will get the chance to practice art by focusing on light and colors. The workshop will introduce artists such as Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, İbrahim Çallı, and Hüseyin Avni Lifij and go over their techniques.
At the workshop where children will learn about the Expressionism movement at the beginning of the 20th century when artists reflected their emotions related to industrial and technological developments to their canvases, they will get to learn about artists such as Edvard Munch and Gustav Klimt and find out about their techniques.
In the Cubism workshop, where children will be taught how to discover the geometric structures of the components of the objects around them, the representatives of Cubism such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne will be introduced together with their techniques.
The Surrealism workshop will teach children how to look at the world from within a dream by developing a view that extends beyond what they actually see and know and the laws of physics and they will apply this view to their artistic works while examining artists like Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró.
The children will scrutinize the physical characteristics of spaces (outdoor, indoor, light, dark, large, small, etc.) where artists can exhibit their art and include space, which will be deemed as a part of the work of art, in their own set up at the Conceptual Art / Art of Installation workshop.
The works of artists such as Ai Weiwei, Joseph Beuys, and Anish Kapoor will be examined in the light of such information. The SSM Education Program also includes a Puppet Making workshop, using readily available materials and Think This Way Too workshop, aiming to develop design-driven thinkings skills. The workshops to be carried out via Zoom application can be purchased on the website of Sakıp Sabancı Museum.
On the other hand, Arter, of Vehbi Koç Museum, which moved to its new location in Dolapdere, Istanbul, will organize workshops at 11:00 on Saturdays that will start on October 3 and continue till December 5. These free events are organized online for all children between the ages of 6 and 9. The workshop series is inspired by the works included in the exhibition titled For Eyes That Listen. Children will discover the effects of light and shadow via daily objects, experiment with creating shadows on paper and also, interpret the concepts of shape, distance and void through their drawings. Materials such as two different sized glasses and two toys, a torch, crayons, drawing paper and pencils will be submitted to the arms of creativity, preferably in soft light. The enthusiastic children can pre-register for the 1-hour workshops, which can be attended via Zoom, by simply sending an e-mail to ogrenme@arter.org.tr.
For information: https://www.arter.org.tr/golgelerin_gucu_adina
Again, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum stands out with its online workshops organized in two different categories. Only 4-6 and 7-12 age categories are still available at the institution, which filled its quota for the ongoing poster workshop due to high interest. Within the scope of ‘Pattern by Pattern Print Workshop’ children will transform their observations about nature and life into works of art and the event is supported by an interactive museum trip via Zoom Meeting application.
‘Tempera’ art production technique workshop titled ‘From Nature to Art’ prepared for the 7-12 age group by the museum delivers video of the workshop and required materials in a package to the home addresses of young children. The workshop enables the preparation of tempera paint by powder pigments and eggs, as used in the miniatures of the past. Shapes and patterns are drawn via tempera paint on hand-made, recycled papers. Another workshop for the same age group is the ‘Experiment with Colors’ Watercolor Workshop offering the chance to run a workshop at home via a video. Inspired by the Miniature 2.0 exhibition at the museum, children will carry out small experiments by mixing watercolors and various other materials such as salt and acetone. They will create abstract patterns and shape color clusters thanks to this experience. While learning experimental painting via watercolor techniques, they also discover surprise shapes and patterns formed by colors on paper.
For detailed information: ogrenme@peramuzesi.org.tr
Children’s Voices From İksvalt Kat
Finally, if we look at the children’s events organized by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, we see that İKSV Alt Kat, established in March 2019 and which hosted over 2800 children and teens with over 250 free events in its first year, has extended its events till the end of 2020 via digital media due to the pandemic conditions.
Publishing 4 children’s book animations, 9 Instagram lives and 4 Youtube contents since March on digital platforms, İKSV Alt Kat’s online workshop and event calendar continue to bring together children and their families with different contents and art events in the fall months. The events lasting till November 12, under the coordination of expert names in contemporary art, film, design, literature, dance, and theater, can be watched via İKSV’s Youtube channel and İKSV Alt Kat Instagram account for free and permanently.
Birlikte Güçlü Sesler Chorus, established in February 2020 by İKSV Alt Kat with the cooperation of Istanbul Music Festival and Istanbul Development Agency (İSTKA), and UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), bringing together immigrant and Turkish children, continued its works throughout the pandemic online.
The digital concert performance of the Chorus, which rehearsed outdoors in September by keeping social distance, was broadcasted on İKSV Youtube channel as a pre-event for the BİFO Special: “From Baroque to Classic” concert within the scope of Istanbul Music Festival on October 2, Friday. Multidisciplinary online art workshop series, bringing together immigrant and Turkish kids together, again with the support of UNHCR, will be held by İKSV Alt Kat in October-December 2020.
İKSV Alt Kat and Pera Museum Learning Programs will organize various colorful online workshops for school groups and participants between the ages 7-12 from October 20 to November 14, 2020 parallel to the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial. The 5th Istanbul Design Biennial titled Empathy Revisited will focus on themes such as children’s workshops, creatures and life, food culture, ecology, and climate change.
For information: