We are sorry to inform you that we have to suspend our applications due to an unexpected incident, which is about the residency building. Tab Residency will have to move to another place in the coming months. So we will not be able to accept any applications until further notice.
We will be posting open calls once the residency program is running again and we will be emailing about the updates as soon as possible..
Tasarım Bakkalı is a collective founded by many people working in various disciplines, such as visual artists, architects, musicians, software developers, psychologists etc, sharing the same values of sustainable living and creating. We believe that collective thinking and multidisciplinary study is essential for contemporary arts.
Tab Gallery has been an open art space located in the center of Yeldeğirmeni district, Kadiköy. The neighborhood which is on the Anatolian side of İstanbul, is home to a lot of artist’s studios for many years and is transforming to be the new cultural and social center. Being conscious of this transformation, Tasarım Bakkalı has been a pioneer in the arts and culture side of this change. While exhibiting the works of prominent artists from Turkish art scene, the opportunity to use the same “open space” was also given to the talented local and foreign artists.
In five years Tasarım Bakkalı hosted 44 exhibitions with 61 artists. Tab Gallery’s program was regulated on a monthly basis with exhibitions, bringing together different aspects of perception, production, application, practice and material. The gallery hosted solo or duo exhibitions seeking for the production on a multidisciplinary basis. From the third year on the exhibitions were arranged only for solo shows including those of international artists who participated in the residency program. We can no longer offer an exhibition at the end of the residency period since the gallery space has been closed in March 2020.
During the pandemic, we have all seen the need for a foundational change in the methods of creating and presenting art. Although it has been five years and Tab Gallery became one of the alternative and innovative art spaces in Istanbul, we have decided not to maintain the physical exhibition space after March 2020. We thought that this would be a good challenge for the artists and for us to find new and alternative ways to be present in the art scene.
From 2017 on, Tab Residency has been a part of the cultural exchange and hosted artists from all over the world. To sustain this connection between international artists and the local art scene and to get in touch with the vast city of İstanbul. Tab Residency will continue to provide the artists a place to work and create peacefully in the island Büyükada, upstate İstanbul.
