Yapı Kredi Cultural Activities, Arts and Publishing

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Yapı Kredi is a prominent institution that has been following in the footsteps of its founder Kâzım Taşkent for years by supporting countless art and culture events. Yapı Kredi has been a natural part of cultural life in Turkey since its foundation in 1944 as the patron of a spectacular private art collection, publications, festivals, exhibitions, and film and theatre productions.

In 1992, the "Culture and Art Bank" Yapı Kredi established Yapı Kredi Cultural Activities, Arts and Publishing in an effort to restructure its whole organization. Yapı Kredi Cultural Activities, Arts and Publishing realizes all events with the aim of enriching the culture and art life of the country and to make varied forms of contemporary and high quality art available to all. Its raison d’être is to spread art and culture, to a wider audience.

Yapı Kredi Cultural Activities, Arts and Publications' accomplishments last year:
- Yapı Kredi Publications (YKY) - published 170 first editions and 500 reprints, amounting to 1 million books and 19 periodicals (11 issues of kitap-lık, 4 issues of sanat dünyamız, 4 issues of cogito, 11 issues of Doğan Kardeş);
- Yapı Kredi Cultural Center (Yapi Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Muesum, Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery, Yapı Kredi Sermet Çifter Hall) has been a home to 19 exhibitions; - Yapı Kredi Culture Center housed 120 different events on various subjects such as music, archaeology, theatre, literature, photography and history.

Yapı Kredi Publications (YKY)

Yapı Kredi Publications, which is the largest and one of the most influential publishing houses in Turkey, started its life in 1949 by publishing Doğan Kardeş books and magazines for children and youth; today it still continues to represent this well-rooted tradition.

YKY aims to offer its readers a most carefully chosen selection of the highest quality of works from Turkish and world literature.

YKY, with its variety of books and periodicals and having printed its 2957th book in August 2009, is an exceptional publishing house for all “book people”–readers, writers and translators alike.

Literature
The important classical and contemporary names of world and Turkish literature are at YKY. The complete works of: Ece Ayhan, Güven Turan, Nezihe Meriç, Tezer Özlü, İlhan Berk, Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, Behçet Necatigil, Nermi Uygur, Akşit Göktürk, Cemal Süreya, Füruzan, Gülten Akın, Sabahattin Ali, Mahir Öztaş, Nurullah Ataç, Ahmet Muhip Dıranas, Hulki Aktunç, Yusuf Atılgan, Metin Eloğlu, Cihat Burak, Sevim Burak, Nâzım Hikmet, Tomris Uyar, Turgut Uyar, Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Orhan Veli, Vüs'at O. Bener, Yahya Kemal, Şavkar Altınel, Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Edip Cansever, Abdülhak Şinasi Hisar, Lale Müldür, Oktay Rıfat, Özen Yula, Yaşar Kemal.

The milestones of world literature:
Honore de Balzac, Walter Benjamin, Thomas Bernhard, Italo Calvino, Louis Ferdinand Céline, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Hermann Hesse, Sâdık Hidâyet, James Joyce, Amin Maalouf, Alberto Manguel, Hermann Melville, Georges Perec, Marcel Proust, Alexandr Sergeyevich Puşkin, Oliver Sacks, Jerome David Salinger, Isaac Bashevis Singer, William Shakespeare...

Poetry
Poetry from distinguished poets of Turkey and the world, anthologies, and literary works about poetry are all available at YKY.

The Arts
All areas of the arts, with richly illustrated, powerfully written accounts are available at YKY.

City Monographies
İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Bursa, Trabzon, Edirne, Diyarbakır, Adana, Urfa, Konya, Balıkesir, Mersin, Mardin, Kars, Gaziantep... The stories of Turkish cities full of history are at YKY.

Cogito
"Thoughts" from the past and the present - at YKY.

Doğan Kardeş
Substantial and highly imaginative books for children and youth are at YKY.

Sait Faik Short Story Awards
One of the most prestigious literary events of Turkey has been taking place as a jointly organized event with the cooperation of YKY and the Darüşşafaka Foundation, as of 2003.

Periodicals
YKY has 5 periodicals published at different intervals and on different subjects. Each of these is an important reference point and the basis for serious intellectual debate.

sanat dünyamız
One of the most deeply rooted and highly held art publications of Turkey. A quarterly that has been in print since 1976. sanat dünyamız enables the readers to have the world of art within their reach.

kitap-lık
Published monthly, kitap-lık offers its readers an extensive coverage of the latest literary agenda.
It is living proof that a literary periodical can be widely read; its monthly sales exceeded ten thousand in 2003.

cogito
This quarterly journal of "ideas" has been in print since 1994. cogito contributes to the "thought agenda" of Turkey with its detailed analysis of a chosen subject in each issue.

Yapı Kredi Cultural Center

This is a venue where over 200 different art and culture events are held annually. Many "agenda setting" and "widely resonating" exhibitions, forums, debates and productions are held at this focal point of art and culture. The events held here cover painting, sculpture, photography, archeology and culture.

Vedat Nedim Tör Museum
A cultural icon and a great intellectual, Vedat Nedim Tör directed all the art and cultural events of Yapı Kredi up until 1977. This museum was founded in his name in 1992, and was constructed according to global standards. It houses Yapı Kredi’s collections of antique coins, medallions, embroideries, cloths, worry beads, “tombaks” (gold plated copper objects), and Karagöz shadow puppets. These are protected in specially designed storage areas, and are put on display in Turkey and around the world on a rotational basis. The antique coin collection of the museum consists of 55 thousand pieces, making it the third largest coin collection in the world. The museum's collection of the documents and personal belongings of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has a special importance due to the added sentimental value of the items. The museum holds three different exhibitions per year, so far including shows covering various eras such as the Hittite, the Troian, the Byzantine, the Seljuk and the Ottoman.

Kâzım Taşkent Art Gallery
The gallery, which has been housing events since 1964 without a break, is an important center for painting. Kâzım Taşkent Art Gallery not only houses the exhibitions of the foremost Turkish artists, but also brings the works of outstanding artists of worldwide recognition to Istanbul as well. Kâzım Taşkent Art Gallery is undeniably important to art lovers in Istanbul. It has frequent shows that cover the lives of important artists and shed light on the history of art. Some of these are Bellini, Andy Warhol, Fausta Zonaro, Bazelitz, Joseph Beuys, Otto Dix, İlhan Koman, Cemal Tollu, Ömer Uluç, Mehmet Güleryüz, Sabri Bekel, Peter Hristoff, Pınar Yılaçan, Hale Tenger and Özer Kabaş… The gallery is a favorite among the art lovers in İstanbul, it intends to exhibit the best examples of art and aims to shed some light on the lives of the artists.

Sermet Çifter Hall
Sermet Çifter Art Hall offers exhibitions of some of the world's most prominent photographers. Previous exhibitions include the works of legendary photography artists such as Ara Güler, Robert Capa and Sebastiao Salgado. A series of exhibitions titled “A Master A World” are about the lives and works of prominent literary figures such as Abidin Dino, Sabahattin Ali, The Fisherman of Halicarnassus (Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı), Sait Faik, İlhan Berk. “Nazım and Vera, from Moscow to İstanbul” exhibition in which Nazim Hikmet’s personal belongings and clothes were displayed for the first time in İstanbul is also among the unforgettable events.

Sermet Çifter Hall also brings small or large groups of art lovers together with monthly events. These events cover various themes from cinema to theater, plastic arts to graphic arts, music to literature.

Sermet Çifter Research Library

“This Month” at Yapı Kredi Culture and Art Publications

Yapı Kredi events, which began with "Tuesday Talks" in 1994 and continued with "Musical Discussions" later on, have gained a new perspective by the introduction of "This Month" in January, 2003. These monthly events, which consist of 25 separate organizations, include the Modern Art Forums, History Talks, Archeology and Photography conversations, ateliers and concerts.

Yapı Kredi Arts Festival
This festival, which set off as a Youth Festival in 1987, has since become a festival of unique quality, offering its listeners some of the most prominent soloists and groups of the world. The concept of "This Month", which was started in January, 2003, has taken this festival back to its roots by showing a program of events that is especially attractive to the young.

Music Publishing
The CD's and tapes of a wide variety of artists, ranging from the classical Turkish singer Münir Nurettin Selçuk to the popular artists of the day are all available for listeners through Yapı Kredi Cultural Center. The center aims to record the works of the important names of our music history and will increase its music publications.

Audio Book Publications
Yapı Kredi Culture Center is pioneering the newly developing concept of audio books in Turkey. The center, which started audio book publications with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, continues to develop this form of media with determination, aiming to further spread and familiarize Turkey with this form of publication.

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