Contemporary Sculpture Among a Cistern's Columns
Seçkin Pirim's Yesterday and Today answers the historic architecture of the Şerefiye Cistern with sculpture, on view in Fatih until 31 August 2026.
Yesterday and Today places sculptures by Seçkin Pirim inside the Şerefiye Cistern, with the works conceived as a reply to the building rather than as objects in a neutral room. The column grid, the ceiling height and the cistern's relationship with water set the scale and placement of the pieces, and the title states the encounter plainly: a structure inherited from the past and objects made now, sharing one volume.
Showing contemporary art in historic spaces is an easy formula with traps at both ends, since the setting either overwhelms the work or is reduced to backdrop. Pirim's reliance on geometry and repetition gives the cistern's own repeating columns something to argue with. The wider pattern matters too: restored buildings in İstanbul face the question of what to do next, and temporary exhibitions keep them in circulation while renegotiating conservation each time. The show opened on 12 June 2026 and closes on 31 August 2026.
Credits and sources
Source
- Şerefiye Sarnıcı · Exhibition page
This piece was written by 2C Magazine from the facts in the source above. No sentences were taken or translated from the source; the commentary is our own.
Image
Illustrative image · Photo: MEHMET SÜTLAŞ / Pexels — free licence
The image is not the subject’s own photograph; it was chosen from a free-licence archive to represent the topic. No image from the source publication was copied.
Copyright
Text © 2C Magazine, 2026. You may quote with attribution and a link; republishing in full requires permission.
hello@2cstd.com — notices are actioned within 48 hours.
Comments
Loading comments...