'And Now the Good News': Exhibition explores 150 years of dialogue between press and arts

Victor Dubrovin, "Perestroika", 1991, collage on canvas. (Photos: Ayşegül Özbek/bianet, Pera Museum)

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Drawn from Anette and Peter Nobel's Press Art collection, a new exhibition titled "And Now the Good News" opened today (April 13) in İstanbul's Pera Museum.

This is an exhibition that could attract the interest of not only art lovers and artists but also journalists.

Nearly 300 pieces of work by 164 artists including Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Andreas Gursky, Jenny Holzer, and Bedri Baykam can be found in the exhibition that will be open until August 7.

The exhibition focuses on the dialogue between arts and the mass communications tools after the emergence of regular journalism in the late 18th century and the publishing of illustrated magazines in the 19th century.

Dennis Hopper, "Harlem (Daily News)", 1962, silver gelatin print on paper

The collection, in a way, zooms in on the press and art history of the 20th century, tracing the interaction between the press and art.

Starting from printed newspapers, the exhibition focuses on the relationship between text and the news, how the discovery of photography shaped society and the powerful influence of totalitarian systems on mass communication.

Bedri Baykam and his works

In an era called "post-truth," the media is also transforming. It is also possible to follow this great change in the exhibition.

The exhibition is curated by Christoph Oswald.

Eric Bachmann "Zurich Train Station Bahnhofplatz", 1966, lambda print on paper

Hans (Jean) "Harp Dada", 1919, engraved plate on newsprint

The exhibition turns "cheap and daily renewed" consumer objects into expensive and individual pieces, Doswald said in a press release.

The exhibition, which includes the most crucial matters in science, culture and politics in the last 150 years in the history of the media, also gives important clues about the great changes that have taken place in the last 20 years and the effects of these changes on media arts.

*Günther Uecker, "The silence of Writing", 1994, newsprint and nail

Attending a press conference for the exhibition yesterday (April 12), Peter Nobel, who is also a lawyer of press and human rights, said the collection they had started "coincidentally" includes the works of very important artists.

"Firstly, technical fascination, then the intellectual scope and finally, the change, played a role in our decision to collect Press Art," he said.

"It is astonishing how many artists have temporarily, incidentally or repeatedly used newspapers as a basis for their works, even painted from newspapers or even designed them themselves. This is a conscious act and can be seen as a call to deal aesthetically with everyday phenomena. Art becomes a symbolic living world."

Collection advisor Hanspeter Portmann said the exhibition comprises a pretty encyclopedic collection and reflects various artistic movements from the Russian avant garde to the new realism and futurism.

Saša Tkačenko, "It's Not Right But It's Okay", 2021, inkjet printing on paper, glass, aluminum

Lorraine Hellwig, "Fake News", 2018, digital on paper, acrylic

*Pera Museum can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. All visitors can visit the museum free of charge on Fridays between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. as part of "Long Friday," and students can visit the museum for free on Wednesdays as part of "Young Wednesday."

(AÖ/VK)