On 5-7 September 2018 Riga will welcome „The Days of Turkish Culture in Europe”
The program includes:
Art Exhibition of Turkish Calligraphy Masters “Mevlevi Art”
The exhibition will showcase the works by such renowned Turkish calligraphers as Seyit Ahmet Depeler, Fatih Özkafa, Nurullah Özdem, and inimitable Abdurrahman Depeler.
Venue: Riga Congress Hall, 5 September – 1 October ‘18.
The press-conference with the calligraphy masters is held on the opening day of the exhibition, 5 September’18.
Works by the mentioned calligraphy masters have been on display in different countries. In 2014 the selection of 41 unique pieces of calligraphy was presented at the exhibition “AŞK-I NEBI” in the Centre of Turkish Culture in New York, opened by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey, and other Turkish officials.
The displayed pieces of calligraphy are bits of the finest art, faultless and elegance of lines, magnificent ability of calligraphic pen and hand writing, and amazing colour schemes. Some of them feature the mix of artistic styles, where the used techniques (calligraphy, ebru, illumination, miniature) supplement and accentuate each other. It is worth to note that every artist masters a unique painting technique, transmitted through generations from a master to his disciples, who could keep their manner and style unchanged for centuries.
The art of calligraphy traces back to ancient culture of the East. Its fundamental imagery tool is Arabic handwriting. Calligraphy assumed great importance in the East, as there is a prohibition on images of any living thing. So artists convey their ideas to spectators by means of ornaments and calligraphy. And it is in the Ottoman Empire where calligraphy reached the zenith of its aesthetic power.
Master-classes of calligraphy:
September 5, 2018 at 18:30
Gold-powder embossed calligraphy TAZHEEB
Led by: Fatih Özkafa
Venue: “AUSTRUMU KULTŪRAS CENTRS”, Priedaines 46.
September 6, 2018 at 18:30
Master-class of calligraphy
Led by: Nurullah Özdem
Venue: “AUSTRUMU KULTŪRAS CENTRS”, Priedaines 46.
Lectures “Cultural heritage and history of Mevlevi”:
September 6, 2018 at 16:00
Lecture “The art of Mevlevi”
Lecturer: Fatih Özkafa
Venue: Latvian Academy of Culture, Ludzas 24.
Free entrance
September 7, 2018 at 15:00
Lecture “Mevlevi cultural heritage and dergahs in the world”
Lecturer: Ensar Karagöz
Venue: University of Latvia, Faculty of theology, Raiņa bulvāris 19, room 161
Free entrance
Concert “Mevlevi Music and Traditions of the Ottoman Empire”:
The Days of Turkish Culture would be impossible to imagine without traditional music. The concert of Mevlevi music and traditions of the Ottoman Empire is a rounding off accord in the program. Since ancient times, artists and musicians, craftsmen and merchants have been living and working elbow to elbow. Rhythmic beating of tools entwined with tender sounds of musical instruments, and under that accompaniment, in noisy streets and squares of towns, masterpieces of architecture, calligraphy and painting were emerging. Thus it is so natural to watch a paint brush or a qalam driving over the paper to the sounds of music, drawing patterns, silhouettes, letters, which seem to be manifestation of these sounds, born upon touch of brush or a qalam on the surface. Thus it is so natural to imagine all the images and symbols turning into sounds and merging in the dance.
Musicians:
- Ensar Karagöz – kudüm,
- Harun Korkmaz – vocal,
- Nurullah Özdem – vocal,
- Ahmet Cavit Altinkaynak– ney,
- Yusuf Ihsan Tokel – tanbur.
Concert venue: “AUSTRUMU KULTŪRAS CENTRS”, Priedaines 46.
Special thanks to “Turkish Airlines Inc.” for their support of the Event.
The event is organized by the society “AUSTRUMU KULTŪRAS CENTRS”.
