Abstract:

Use of textile production techniques, developed by the humanity for sheltering and protection from the external factors, has been preserved for centuries. Produced with traditional or industrial methods, the textile products has become a vital part of our daily lives. While some of the examples are conferred to have been produced with unique colors, motives and style through handicrafts traditions in context of textile, there are also certain examples which are not categorized under traditional products, yet being produced by means of benefiting from technological opportunities without concerning for the material functionality in time, while also transforming into a piece of art with visual and conceptual values in them. As a branch of plastic arts, it can be seen that the textile art is used as a crucial tool for conceptual expression given the sensorial effect of textile on people. Art management is a process starting from the production of an artwork until it meets to the audience, comprising of a number of actions including the planning of economic aspects, finding a sponsor, arranging the exhibition space, preparing the invitations and catalogues, introducing the exhibition on press, exhibiting the artworks and carrying out the required procedures for selling the same. Curator is the person who directs all this process in plastic arts. Purchasing and selling a textile product as an artwork turns it into a commercial product. Considering all these aspects into consideration, a bind is established between the textile artist and the curator. In this study, it is aimed at analyzing the relation between the textile artist and the curator under today’s conditions as specific to Turkey. While analyzing the terms art management and curatorship in today’s textile art as specific to Turkey within the scope of the study, various observations have been made through the verbal interviews with the acknowledged expert textile artists, academicians and curators. While examining deeply the relation between the textile artist and the curator from the perspective of a curator, Mehmet Emin Kahraman, who is an academician on art management, and curatorship, the views of Beral Madra, who is one of the leading curators in Turkey, have been included in the study, thus quoting her various achievements. Moreover, the relation with the curator has been examined within the perspective of a textile artist in today’s art environment through the verbal interviews held with textile artists producing pieces of art in their expertise areas.

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