Hiromita Project arrives in Istanbul with the curatorial collaboration of Tilki Sanat. “Hiromita: Journey to the Heart’s Calling” will be on view at the 5th edition of ArtContact Istanbul from May 21–25, 2025.
Tilki Sanat is honored to host the Istanbul edition of the international art platform Hiromita Project as part of its curatorial programming. In collaboration with Hiromita Project, artist ANQI’s immersive installation “Hiromita: Journey to the Heart’s Calling” will meet Istanbul audiences under the curatorship of Dr. Çağatay Olgun. Inviting participants into an aesthetic experience woven with inner callings, the work proposes an encounter outside of time and prior to meaning. Initially presented at the 11th ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair in February 2025, this new edition has been redesigned for Istanbul, featuring numerous Hiromita sculptures, paintings, and participatory components.
On view at Yenikapı Eurasia Art and Performance Center between May 21–25, 2025, the installation transcends the boundaries of contemporary art to create an aesthetic space outside of linear time. At its core lies a large hand-sewn nomadic tent titled “Inner Home,” constructed by ANQI. This structure represents an intuitive and poetic space where the individual connects with their inner guide. Surrounding it is the “Sea of Intentions”—a ritual topography where visitors write their intentions onto fabric pieces and tie them to net-like structures, transforming personal desires into collective memory.
According to Dr. Çağatay Olgun, curator of the Istanbul edition, the installation invites participants to an aesthetic experience shaped by inner callings and aims to create an encounter beyond language and chronology. “This edition of Hiromita Project was specifically reimagined to respond to the historical and cultural layers of Istanbul,” said Dr. Olgun, founder of Tilki Sanat. “The chromatic memory of the city plays an active role in the installation’s spatial context, shaping the viewer’s emotional relationship with the site.”
As detailed in the catalog text by Dr. Olgun, the installation unfolds around the “Inner Home” tent. Composed of layered elements, this structure functions like a threshold guiding viewers inward. It exists not only in physical space but also within thought, slipping beneath the visible and around the intuitive. Hiromita, the central figure, does not symbolize or represent; she appears on the surface and dissolves in depth. Her distorted expressions and unfixable gaze evoke impressions rather than direction. As a presence aligned with memory and desire, Hiromita emerges like a flash of insight—what Walter Benjamin called jetztzeit—not confronting viewers, but quietly accompanying them.
As part of Tilki Sanat’s Curementor program, this edition transforms the “River of Intentions” into a “Sea of Intentions.” Viewers select fabric pieces and tie their wishes to fishing-net-inspired structures. Each new intention becomes layered with those that came before it, forming a living archive of collective longing. The Sea functions as both surface and structure—embodying not only physical memory but also emotional resonance.
The Istanbul edition of Journey to the Heart’s Calling has been fully redesigned under Dr. Olgun’s curatorship to reflect the city’s visual and cultural strata—from Byzantine and Ottoman histories to modern urban complexity. The colors used are not applied directly but are evoked through the chromatic memory of the city, operating as psycho-spatial triggers in the viewer’s perception. In this way, Hiromita exists not on a fixed stage, but within an ever-shifting urban atmosphere.
As Dr. Olgun notes, “This installation is not an exhibition—it is a question: How much can we touch the surface?”
Hiromita does not offer answers.
She teaches nothing, prescribes nothing—she simply accompanies.
She waits for you, quietly, at the threshold of your own voice.
Tilki Sanat’s Curatorial Vision: Thinking Art Through the Process of Becoming
For Tilki Sanat, this project is not simply an act of exhibition-making. It is an opportunity to construct a psycho-spatial transition space through its engagement with site, form, silence, and figure. The installation Hiromita: Journey to the Heart’s Calling brings together sculpture, painting, ritual participation, and cultural storytelling to question how distance between viewer and artwork is formed and transformed.
Hiromita’s symbolic void, her relationship with Istanbul’s chromatic memory, and the temporal color spectrums that structure the experience, all represent Tilki Sanat’s ongoing inquiry into intuitive, process-oriented curating. This collaboration is not about displaying an object, but tracing a state of becoming. It is a multi-layered proposition not only about space—but also memory, time, emotion, and imagination.
Istanbul: A Space for the Birth of Personal Mythologies
Tilki Sanat was drawn to this project not only for its artistic depth, but for Hiromita Project’s unique ability to generate site-specific narratives in each city it travels to. While the Ankara edition featured a nomadic tent rising from the Anatolian ground, the Istanbul edition reimagines the tent as a shimmering “Crystal Palace” hovering over the Bosphorus. Artist ANQI notes that she was inspired by a Turkish fairytale she read in childhood—The Crystal Palace and the Diamond Ship—where a princess sees Istanbul’s beauty for the first time through a rooftop window. In this edition, that childhood vision is transformed into an immersive collective encounter.
By weaving together Istanbul’s historical memory, its fluid geography, and its layered visual language, the installation invites viewers not only to interact with art—but to listen inward, to craft personal myths, and to become part of a shared ritual space.
Exhibition Information
- Work: Hiromita: Journey to the Heart’s Calling – Istanbul Edition
- Dates: May 21–25, 2025 (VIP Preview: May 21)
- Event: 5th ArtContact Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair
- Venue: Yenikapı Eurasia Art and Performance Center – Booth B-21
- Artist: ANQI
- Curator: Dr. Çağatay Olgun
- Curatorial Partner: Tilki Sanat
About Tilki Sanat
Tilki Sanat is an art ecosystem engaged in theoretical art education, curatorial project development, artist mentorship, and consulting. Its approach centers on art’s capacity for interdisciplinary thought, critical theory, cultural analysis, and philosophical inquiry. Tilki Sanat aims not just for visual impact, but for conceptual continuity and curatorial depth.
Contact & Further Information
Tilki Akademi | Lab | Mentör
🌐 Website: www.tilkisanat.com
📧 Email: bilgi@tilkisanat.com
📷 Instagram: @tilkisanat
📍 ArtContact Istanbul, Booth B-21
📅 Dates: May 21–25, 2025
🗺️ Venue: Yenikapı Eurasia Art and Performance Center, Istanbul
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