Collecting works of art in a conscious and systematic manner dates as far back as the Hellenistic era… Having undergone various changes and transformations throughout the different stages of both the history of civilization and art, collecting inherently brings to mind a number of different concepts, passion, the urge to possess, prestige, aesthetic concern, and ideology. In the history of collecting, all these concepts compete against one another to forge ahead…

The Huma Kabakci Collection, which Nahit Kabakci began to put together as of the 1980s, can be considered as one of the most important examples of the limited number of consciously created and well-sustained collections in Turkey. While based on certain logic, development, and subjectivity of the Huma Kabakci Collection, the exhibition co-curated by Huma Kabakci and Esra Aliçavuşoğlu also aimed to illustrate the collection’s periodically renewed and expanded structure through a certain art historical objectivity. Preserved and upheld by two consecutive generations, the collection’s affiliated and divergent points were brought to fore and the exhibition was shaped in this thematic manner. Apart from highlighting the contributions two different generations made to the collection, this particular selection also sought to underline the inner consistence and transformation of its entirety.

Photo Credit: Copyrights to Pera Museum