Cansu Çakar: Kiracı (Tenant) at .artSümer, Istanbul — 7 Nov–12 Dec 2026
.artSümer presents “Kiracı” (Tenant), the second solo exhibition at the gallery of the Istanbul-born, İzmir-based artist Cansu Çakar (b. 1988), following “Hat ve Hata” in 2023. Çakar, who trained in traditional Turkish arts, reworks the visual language of Ottoman and Persian book arts — illumination and miniature painting — to question the tradition’s conservatism and its male-dominated subjects. In “Kiracı”, mainly watercolours on paper with some sculptural and installation elements, she considers belonging, ownership and memory: the spaces people claim temporarily in order to live, work and remember. Humans, animals, landscape and history intertwine on her surfaces in cross-referencing visual stories. The title work recalls her first studio, a small former tea house in İzmir’s Büyük Kardıçalı Han, where she settled months of rent by giving the landlord a print of one of her paintings; 1+1 places a figure holding a box on the shore at Zeugma, the ancient city now beneath the Euphrates, and Avrat Taşı explores gendered histories tied to a fifth-century stone in Constantinople.
| Exhibition | Cansu Çakar: Kiracı (Tenant) |
|---|---|
| Artist(s) | Cansu Çakar (b. 1988, Istanbul; lives and works in İzmir; BA Traditional Turkish Arts, Dokuz Eylül University) |
| Gallery | .artSümer, Istanbul |
| Exhibition type | Solo exhibition — watercolour on paper, with sculptural and installation elements |
| Dates | 7 November – 12 December 2026 (now open). Opening: 7 November 2026 (time not stated) |
| Address | İstiklal Mah., Piyalepaşa Bulvarı, Baruthane Deresi Sk. No:32/A, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey (per Oggusto, November 2026; older guides list a Karaköy address — check with the gallery) |
| Opening hours | Tuesday–Saturday 11:00–18:30; closed Sunday and Monday (per Oggusto — check with the gallery) |
| Phone | +90 212 249 10 35 (from an older listing — check with the gallery) |
| [email protected] (from an older listing — check with the gallery) | |
| Gallery website | artsumer.com |
| Official exhibition page | Not available online at the time of writing; the exhibition is reported by Kitaptan Sanattan, kultur.istanbul and Oggusto — check the gallery website for updates |
| Artist page | cakarcansu.com · Cansu Çakar at .artSümer |
| Social media | Artist: Artsy. Other handles not verified from official websites — check with the gallery |
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Read the Art Fair analysis
Our in-depth article on this exhibition explains how Çakar turns the miniature tradition into a story about rent, home and who gets to belong. For more openings in Istanbul, Ankara, London, Paris, Spain, Dubai and the United States, see Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.
Cover image: Cansu Çakar, work on paper (detail), 2025. © Cansu Çakar. Courtesy .artSümer. Please confirm details with the gallery before visiting.