A selection from the art galleries of Ankara (1970-1990)

In this study, a selection was made from art galleries that continued their activities in Ankara between 1970 -1990 and the selected galleries were examined within the scope of the political, social, and cultural conditions of the period. After being declared the capital city in 1923, Ankara was planned and built to be a culture and art city of the Republic of Turkey in the middle of Anatolia, instead of Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The exhibition activities, which were carried out under the auspices of the government until the 1950s, Turkish Hearths, community centers, the teachers and artists of the Istanbul State Academy of Arts, and with the start of education of the Gazi Education Institute's Art Department in 1932, the teachers and students of this school were also influential in Ankara's art life. During the Democratic Party, which came to power in 1950, economic policies were prioritized over the culture and art policies of the Early Republican Period, and the first private gallery and foreign cultural center exhibitions started as of this date. The discourses of equality and freedom reflected on the art scene in the 1960s and 1970s, which passed with revolutions and political conflicts. Art galleries of Ankara in 1970s, whose number has increased gradually, have been places to internalize art and acquire the culture of owning artworks. The military coup of September 12, 1980 interrupted the democratic process. In this period, people equipped with popular culture started to see art as a class image object and showed great interest in art spaces. Hereby, the high demand for art in the 1980s caused an increase in the number of galleries in Ankara. This situation lasted for a short time due to the economic crises experienced towards the end of the 1980s.