torna

Between 2011-2018 torna was based in Kadıköy, İstanbul. The space consisted of 3 neighbouring rooms inside an arcade. It has been the home of an artists’ bookshop and contemporary art project space. The archive from the exhibitions held during this time can be found HERE.

The new torna space will be open again in summer 2023 in a small village in İznik, Turkey.

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Inside a dark arcade. Sounds of men who are in the coffeehouse next door. Men spend all day everyday playing backgammon, smoking cheap cigarettes, drinking tea and watching football games and horse races. When excited, they shout, stand up, throw their cigarettes before them and stand still looking at the screen. The stray cats seem to have adopted the whole building as their home they never know how to look after. The caretaker walks slowly with bags in his hands, he either lies all the time or wants to or has too many things to say at once. 'We try to stay alive' he says when asked how he is. There is a constantly blinking sign of the electrician's, hung outside the entrance. The tea boy has a new tattoo he needs to put cream on every other hour. The winding stairs stop just by the entrance where a man is sat everyday at 4pm putting powder on his toes.