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2.12 Culture, Art and Sports Activities
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and South Korea and also in recognition of the declaration of 2017 as a bilateral cultural year between the two countries, an exhibition of a selection of works from the CBRT Art collection was held in Seoul. Entitled “Invisible Language”, the exhibition was organized in coordination with the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The exhibition, held at the Bank of Korea Money Museum, was opened on 10 July 2017 in the presence of CBRT Deputy Governor Murat Uysal, Turkish Ambassador to Korea Arslan Hakan Okçal, and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol. Consisting of 30 works by 22 artists, “Invisible Language” presented viewers with an unconventional arrangement of exquisite examples not only of Turkish pictorial art but also of the Turkish traditional arts of calligraphy, marbling, and miniatures. On display from 11 July to 3 September 2017, “Invisible Language” conceptually drew attention to the power of art as a universal language while also offering a unique look at the process of the contemporization of the Turkish painting and traditional arts.
“Economy and the Human Being” an international photography contest, was held for the first time by the CBRT in 2017. The contest, which was conducted by the Photographic Art Society with the support of the International Federation of Photographic Art and Photographic Arts Federation of Turkey, attracted 4,781 photographs by 1,362 artists, 296 of whom were photographers from 30 different countries. Completing its judging of the entries on 12 September 2017, the jury selected 10 photographs to be awarded prizes and 100 for exhibition. These works were put on display at the CerModern Arts Center in Ankara on 8-21 November 2017.
A prestige book about the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s historically and architecturally important embassy and consulate buildings in other countries as well as about the international exhibitions of selected works from the CBRT Art Collection that were mounted in coordination with the Foreign Ministry was readied for publication. The book, one objective of which is to contribute to the promotion and preservation of Turkey’s cultural heritage, contains explanatory texts in Turkish, English, and French.
The CBRT engages in cultural, artistic, and social activities in order to promote its corporate identity on national and international platforms and also to protect Turkey’s cultural heritage and ensure that it is passed on to future generations. In this context, the Bank contributed to a project that involved the production of “Our Great Musical Heritage: 100 Immortal Works in Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Üsküdar Musiki Cemiyeti (Üsküdar Music Society), Turkey’s First School of Music”, an album of Turkish classical music that was also accompanied by a prestige book.
In the context of sporting activities, the CBRT competed in the fields of athletics, basketball, football, table tennis, and tennis in the 2017 EuroBank Sports Festival that took place in La Baule in France on 24-28 May 2017. Hosted by Banque de France, the festival welcomed 2,500 people representing the central banks of 30 European countries taking part in competition in 19 branches.
The 2017 round of the Balkan Countries Central Bank Sports Tournament, an international sports meet that has been held in a Balkan country every year since 2005, was hosted by the CBRT on 12-15 October 2017 in Antalya. During the four-day tournament, which was characterized by expressions of solidarity and sportsmanship, 370 athletes representing central bank teams from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey competed in football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, swimming, chess, and trekking.
The CBRT took part in the CBL 2016-2017 Ankara Interinstitutional Basketball League matches of men’s basketball teams representing Ankara-based companies and agencies. Last year, CBRT teams also took part in the Ankara Institutional Table Tennis Tournament organized by the Ankara representative of the Turkish Table Tennis Federation (18-19 March 2017) as well as in the Federation’s 15th Interinstitutional Table Tennis Championship in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (5-7 May 2017). A CBRT team was also fielded in the Interinstitutional Table Tennis League matches conducted by the Ankara Institutional Table Tennis Organizational Committee last year.
