The exhibition ‘Sorgente’ by Bizhan Bassiri, held in Tophane-i Amire, the historic 16th-century building designed by the architect Mimar Sinan, represents a fortunate juxtaposition of a modern yet primordial art with Ottoman architecture. The geometry of the building merges with the geometric arrangement of the many sculptures lined up almost as in a military formation. Bassiri’s 120 portraits, made of stone and lava from Mt. Vesuvius, positioned on iron herms, were installed in four rows along the central aisle. In the opposite direction stands a bronze beast ready to attack. Behind the portraits is another array of herms, arranged vertically, holding sixty books handwritten by Bassiri, containing poetry in both Italian and Persian that he began writing in 1983 as a sort of diary.
The fact that the exhibition is being presented in Istanbul, after Sarajevo, is not just a coincidence: Istanbul represents a stage in the journey of the artist – an Italian with Iranian origins – as he brings his cultural message to the Middle East of his youth. Through Bassiri’s work, Italy resumes its role as a link between the cultures of the Mediterranean.

“Following an invisible design – which only art is able to draw and hold intact in the soul of the artist – Bassiri managed to build the geometric image he has identified as Sorgente within the historic monumental architecture of Tophane-i Amire, in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul. Remarkably, the highly-structured composition of forms with which Bassiri has succeeded in dominating the vast spaces of the old Ottoman cannon foundry’s three long, high aisles leaves a single, unified poetic impression, thanks also to the setting so full of memories and extraordinary architecture.
The exhibition project ‘Sorgente’ is a compendium bringing together several important episodes that mark turning points in Bassiri’s creative work. The prismatic arrangement of the exhibition, designed by the artist specifically for Tophane, sets up an interaction of four different cycles of work, created almost twenty years apart. Among these, the artist identified the most recent version of the Bestia (2004) as the ideal fulcrum. Positioned centrally near the entrance, the work becomes the driving force and catalyst of Bassiri’s great sculptural ensemble. The cycles integrated into “Sorgente’ include Erme (1996-2002), Leggii (1983), Bastoni (2004) and Bestia (2000).” (Bruno Corà)