Melisa Sabancı Tapan

Founder
 

Under my leadership, Gate 27 has grown into an experimental space that serves as a platform where people can meet, think and produce together. Gate 27 hosts artists from multiple disciplines with the aim of cultivating dialogue, creative thinking, self-examination, and interdisciplinary collaborations. I have sought to enable projects that focus on sustainability and economic development in both dialogue and practice, such as re-establishing the relevance of crafts in today’s world. We invite creatives from different disciplines and cultures to pursue work under themes including ecology, sustainability, and accessibility with local creative networks in Istanbul and Balıkesir, Turkey. Gate 27’s advisory board members are among the most prominent art professionals and artists in the country.

In furtherance of my belief that collaboration is vital to create change, Gate 27 actively seeks institutional collaborations; in one recent success, Gate 27 hosted artists suggested by the Marina Abramovic Institution. A collaboration with Sabanci University starting in 2023 will see Gate 27 periodically host emerging artists graduating from the university’s arts programs. Additionally, the residency has hosted its first “Exploratory Talks” in collaboration with the Istanbul Biennial and the Istanbul Policy Center with the aim of bringing practitioners together with theorists using art as a mediator.

Additionally, the residency has hosted its first “Exploratory Talks” in collaboration with the Istanbul Biennial and the Istanbul Policy Center with the aim of bringing practitioners together with theorists using art as a mediator.

For detailed information, please visit www.melisatapan.com.

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Melisa Tapan comes from a philanthropic family that has founded pioneering cultural, art and educational institutions in Turkey and continues to support progress in these fields. Thanks to the love of culture and arts imbued in her family by her grandfather Sakıp Sabancı, she became acquainted with the art world at an early age and developed herself in the field.

Melisa has worked in several fields pursuing diverse projects ranging from financial inclusion to sustainable industry. Focusing her knowledge and experience around projects and initiatives targeting social impact, Melisa established Gate 27 in 2019 fall in order to support sustainability in the field of art.

Melisa prioritizes social responsibility projects centering on sustainability and supports the foundations Sabancı Vakfı and SosyalBen Vakfı that work towards this specific goal, and in this framework acts as advisor in social responsibility projects of a number of different civil society organizations. 

In line with the vision of Sabancı Vakfı, Sabancı University and Sakıp Sabancı Museum, and in order to develop her family’s heritage in the social, educational and cultural fields, Melisa concentrates on social entrepreneurship in both her professional and personal work.

Melisa completed her BA in International Relations and Psychology at Richmond University in London, UK, before completing her graduate studies at Columbia University in New York in Economic and Political Development. Melisa is also an active member of the Guggenheim Museum (New York); the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Whitney Museum of American Art.