Despite its intellectual heritage, Siyah Beyaz was founded with an amateur spirit. Today, it’s a “public place” which is visited by tour busses filled with people, because the Sade family accepted everyone who touched their lives into their extended family.
There is probably no one that hasn’t heard of Siyah Beyaz Ankara. Renown for one or many of its various contrasting identities; it’s the oldest bar in Ankara, the earliest contemporary art gallery still operating in Turkey, and is the first cultural establishment to found an artist residence program and to expedite artists to France. It’s a place where two generations of the same family dance to the same music. Its walls constitute a cultural heritage with 1,086 blackand-white pictures along with the mesmerizing, illuminated photographs of those no longer with us; as Nevzat Sayın describes it, “a living installation.”
For some it’s the place they spent their youth in, while for others it’s the hang-out of their children . There was a time it was known as the “prostate bar”, on the contrary sometimes you see young people in a long line outside the door. It’s both conservative enough to use the same “thonet” chairs for 37 years and adaptive enough to effortlessly keep up with the times. After graduating college, Faruk Sade travels to Paris where he shapes the idea of opening an art space during the artistic discussions he had with Mübin Orhon, Mehmet Nazım, Münevver Andaç, Sinan Bıçakçıoğlu, Komet, Hakkı Anlı, Mehmet İleri, and Utku Varlık. In 1984, he returns to Ankara to open Siyah Beyaz in a building which belonged to his family in Kavaklıdere. Friends help out in the beginning - some paint the walls and some hang the frames, creating a new living space for themselves. This is the birth story of Siyah Beyaz, an oasis for the intelligentsia of the time, a club where they discussed art, philosophy, and politics. Despite its intellectual heritage, Siyah Beyaz was founded with an amateur spirit. Today, it’s a “public place” which is visited by tour busses filled with people, because the Sade family accepted everyone who touched their lives into their extended family. Otherwise, it would be hard to understand how they would have the same employees since its opening 37 years ago. The moment you step through that magical door, you become a part of the Sade family and Siyah Beyaz becomes your home. Sera Sade, the new representative of the tradition, has been managing Siyah Beyaz since 2010. Although her mother, Fulya Sade, is the hero behind the curtains, Sera Sade continues to build upon her family heritage.
Considering that establishments are closing one by one and achieving stability has become quite challenging in current conditions, we’d like to know the secret behind the success of Siyah Beyaz which has been an iconic family business in the same place with the same management for 37 years.
Longevity in general is a rare gem in Turkey. This is a place where venues just disappear without getting the chance of a proper ‘closing’. Think about it. When you’re in France, for instance, you can drink coffee at a century-old café or visit a 200-year-old gallery in England. I won’t even mention the specific circumstances we are in right now.. I wonder how many more venues will disappear without getting a chance of ‘closure’. Siyah Beyaz is in the same spot, on the first and second floors of the Sade building, for 37 years. The biggest reason, I believe, is just my father’s Albanian genes of stubbornness. I think he built himself a castle here and stood up against everything. Unfortunately, people like us who are trying to keep a business alive in this country are doing it “in spite of things.” Siyah Beyaz was founded in a very tumultuous period in Turkey; we’re talking about a capital after a military coup. However, it served as a safe haven, supported young artists, and was supported by its community. I think what we can describe as success are the friendships this place has built. And the secret is Faruk and Fulya.
To quote your mother, your father, Faruk Sade, opened a place which served as a bar and a gallery in a time when “people thought of gentlemens’ clubs when they heard bars, and of car dealers when they heard galleries.” Are there any examples of this exclusive blend? Did the bar, which your father opened to sponsor the gallery, achieve its goal?
My father came to the idea of opening a bar in his talks with Münevver Andaç and the artists he lived with in Paris. Think about it - Mübin Orhon, Mehmet Nazım, Sinan Bıçakçıoğlu, Komet, and Münevver Andaç living under the same roof. He then returned to Ankara, talked to his father, and opened Siyah Beyaz in our family building. However, exactly because of the reason you mentioned, he thought a gallery, especially one which aimed to focus on contemporary art, would need support so he opened a café-bar right next to it. Maybe this could also be one of the secrets we talked about. It was very difficult for a gallery to survive on its own; however, thanks to the support from the bar, they made the exhibitions they wanted without any concern for sales, which shaped the free spirit of Siyah Beyaz. When we look at other galleries opened during that time in Ankara, we see that they were all opened with a bar. Siyah Beyaz Bar has been offering service in the same spot since its opening, it still has the same the thonet chairs. The only thing that changes is the increasing number of black-and-white photographs on the wall - it began with 15 and has reached 1,086. For the last 18 years, the same band has been playing on Saturdays. Our drummer is 72 years old. After Gürbüz Barlas passed away, Batu Akdeniz replaced him as our vocalist. I’m looking forward to reopening and seeing our friends again. Let’s hope we can dance in front of that stage soon.
In 2010, you returned from London where you were studying for your master’s degree in Art History, and that was a time in which Siyah Beyaz shone brighter. Artists, collectors and bar customers became younger. Although it’s an establishment that resists physical change, Siyah Beyaz undergoes a spiritual transformation during these days. You maintain the balance so perfectly that a new generation joins the family of the first generation. How would you define this experience, the fact that you started managing Siyah Beyaz where you were born and raised for 26 years at the time?
To be honest, I had some doubts in the beginning. Like Nejat İşler said in the movie Black and White, Siyah Beyaz had become a “public space.” After I returned from London, I started working with my parents. Eventually, Faruk withdrew from the operation. It was pretty scary at first. I was always worried. What if I did something wrong? What if my style wouldn’t fit in this place? When I told my father about my concerns, he would always say, “You need to make your own mistakes.” It felt like he had entrusted his other child with me after so many years. I don’t think it was easy for him. In fact, I was empowered by his belief in me. I saw my parents as role-models, just as they worked with the artists of their own generation, I started working with younger artists as well. I find it important to bring second-generation young artists together with the artists we have been working with for 37 years. This essentially is the spirit of Siyah Beyaz. Similarly, I see this happening at the bar too. People meet at Siyah Beyaz, get married, and then their children come here to dance to the same music. What makes it really precious is that it happens organically and of its own accord.
As far as we know, the Sade family has a wide collection that sheds light on the contemporary scene in Turkey after the 1980s. Can you tell us about this collection? Each piece must be very special but are there any pieces that you hold very close to your heart?
Since its foundation by Fulya and Faruk, Siyah Beyaz Gallery has purchased one artwork from every exhibition it has hosted. So, our collection includes works which cannot even be seen at artists’ own workshops. They also followed the works of other galleries and expanded their collection over time. I try to keep this tradition alive. I believe our family collection reflects Fulya and Faruk’s perspective on life. Just like you would choose to spend time with people you love, they chose to own paintings they would enjoy. Most importantly, they taught me that when I looked at a painting, I would actually see a period in time and the artist’s experience of that time including their joy and heartbreaks. I went to London thanks to a painting by Hakkı Anlı which they purchased when they got married. My father always told me I studied abroad on a Hakkı Anlı scholarship. It was the first and last time they put an artwork on auction, and it paid for my master’s degree. I think, in my own collection, the most special ones are almost always the firsts. When I was in kindergarten, we went to an exhibition that featured fish by Cemil Eren. I picked up a painting off the wall, took it to my father, and said, “I’m buying this.” It’s still in my room. Another one is a work by Nermin Er which I bought with the first money kazancıyla Nermin Er’in bir eserini almıştım. Hepsi o kadar özel, o kadar kişisel ki…
The Sade family has this “long table” tradition which I have never seen before. Whether it’s summer or winter, at home or out in the garden, friends come together around a long table to enjoy a feast and engage in conversation. This family tradition is reflected in Siyah Beyaz with artist feasts which are held after every exhibition around the famous knights table and the artist claims the seat of honour. As someone who grew up with these events, what kind of transformation have you observed during these feasts since the 90s?
I think these long table feasts are the most tangible sign of how much Fulya and Faruk love sharing. I feel very lucky to come from a family who cherishes sharing. Their feasts, our feasts, are open to everyone. Fulya loves cooking, and she’s great at it, as you also know. The feast becomes even better with her delicious meals. It’s a special experience to sit around a table and to talk to, laugh with, and even argue with people with different jobs or beliefs in life. Even when there is a discussion, you always hear glasses clinking. Another tradition at Siyah Beyaz is that we organize an artist feast after every show and give the seat of honour to the artist. I think it’s the biggest manifestation of the importance of the artist for the Gallery. I grew up with the knowledge that without an artist, the gallery is just four empty walls, and this past year has proved it. Think of this last year without art - without music, movies, books, or paintings. It’s impossible. They would put chairs together to make a bed for me when I was a kid, and now I’m sitting on them as a guest. I have become friends with the people who were around when I was a child. I work with people who used to take care of me as a child. That’s why I believe our family is invincible. Over time, we see some empty chairs around these long tables and we miss them. They’re our friends, our family. We have new chairs, new conversations, new people; but the feast is never complete because the seat of the host is always empty, and we always toast to his memory.