Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Art and Crafts Teacher Education, Exhibition Halls

The 23rd Archive Exhibition met its audience between April 9–18, 2025, in the exhibition halls of Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Art and Crafts Teacher Education. The exhibition, composed of works by students and graduates affiliated with the H. Avni Öztopçu Workshop, brought together long-standing artistic productions.

The exhibition focused on the creative/productive processes of students and graduates spanning from past to present. Current works of graduate artists who have continuously produced between 2015–2025 were exhibited alongside the works of students from the 2024–25 academic year. This special selection made the continuity and productive memory of art education visible, while also pointing to individual development processes and collective memory.

Initiated in 1995, the course Archive defines the educational approach underlying this exhibition. This educational method, based in H. Avni Öztopçu’s Workshop No. 8 at Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education, Department of Art and Crafts Teacher Education, highlights intellectual depth and pedagogical continuity alongside technical skills. Branches such as Archive Trees, Music Archive, Philosophy Archive, and Visual Archive approach art education from multiple perspectives, connecting it with nature, the art-philosophy relationship, visual-auditory archiving, and various disciplines.

The course Archive, aiming to train teachers who blend education with art and work across different geographies, has become a unique model of art education over the years. This comprehensive accumulation was honored this year with the Educational Practices Award granted by the İsmail Hakkı Tonguç Archive Foundation (İHTBV).

The content of the exhibition reminds us that art education is a production process intertwined with life, society, and knowledge, beyond the boundaries of the studio. Graduates, continuing their artistic practices developed during their education even after graduation, both maintain their production and pass on their knowledge and experience to their students.

The annually organized Archive Exhibitions serve as a memory that records the transformation of art education. To date, 50 exhibitions have been held—45 domestically and 5 internationally—documenting the development of art production and forming a foundation for the Art Education Museum.

As in every year, the 23rd Archive Exhibition served as a living archive that recorded the transformation of art education. Making visible both individual aesthetic pursuits and collective memory, the exhibition became a space of memory and a meeting point where education, aesthetics, and intellectual effort converge.