Sanat Galerilerinin Habitusu: Türkiye Örneği

Abstract

Art galleries are spaces in which artworks are exhibited, exchange values are determined, and commercial transactions take place. Historically, the concept of the “gallery” refers not only to an architectural form but also to the spatial organization of viewing, passage, and representation. Its etymological roots, associated with “rejoicing” and “entertainment,” indicate that the gallery has always been tied to practices of observing, wandering, and collective experience. Throughout its development—from palaces and theatres to modern art spaces—it has continuously functioned as an intermediary zone between interior and exterior, shaping modes of seeing as well as the spatial experience itself. This study examines the contemporary position of art galleries through Adorno’s culture industry theory, Stallabrass’s critique of marketization, and Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and forms of capital. It aims to analyze how galleries in Turkey position themselves within the social structure and what kinds of “added value” they produce. To this end, a qualitative field study was conducted with eighteen galleries in Ankara and Istanbul that agreed to participate. Data were collected through unstructured interviews and field observations, focusing on the galleries’ spatial positioning, institutional purposes, artist/work selection, approaches to practice, and forms of relational engagement. The analysis reveals that galleries tend to cluster around three main orientations: Orthodox and long-established galleries reproduce the dominant norms of the field by preserving their accumulated symbolic and cultural capital; institutionally and economically rooted galleries exhibit a more market-oriented structure that balances economic and symbolic capital; and alternative, independent spaces pursue forms of autonomy through solidarity-based modes of production relatively distanced from market logics.