PASHA Bank, which has been operating in Turkey for 8 years for the development of commercial relations in the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Georgia triangle and reached an asset size of 6 billion TRY 156 million in 2022, became the main sponsor of the 3rd "Istanbul Digital Art Festival", which will be held at AKM with the support of the T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism and which is organized by MEZO Digital between 2-5 June. PASHA Bank has been supporting Turkey's first and only digital art festival since its beginning. The exhibition, which will host 25 national and international artists, is curated by Turkey's first artificial intelligence curator, Avind, as well as Julie Walsh and Esra Özkan. The festival themed as “Is digital art the result of human molecules?” will also feature the works of Azerbaijani artificial intelligence artist Shusha.
In the global art market, which has reached a size of approximately 60 billion dollars in the world, the number of works produced in the field of digital art has started to increase, especially with the pandemic. Investments in art continue in Turkey, which is one of the emerging markets in the global art market. In this sense, PASHA Bank, which draws attention with the support it has given to art since the 8 years it has been operating in Turkey, has been undertaking the main sportsmanship of the "Istanbul Digital Art Festival", Turkey's first and only digital art festival, since 2021. The digital works of 25 national and international artists will be exhibited at the festival, which is organized by MEZO Digital will be held at AKM between 2-5 June with the support of the T.R. Ministry of Culture and Trade. The festival themed "Is digital art the result of human molecules" is curated by Turkey's first artificial intelligence curator Avind, as well as Julie Walsh and Esra Özkan. The festival, which features the works of the Azerbaijani artificial intelligence artist Shusha, is open to everyone and free of charge. In addition to audio and visual performances during the festival, panels and workshops on many topics such as artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, bioart, biodesign, 6G technologies will be held. Providing information about PASHA Bank's support for digital art, PASHA Bank Deputy General Manager Hale Yıldırım stated the following: “Since the day we were founded, PASHA Bank has continued to support the arts. We became the official sponsor of the Istanbul Digital Art Festival (IDAF), which we sponsored in 2021 and which was organized for the first time in Turkey on digital art, in 2022. In this festival organized with the support of the T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the subject of "Is Human Creativity the Only Sustainable Energy in the World?" was exhibited in company with Avind, Turkey's first artificial intelligence curator. In addition, in this festival, where we carried the financial synergy we created in the region to an artistic dimension, the works of the Azerbaijani artificial intelligence artist Shusha Karabakh from history to the present were reinterpreted in digital art. Now, we are very happy to be the main sponsor of IDAF, which will be held for the third time with the support of the T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism at AKM between 2-5 June. At this year's festival, we will seek answers to the question "Is digital art the result of molecules?” We will question this concept with 25 local and foreign artists at Turkey's first and only digital art festival. With their works at the festival, the artists will show that science, technology and art can intersect, and they will contribute to how the boundaries between these phenomena can evolve into new ways by melting.” One of the founders of the Digital Art Association and serving as the vice president of the association, PASHA Bank Deputy General Manager Hale Yıldırım will be a moderator in the “6G Technologies” panel on Saturday, June 3, between 14.00-15.00.