The art-fair veteran Sandy Angus, right, is launching ArtInternational Istanbul with the Turkish firm Interteks, and Dyala Nusseibeh is directing the fair

ArtInternational Istanbul is due to coincide with the city’s international biennial next yearThe art-fair veteran Sandy Angus, right, is launching ArtInternational Istanbul with the Turkish firm Interteks, and Dyala Nusseibeh is directing the fair

A new modern and contemporary art fair is due to open next September in Istanbul in a vast former woollen mill in the centre of the city. ArtInternational Istanbul (VIP preview 14 September, 15-17 September 2013) will take place in the Hasköy Yarn Factory in the central Beyoglu district. The fair will coincide with the Istanbul Biennial next September and will compete with Istanbul Contemporary, which opens its seventh edition next month (22-25 November) at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Centre. Dyala Nusseibeh, the director of ArtInternational Istanbul, says: “We are responding to an increasing demand from conversations with galleries worldwide and from within Turkey’s burgeoning arts community. Some of these galleries have existing Turkish clients, others wish to connect with Turkish collectors, many of whom have become increasingly present at international art fairs.”

The large number of private patrons in the city is also a contributing factor. “Interestingly, many of the wealthiest families in Turkey are also the strongest patrons of the arts; one has only to look at some of the key museums and spaces to notice the private funding behind them,” adds Nusseibeh.

She also identifies a solid collecting base. “The fair’s cultural board has already attracted the area’s leading collectors, museum curators and cultural advisers.” According to the fair’s website, the board is chaired by Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s minister for EU affairs, and includes the curator Jack Persekian, Cigdem Simavi, who established the Foundation for Fine Arts and Cultural Heritage, Leyla Tara Suyabatmaz, the co-founder of Rampa Gallery, Istanbul, and the writer and curator Rose Issa, whose project space in London focuses on art from the Arab world and Iran.

Young Turkish professionals with disposable income, who may be entering the art market, are another potential collector pool, she says. “As a base, we are bringing in both established and emerging Turkish collectors. We will also be inviting regional collectors, including those from the Middle East and many other international collectors, to attend.”

The co-founder of ArtInternational Istanbul is the fair veteran Sandy Angus of the company Angus Montgomery Ltd. He has teamed up with the Turkish firm Interteks, which has organised fairs for the past 34 years, to launch the new event.

Angus co-founded Art HK, the Hong Kong International Art Fair, along with Tim Etchells in 2008. MCH Group, which owns Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, bought a 60% stake in Art HK last year. Meanwhile, Etchells and Angus are launching a new fair in London in March 2013 at the Olympia Grand Hall, Art13, that will feature more than 100 galleries showing modern and contemporary art.

An accompanying VIP programme will include visits to artists’ studios and private collections as well as museum tours.