Abuja Open House event was organized by the International Institute for Creative Development (IICD Center) on October 27-30, 2022, with the support of Yunus Emre Institute.

Aiming to support local Nigerian artists, the event featured exhibitions of works by Nigerian artists.

The four-day event featured dynamic and diverse exhibitions, curatorial projects, and live/participatory art events in various art fields, including painting, photography, sculpture, video, performance art, new media, theater, and digital art. With these activities, it was aimed to bring together Abuja's art people and art lovers, to connect and build bridge the art galleries in Abuja, to ignite creative thinking, to create vitality, and to increase personal and cultural interaction.

Within the scope of Abuja Open House, which consists of exhibitions featuring the works of Nigerian artists, Abuja Yunus Emre Institute hosted a photography gallery of 3 local photographers.

The event was held as a multi-legged organization with many sponsors and partners, such as the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in Abuja, Yunus Emre Institute, French Cultural Center, and Transcorp Hilton Hotel under the main sponsorship of the US Embassy.

Turkish Embassy also hosted an exhibition of recycled metal sculptures as part of the organization.

Abuja Yunus Emre Institute Coordinator Aziz Çetin gave the following remarks in his speech at the event:

"Yunus Emre Institute, the cultural institution of Türkiye, which embraces the important civilizations of Anatolia and tries to carry the cultural heritage of these lands to different parts of the world, has undertaken an important task in making the ancient voice of Turkish heard in the world and promoting our historical and cultural heritage."

"WE AIM TO CONTRIBUTE TO WORLD HERITAGE"

Stating that Yunus Emre Institute continues to promote Turkish language and Turkish culture through its Cultural Centers all over the world, Çetin said that the Institute continues its activities as the face of Türkiye in the field of cultural diplomacy. Çetin explained that the Institute aims to enable the world communities to get to know Türkiye more closely and from the right sources through Turkish language teaching and culture and arts activities and to contribute to the world cultural heritage through activities based on intercultural interaction.

Çetin continued his speech as follows:

"In this direction, our Institute is enthusiastically moving forward with the ideal of supporting scientific and cultural studies in cooperation with various institutions, sharing the results with the world public through various publications and thus building bridges between world cultures. We believe that art is an area where people express themselves, their cultures and civilizations in the best way possible. For this reason, in addition to promoting our own language, culture, and art in the countries we visit, we take care to get to know the culture and art of that country, so we think that we can develop friendship and cooperation between societies."

Çetin stated that he hoped that the 2022 Open House Organization would be beneficial for the artists and art lovers in Abuja and that it would be instrumental in strengthening the friendship between the countries.

YUNUS EMRE INSTITUTE AND IICD CENTER SUPPORT CONTEMPORARY ART

Yunus Emre Institute and the International Institute for Creative Development (IICD Center) continue their efforts to support contemporary art. IICD Center serves as a sustainable creative database and capacity-building center, providing technical assistance to create and manage cultural exchange programs aimed at advancing cultural diplomacy and social development. 

IICD Center also operates as a multidisciplinary experimental art space that inspires the creative environment for open thematic expression in the context of contemporary art practice.