Bilge Alkor and the Magic Flute Journey from Mozart to Painting.

The artist Bilge Alkor realizes her latest journey among literature, music, and art through the exhibition "Magic Flute," held at the Millî Reasürans Art Gallery.

Bilge Alkor initiated her first exhibition titled "A Journey from One Art to Another" in 1996 at the AKM, inspired by Shakespeare's plays 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'The Tempest.' In 1997, she participated in the Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates, showcasing paintings inspired by Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot, earning her the Achievement Award. Following these works, Bilge Alkor's new creation became the piece "Winter Journey," based on Franz Schubert's composition of 24 songs on the texts by Wilhelm Müller. This work resulted in an interdisciplinary exhibition sharing the same name as Schubert's piece, held at the İş Sanat Kibele Gallery in 2004.

Bilge Alkor, who stated, "I have learned a lot from works of art and their creators. At the end of this process, I wanted to respond to all that I learned through art," chooses "Mozart and the Magic Flute" as her inspiration this time.

In her text, which begins with Peter von Matt's words, "The Magic Flute, along with Shakespeare's Hamlet and Leonardo's Mona Lisa, is the third mysterious work of European art," Bilge Alkor explains her process of being influenced by The Magic Flute. She questions, "Can the call of the flute justify my attempt to lift the veil of Isis? Since my childhood games, trying to make the invisible visible in my artistic journey, will it help me? I find the answer to these questions in my conversation with Cevat Çapan about my exhibition (A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest) at AKM: 'Why these two plays? These are my favorite plays by Shakespeare. I think I am particularly sensitive to the blend of nature poetry and the 'supernatural.' Also, for A Midsummer Night's Dream, I should add this: The universe of dreams has always been an important theme in my works. The specific characters and situations of The Tempest are archetypes for me. I encounter them in Mozart's Magic Flute, for example. Prospero has become Sarastro there. Ferdinand and Miranda are Tamino and Pamina, and they must pass a trial by fire, just as in The Tempest, the lovers must undergo a trial to reunite. Monostatos is a kind of Caliban. All of them, in Prospero's words, are realities made from the fabric of our dreams.'"

In 2007, Bilge Alkor brings the characters from Mozart's Magic Flute to life with this exhibition. How was it to experience and convey The Magic Flute all these years? She answers this question in her exhibition and expresses the following words: "They were waiting everywhere, in stones, shadows, reflections of broken glass, in the wings of birds and butterflies, to 'come to life.' The 'beginning' was there."

Dedicating her exhibition to her father Sıtkı Narmanlı, who wished her to become a musician, Bilge Alkor received art education at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 1958 to 1961 and at the Rome Academy of Fine Arts from 1969 to 1971. The artist has been pursuing her artistic endeavors in Istanbul since 1989.