Kortun one of the most powerful figures in art

Vasıf Kortun, the director of research and programs at SALT, has again been named as one of the 100 most powerful figures in the contemporary art world by Art Review for the fourth consecutive year.

Kortun was ranked 69 in Art Review’s annual “100 most powerful figures in the contemporary art world” list. Last year he was 68th.

“Istanbul, whose biennial arguably launched the global biennial boom of recent times, appears increasingly established as a key node on the global contemporary art map: It’s increasingly speckled with smart commercial galleries, and the art fair Art International has just celebrated its second edition, newly augmented by dealerships from the Far East,” the publication said.

“Extract Kortun from this picture, however, and it’d likely look very different. Curator, writer, teacher, director of nonprofit gallery and research center SALT, and go-to sounding board and mediator for the Turkish art scene … he’s been – and remains – inestimably important in the infrastructural growth of a city which, as next year’s Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev-directed Istanbul Biennial gathers pace, will only receive more attention,” it added.

Top name from London

Nicholas Serota, who runs London’s Tate Modern, was named the most powerful figure on Art Review's list, Agence France-Presse reported. Serota has consistently been in the top 10 of the “Power 100” every year since the list was launched in 2002.

Previous figures to top the list include artists Damien Hirst and Ai Weiwei. Last year, Sheikha al-Mayassa al-Thani, daughter of the emir of Qatar, was named most powerful person after the Gulf state went on an unprecedented spending spree to fill its new museums.