Anlam de Coster Arslanoglu is an arts professional active across visual arts and design. Her areas of expertise include curatorial project management and public relations in the context of museums, galleries and art fairs. She has extensive international experience from cultural institutions including ARTINTERNATIONAL, Istanbul Modern, SALT, IKSV, Institut Français and Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
Anlam is currently an Associate Director at Reiber, a leading arts communications consultancy based in London. She also acts as one of the curators of the Ballon Rouge Collective and was recently the inaugural VIP Relations Adviser to NOMAD, the new traveling showcase for collectible design.
Anlam graduated Cum Laude from Sciences Po (Paris) in 2009 and holds an M.A. degree in Arts and Media Administration. She also studied at Galatasaray University (Istanbul) and Sorbonne University (Paris) where she earned a B.A. in Economics.
Your secret art venue when you seek peace and quiet
The Estorick Collection is a hidden oasis in my neighborhood dedicated to modern Italian art. I usually find myself alone in their Georgian town house and it feels like visiting an intimate private collection. After visiting their exquisite exhibitions, my routine is to salute the Futurist masterpieces and the Giorgio Morandi paintings from their permanent collection and have coffee in their wonderful garden. When I lived in Paris, my secret spot was the Musée Nissim de Camondo, founded by Istanbul-born banker Moise de Camondo.
Your museum with a wow-factor
My ultimate museum with a wow-factor is Galleria Borghese. To extend the Stendhal syndrome, I would definitely recommend a visit to the neighbouring and less-touristy Galeria Nazionale di Arte Moderna in Rome, which astonished me with their monumental building and audacious curation of the permanent collection, juxtaposing different eras and genres with poetry.
The best food experience in an art space
I recently had an incredible tasting menu at SALT Galata’s restaurant Neolokal in Istanbul run by the visionary young chef Maksut Aşkar. I am obviously biased as I have worked at SALT throughout its foundational years. This building, the former headquarters of the Ottoman Bank built by Alexandre Vallaury in 1892, has a special place in my heart. Neolokal experiments with traditional Anatolian recipes, offering them a contemporary yet genuine interpretation. The view over the Golden Horn is the cherry on top.
A museum gift shop that you never leave empty handed
Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, the V&A in London and 107Rivoli, the store of Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris always offer irresistible and original jewellery pieces. I also have a soft spot for ICA London’s bookstore and the limited edition works commissioned by Studio Voltaire, Gasworks and the Whitechapel. I am obsessed with museum shops, and wish they made more efforts to commission and curate pieces and books responding to their programs, beyond just selling souvenirs.
Please share with us a special personal memory related to a museum experience
I have spent a big and happy portion of my adult life in museums so far and it’s difficult to isolate one memory over the others, but I guess I will never forget the very first project I organized at a museum. In collaboration with Centre Pompidou, we invited students from schools such as The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music from Budapest or the National Circus Arts School from Paris for an evening of performance responding to the museum’s permanent collection as part of my Master’s program at Sciences Po in 2008. It was a memorable experience to see how the collection came to life through the interventions of young artists from different disciplines. Equally, it was unbelievable to watch our friends from the circus school climb the façade of the Centre Pompidou to perform before a wild after party in the museum’s basement!
