One of Istanbul’s leading contemporary art galleries located in Beşiktaş. A newer gallery on the scene, it was co-founded by Beral Madra (the gallery’s artistic director), Selin Yurtbilir, and Erol and Ömer Sağmanlı in October 2011, with the first exhibition being staged in February 2012. Güneş Nasuhbeyoğlu acts as the curatorial director.

Kuad hosts consistently high-quality shows of mostly international artists, especially those from the countries surrounding Turkey including those from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Besides a small number of solo shows, the gallery mostly hosts intelligently curated group shows (often by external curators). The exhibitions are often thematic and either delve into art making or the spirit of a particular time in history. Kuad hosts a smaller number of exhibitions per year (four to five), but they run for longer giving audiences plenty of time to see some exceptional art.

The gallery doesn’t exclusively represent any artists. Kuad’s ethos is to guide and promote artists and give them the freedom to choose where and what to exhibit.

Standout exhibitions have included the influential American artist Joseph Kosuth’s The Wake in 2012; the Russian conceptual artist Nikita Alexeev’s Eurasian Songs in 2013; and the timely group exhibitions A Marginal Evolution and Online, also in 2013. A group show paying homage to Marcel Duchamp, Unhappy Readymade, opened the 2014 season.

Besides hosting exhibitions, Kuad also has a programme spanning seminars, workshops and other events. For example, design workshops were organised on the occasion of the Design Biennial in 2012.