Organized by the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Social and Cultural Activities Directorate and EMU Art Coordinator Zehra Şonya within the scope of “EMU Art Days” organized with the contributions of EMU Public Relations and Media Directorate, artist Osman Keten’s retrospective to exhibition  launched in October in Famagusta to celebrate his 44-year artistic adventure under the title of “The Undetermined and Unformed Essence” is moving to Nicosia upon popular demand. The exhibition, which will be opened on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at 18:00, at İsmet V. Güney Exhibition Hall, can be visited during working hours until Friday, January 13, 2023.

Curated by EMU Art Coordinator Zehra Şonya, the catalog of the exhibition, created in two languages, was prepared by Derya Ulubalti and Mine Keten. EMU Art Coordinator Zehra Şonya made the following statement on the subject: “The retrospective exhibition means looking at all the works and corpus that the artist has created since the first day. It is important that this process is visible in the exhibition, which includes all the stages that the artist has gone through throughout his life, his development/change process, the way he handles the subjects he deals with and the way he carries them to different dimensions. In my opinion, even though Osman Keten has gone through many different ways and stages throughout the creation process, his focus has always been human and he has never stopped questioning himself/humanity. He never lost his identity, essence and self in this questioning. At the last stage, circulating around concepts such as self-existence, nothingness-void, which became more evident, seems to be a way of re-creating oneself, considering the geography and problems we live in.

As EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Aykut Hocanın stated in the preface of the catalogue, as a university, it is important to create a collection of our artists, as well as archiving and recording the works, examining them with publications and transferring them to future generations. Osman Keten Retrospective Exhibition is an indication of this importance paid to art. Art has always been an important value for EMU, which is a pioneer in education and science. EMU will insist on continuing the necessary activities to further enhance the importance of this value.”