As part of the German Goethe Institute culture project “European Literature Goes to Turkey/Turkish Literature Goes to Europe,” an event kicks off today at Ankara University’s faculty of language, history and geography. Set to run through Nov. 14, the event will feature literature readings and talks by such internationally acclaimed authors as Jutta Richter, Mircea Cartarescu and Christoph Ransmayr. Admission for the events is free of charge.  

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, will be commemorated on Nov. 10 with a concert featuring 200 artists in İzmir on the 71st anniversary of his death. The concert, which took three months to prepare, will feature such internationally renowned Turkish artists as Sertab Erener, Fahir Atakoğlu and İdil Biret. The event will begin at 9 p.m. at Halkapınar Sports Hall.  

A collection of sculptures and digital prints by İstanbul-based Norwegian artist Marius Dahl went on view last week at the Maçka Art Gallery in the artist’s first-ever solo exhibition in İstanbul, which will run through Nov. 28. Titled “Receptor,” the collection is made up of works inspired by a trip to the Svalbard Islands, an important center for scientific research on the North Atlantic and the North Pole.  

If Francesco de Zurbaran’s ‘Christ on the Cross’ were the only work in the National Gallery’s powerful exhibition of Spanish 17th century painting and sculpture you should still move heaven and earth to see it. The 9ft 6in-high masterpiece was painted in 1627 for a Dominican friary in Seville, where it hung in a shallow niche behind a grille, illuminated by natural light from two windows just to the right of the viewer’s field of vision. On loan from the Art Institute... 

Now that you know what negative space is, let’s take a look at some world-class examples of design works that take exemplify notable talent in manipulating the foreground / background virtues of space, field, plane, object and typography. We begin with the spectacular design works of Hofstede Design in Prahran Victoria, Australia. Established in 1996, this organization specialises in identity, publication and environmental graphic design. They use the term Graphic Design confidently and deliberately.... 

Graphic designers deal with visual elements that must come together for form a composite message. However, those who hone their vision and skills to a fine level, understand that they are dealing with more than just shapes, colors, images and typography. Making a visual “window of approach” also deals with designing the space where nothing appears — the negative space. Good design utilizes the negative space as if it were a solid visual element in the design. Where this space occurs,...