This essential primer is an assessment of the contemporary art scene in Turkey, with a focus on the 1990s, by influential Istanbul-based curator and director Vasif Kortun and art critic/writer Erden Kosova. It provides insight into how artistic developments in the country have been influenced and shaped by the complex history and sociopolitical situation in Turkey, including processes of democratization and the political and cultural stance toward the European Union and EU enlargement (particularly relevant for considering the Turkish case within the conceptual framework of a ‘former West’). Key artists are represented through visual essays and images.