This week the opening of the Istanbul Biennial will once again put the city's art scene in the international spotlight. Besides the main exhibition — curated by Jens Hoffman and Adriano Pedrosa — every single art space in town is readying itself to welcome the art world about to descend en masse. Kutluğ Ataman is at Arter, Sarah Morris at Dirimart, and both SALT and Istanbul Museum of Modern Art are holding ambitious group shows. Still, there is a big absence: the Turkish capital's main art fair, Istanbul Contemporary, won't open until next November.

Art Beat Istanbul, September 14-18, seized this unmissable opportunity to help local galleries benefit from Istanbul's visibility this September. The first edition, which opens on Wednesday, gathers 28 mostly Istanbul-based galleries at the Lütfi Kirdar Convention & Exhibition Center. Art Beat Istanbul's director Arhan Kayar talked to ARTINFO UK about the local art market, the role of private patrons in the Turkish art scene, and the international ambitions of his fledgling art fair.

What are the strengths of the Turkish art market?

Turkey'seconomic transformation has played a key role in the expansion of its art market and in the development of a new breed of art collectors keen to invest in tangible assets. There is a mature collecting market for postwar artists and we have seen record prices being set at international auctions. Turkish contemporary art is still reasonable or cheap in relative terms to Arab and Iranian, Indian, or Chinese art, which means that the demographic of buyers includes both individuals who have been collecting for 20 to 30 years and new collectors.

Tell me about the beginning of Art Beat Istanbul.

The idea for an annual art fair came about as a response to this development and to Istanbul's growing art scene. In recent years there has been a lot of speculation about the Turkish art market, and the fair has been conceived as a way to overcome some of this hype — offering galleries and their artists a platform to introduce themselves directly to arts professionals, collectors, and enthusiasts.

Do you have a model for the fair?

Art Beat Istanbul has been organized to include both booths for the exhibitors and a project space where galleries and artists can present larger scale pieces. It aims at showcasing the city's best galleries and is similar in principle to the ADAA fair in New York, which runs parallel to the Armory Show.

How do you relate to the other art fair in town, Contemporary Istanbul?

Our vision from the outset is to be a contemporary art fair showcasing a selected number of Istanbul's galleries alongside international exhibitors, thereby providing a more concise presentation of the city's artists and galleries. The format is different from Contemporary Istanbul, which includes galleries from across Turkey. But as long as there is interest from visitors, collectors, and galleries, I believe both art fairs will continue to flourish.

Art Beat aspires to be an international art fair, and yet, looking at the list of participating galleries, only three of them are not based in Turkey. Did you have difficulty attracting galleries from abroad?

For our first year we felt that our main focus should be providing a showcase of Istanbul's art scene. We have started off by inviting international galleries that already have relationships with Istanbul through their artists and exhibitions and will develop the international projects in the coming years.

The Istanbul art scene has changed tremendously over the last few years. What are, for you, the most striking aspects of this development?

With little or no state support for the contemporary arts, the most remarkable development over the last decade has been the commitment shown by corporate and private patrons to supporting the arts. Corporations including Garanti Bank, Yapi Kredi, and Koç Holdings, Borusan Holding, and Siemens have played a vital role in providing a platform, via their support of arts foundations and museums, for young Turkish artists. There has been a growing trend for private collectors to open non-profit art organizations, which took off with the opening of the Proje4L-Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, founded by architect Can Elgiz and his wife Sevda, where established Turkish modern artists such as Erol Akyavas and Omer Uluc took their place alongside international heavy-hitters such as Cindy Sherman and Tracey Emin.

What role has the biennial played in this transformation?

The Biennial draws thousands of visitors to Istanbul and has set a precedent in Turkey for the presentation of contemporary art to local audiences. It has also provided an international platform for Turkish artists, some of whom can now be found in important international collections, including Hale Tenger at the Centre Pompidou and Selma Gurbuz at Tate Modern.

Last January, a series of contemporary art galleries were attacked in the neighborhood of Tophane. For some, it was triggered by tensions between alcohol-drinking gallery goers and the inhabitants, for others it resulted from the rise of religious conservatism in Turkey. What's your take on these attacks?

It was obviously a very unfortunate incident that raised a lot of concern among the galleries and local businesses, but I feel that it was an isolated incident. The issues of secularism versus conservatism it raised are something that Turkey has, in one form or another, battled with for some time now.

What would be, for you, a successful first edition of Art Beat Istanbul?

We would like for visitors and participants to benefit mutually from the experience and for us to establish long term partnerships with our exhibitors while attracting further foreign participants in the coming years.