An Art Lover’s Guide to Istanbul https://ift.tt/oi43v6E

Istanbul is a city of binaries: East and West, ornate and shabby, tranquil and chaotic. While the metropolis indeed harbors many contrasts, the clashes yield a unique cultural landscape. Istanbul is where Europe meets Asia, where many with conflicting opinions coexist, and where millions of stray cats find shelter.

Art thrives in this climate, though the government’s crackdown on free speech does cast a grim shadow on the industry. For example, Kübra Uzun, a beloved performance artist and musician, is a local fixture who has long had her finger on the pulse of the art scene. She co-founded the online queer network Through The Window with a mission to “provide a safe space for queer thinkers, artists, and nightlife workers to come together,” she said. After recent performances at the Barbican Center and ICA London, however, she moved to London in October, just like many queer artists who have relocated in search of safety.

Ulya Soley, a curator at the Pera Museum, believes that the challenges have “made the community stronger and more resilient in solidarity,” she said in an interview. Freelance curator Anlam de Coster called Istanbul a “city of makers,” noting her town’s ability to “open up possibilities for new practices and experimentation with different materials.”

Tuvana Kılıç, who manages VIP relations at the international art fair Contemporary Istanbul, believes in the city’s one-of-a-kind cultural texture, and is looking ahead to September, when the 18th Istanbul Biennial and Contemporary Istanbul will open concurrently. “Istanbul is such a cosmopolitan city that no matter what you organize or do, you will carry that international feeling,” she said.

These are the must-visit galleries, museums, alternative spaces, and art world haunts in Istanbul.

Galleries to visit in Istanbul

Istanbul is home to around 50 galleries, all of which are relatively young, with the oldest ones founded in the mid-1980s. The majority are invested in representing local talent as well as young European artists.

While larger, more established ventures can weather financial and cultural fluctuations, emerging galleries are more vulnerable and may mitigate risk by adopting nomadic models. Those without a brick-and-mortar space generally exhibit through pop-ups and art fairs. KOLi Art Space, for example, used to operate its queer art–focused program in a space on the city’s calmer Asian side. No longer a storefront, the initiative had an eclectic booth at CI Bloom—an offshoot of Contemporary Istanbul featuring exclusively Turkey-based exhibitors—in April.

In Pera, Galata, and Taksim

Istanbul’s galleries are heavily concentrated in the greater Beyoğlu district, a culturally influential part of the city that houses many of its historical landmarks, such as İstiklal Avenue (one of few streets in the world that truly never sleeps), the iconic Galata Tower, and the shopping and entertainment hub Taksim Square. In this bustling area, it is not uncommon to stumble upon a gallery, a bookshop, or a boutique.

• Anna Laudel: Established by its namesake over a decade ago at a venue close to the Taksim Square, the gallery has become a destination due to Laudel’s eye for young talent. Its dynamic roster of Turkish and European artists offers commentaries on internet culture, consumerism, and identity. The duo Ertuğrul Güngör & Faruk Ertekin, for example, creates ceramic tiles and paintings that depict traditional rituals, such as Turkish oil wrestling, with a pop sensibility.

• Galerist: This established gallery with a lauded roster of Turkey-based and international artists is housed in a 19th-century building commissioned for the Ottoman navy. The gallery focuses on women artists who investigate tactility and the body, offering materially rich and narratively focused programming. Standout names on the roster include Nil Yalter, who won a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 2024 Venice Biennale; the late avant-garde painter Semiha Berksoy, who was also in the Biennale’s main show; and New York–based sculptor Elif Uras, whose work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Zilberman Gallery: As an Istanbul-based gallery with other locations both in North America and Europe, Zilberman is committed to a global art fair presence, including appearances at the most recent editions of EXPO Chicago, Art Basel Hong Kong, and Zona Maco. The local headquarters are located in İstiklal Avenue’s beloved building Mısır Apartmanı, which has been a hub for galleries, experimental theaters, and design offices for the last two decades. The gallery’s programming balances local and global artists, such as Cengiz Tekin, Neriman Polat, Pedro Gómez-Egaña, and Omar Barquet.

In Tophane, Dolapdere, and Karaköy

Treatment, 2025
Kerem Ozan Bayraktar
SANATORIUM

Located above sea level, Beyoğlu gradually rolls down towards the Bosphorus through steep cobblestones, and around each turn awaits new pockets of cafes, antique shops, and galleries. Between the once-scruffy, quickly gentrified Dolapdere and the waterfront districts of Tophane and Karaköy, it may be difficult to tell where one neighborhood ends and the other starts. These areas are connected by their narrow, winding streets and sea views.

• Sanatorium: At a short walk from Istanbul Modern, this neighborhood staple has just opened a new four-story building. The gallery highlights early to mid-career local artists, such as Yagız Özgen, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, and Zeyno Pekünlü, alongside a group of international names including Ludovic Bernhardt, Christiane Peschek, and Clemens Wolf, who deal, broadly, with abstraction, the body, and technology. The gallery is known to show at fairs in the United States and Europe, and also frequently takes up a residence at DIANA, a cooperative exhibition space on New York’s Lower East Side.

• Galeri 77: Figurative painting is the focus of this gallery, which champions artists from Armenia and Turkey. The Armenia-born painter Roman Babakhanian’s landscapes and rock piles are trippy meditations on dreams and reality, while Mutlu Aksu’s warped depictions of everyday rituals satirize societal expectations and self-doubt. Vahram Davtian paints Old Masters–influenced works with a Surrealist bent, not unlike Hakan Gürbüzer, whose psychologically charged paintings are visually and emotionally awry.
• Dirimart: With a new London location and a roster including heavy-hitters like Shirin Neshat, Ghada Amer, Sarah Morris, and Tony Cragg, this local powerhouse has one of the largest commercial spaces in Istanbul, in addition to an outpost near Pera Museum. From the sought-after Vermont-based Turkish painter Hayal Pozanti’s floral dreamscapes to the late, iconoclastic Modernist painter Fahrelnissa Zeid (who had a Tate Modern survey in 2017), the gallery represents a range of artists with both local and global influence.

Museums to visit in Istanbul

Modern and contemporary museums in Istanbul are largely founded by influential families whose philanthropic work also extends to supporting traveling exhibitions and biennials and funding grants. A growing interest in museums among millennial and Gen-Z visitors help these institutions attract large crowds often curious about a global star making their Istanbul debut or looking to explore a local fixture’s legacy.

• Istanbul Modern: The country’s first and most influential contemporary museum, which opened in 2004, has recently been revitalized with a Renzo Piano–designed building. A visit to the soaring venue promises a crash course on the nation’s modern art history. Besides the local names such as Canan Tolon and Selma Gürbüz, global headliners Olafur Eliasson, Tony Cragg, and Andreas Gursky have had solo shows there set against a backdrop of mesmerizing Bosphorus views.
• Arter: The museum, which de Coster, the freelance curator, considers “the best contemporary art museum in the city at the moment,” was founded by globally influential collector Ömer Koç. The collection is expansive, ranging from Ottoman antiques to works by Theaster Gates. Located in the historically low-income neighborhood of Dolapdere in the heart of Beyoğlu, it offers a cutting-edge look at the state of art today, from both local and global perspectives.

• Pera Museum: Besides its impressive trajectory of solo exhibitions for Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Etel Adan, and numerous others, this museum stands out for its ornate building, which dates back to 1893, when it opened as Hotel Bristol. Pera Museum was founded by the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation twenty years ago, and it holds an impressive collection of European, especially Orientalist, paintings, in addition to Ottoman-era objects. The collection’s prized possession is perhaps Osman Hamdi Bey’s 1906 painting The Tortoise Trainer, which was acquired in 2004 for $3.5 million, the highest amount paid for a painting by a Turkish artist at the time. Contemporary artists feature in a generous portion of the museum’s program, too.
• SALT: Founded in 2011 by the national bank Garanti, this tastemaking nonprofit has become something of a cultural landmark with its interdisciplinary approach, welcoming interiors, and dynamic online programming. It has two locations—one in Galata, occupying the former Imperial Ottoman Bank headquarters, and one in Beyoğlu.

Alternative art spaces to visit in Istanbul

As an alternative to traditional commercial or institutional formats, Istanbul is home to initiatives that are often run by artists, collectives, or foundations. These bold programs are unburdened by commercial expectations or bureaucracy.

• Barin Han: This unassuming, five-story building in the Golden Horn peninsula was home to the pioneering modern calligrapher and bookbinder Emin Barın. Today, it operates as a multipurpose space with a steady program, featuring contemporary dance and theater, as well as tightly organized solo and group exhibitions with crowd-gathering talks. The venue was also among the official venues of 2022’s Istanbul Biennial.
• 5533: Soley’s personal favorite is this space where she curated her first solo exhibition in 2014. Named after its door number in the Istanbul Textile Traders’ Market (İMÇ), the nonprofit was established by local artists Nancy Atakan and Volkan Aslan in 2007. Long home to fabric shops, record companies, and wallpaper stores, this complex of six Brutalist buildings recently began attracting artists in search of affordable studio spaces. Amidst the hectic commercial atmosphere are nine public artworks, including murals by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, and Füreya Koral. The small-but-influential hub has a broad spectrum of offerings that includes public performances, talks, collaborations with residencies, and spatially adventurous solo shows.

• Zeyrek Çinili Hamam: The 16th-century bathhouse was designed by the Ottoman Empire’s most lauded architect, Sinan. The ceramic- and tile-clad bath has had many lives in the last 500 years, but two years ago, the 32,000-square-foot-site made its grand comeback as a lavish hamam and museum. The richly decorated interior produces unexpected dialogues with art, proven by 2023’s inaugural group show, Healing Ruins, which de Coster organized with work by Marion Verboom, Candeğer Furtun, Zoë Paul, and Hera Büyüktaşcıyan, among others. After a solo show dedicated to Greek painter Alekos Fassianos in its moody underground cistern, the venue’s inaugural residency program started with British textile artist Anousha Payne.

Where to end a night of art

If there is a point on which the entire art crowd agrees, it’s the necessity of ending an evening of art openings with spirited discussion, delectable meze, local red wine, and live music. Expectedly, the hubs occupied by galleries and museums are also destinations for the nightlife. Beyoğlu is the main attraction with its countless bars, restaurants, and packed streets.

• Ziba: This queer-friendly bar is the consensus pick for a place to extend the conversations and camaraderie. Nestled on Tomtom—a strip synonymous with Beyoğlu’s eclectic nightlife—the multi-floor watering hole and late-night eatery absorbs those from all walks of the art world, from the swanky gallery owner to the recent graduate artist. A DJ often sets the mood, and the music spills onto the street.
• Asmalı Cavit: Meyhane is the word for restaurants where large crowds or simply two friends sit for a few hours to catch up, laugh, and occasionally commiserate—often over rakı, the national anise-heavy, high-alcohol drink which is best experienced when mixed with water. This two-story restaurant in Pera sits among many similar establishments, but it attracts the artsy crowd with its effortless mid-century charm and walls covered with exhibition posters. Among the must-try dishes are topik, an Armenian starter with pureed chickpeas and cinnamon, and lakerda, the fatty cuts of cured bonito served with red onion and dill.

• Şahika: While it is easy to overlook this queer bar tucked among Beyoğlu’s fish restaurants, fruit sellers, and motels, the bursting energy will remind you that you’ve arrived at your destination. For a beer, Şahika is a favorite among artists—including Uzun, who has been among the venue’s regular DJs.
• Helvetia: Need some fuel before gallery hopping? There are few better options than this lunch-only corner spot in a former Swiss brewery. The owners lay their daily dishes out on the glass counter for guests to pick and choose, and mixing is allowed. Zeytinyağlı is the general word for light but filling vegetable dishes, which are all made with olive oil and served warm; while they are the staples of any Turkish kitchen, restaurants rarely include them in their menus. With its reasonable pricing and largely vegetarian menu with daily surprises, the eatery is perhaps the best place to experience this lesser-known part of the local cuisine.

from Artsy News https://ift.tt/2tGwqKV