A New Creative Flourishing at İMÇ
Cultural momentum is building again at modernist architectural landmark in Istanbul
One of the city’s landmarks of modernist and brutalist architecture, the complex of concrete buildings that form the İstanbul Manifaturacılar Çarşısı (Istanbul Manufacturers Bazaar, or İMÇ) climbs along the side of busy Atatürk Bulvarı in Fatih as it runs up from the Golden Horn to the Valens Aqueduct. Many of the 1,117 units in its six interconnected blocks are still filled by shops selling curtains, wallpaper, sewing machines, and other goods related to the textile sector, for which İMÇ was constructed in 1968. But there’s more to its history than might initially meet the eye.
“Arts and culture are in the DNA of İMÇ,” says Serra Yentürk, the director of SAHA Association, a not-for-profit organization that supports artists, curators, and writers from Turkey working in the visual arts.
In addition to its architectural significance, the building’s construction incorporated nine works of public art – mosaic and ceramic panels, sculptures, and reliefs – by some of Turkey’s most important artists of the era, including Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, and Füreya Koral. And in the 1970s and 1980s, İMÇ became a famous hub for Turkey’s music industry, whose vestiges linger in İMÇ blocks five and six.
More recently, the remaining recording studios have been joined by other sites of creative production: artist-run spaces, arts organizations, artists’ studios, and contemporary art galleries. The pioneers were artists Nancy Atakan and Volkan Aslan, who established the non-profit artist initiative 5533 in İMÇ way back in 2008 in a space formerly occupied by an industrial machinery company.
“They just give the keys to artists who have an idea for something they want to do,” says artist Didem Erbaş, organizer of the group show You&I&It (Sen&Ben&O), which opens at 5533 this Saturday after a month of talks and performances related to the exhibition theme of the “post-human gaze,” from the natural world to drone imagery.
Individual artists have been establishing studios in the complex over the years with another artist-run space, Non.Sight, setting up shop in 2021. But the new wave gained momentum in late 2023, when Bursa-based gallery İmalat-Hane opened an Istanbul project space at İMÇ and SAHA moved its public programming there from its previous location in the Beyoğlu district. Another gallery, YÜZONBİR, just opened last month with Özkan Işık’s solo show Kısır Gecesi, which plays with traditional ideas of heteronormative masculinity.
The entry of some larger cultural institutions into İMÇ does raise questions about potential gentrification impacts such as elevated rents while at the same time creating more opportunities for connections within and outside the art world. Artists in SAHA’s Studio program, a six-month residency, are encouraged to work with the manufacturing businesses at İMÇ to produce their works, Yentürk says.
The current group of SAHA Studio resident artists are presenting their work at an open studios event that runs through Saturday, featuring Hüseyin Aksoy’s paintings, video work, and research related to plants and ruins; Betül Aksu’s pieces of an imaginary city; Kıymet Daştan’s work with text and textiles; Nadir Sönmez’s video-performance project on gay tourism; and Zeynep Yılmaz’s exploration of the meaning of mountains.
Currently on view at İMÇ Block 5:
» SAHA Studio (No. 5560) is open to visitors from 12-6pm on 20-21 December, with artist talks at 6pm on Friday (Betül Aksu, in English) and 2pm (Zeynep Yılmaz), 4pm (Hüseyin Aksoy), and 6pm (Kıymet Daştan) on Saturday.
» You&I&It opens at No. 5533 from 5-7pm on 21 December and runs through 28 December (11am-5pm Mon-Fri and 12-7pm Sat) with a closing talk in Turkish between artists Didem Erbaş and Merve Ünsal at 4pm on 27 December.
» Özkan Işık's solo exhibition Kısır Gecesi is at YÜZONBİR (No. 5556) through 21 December 11 January; opening hours are 12-7pm Wed-Sat.
» The solo exhibition Ortada/It by artist Umut Azad Akkel is at İmalat-hane İMÇ Proje Alanı (No. 5541) through 28 December; opening hours are 12-6pm Tue-Sat.
UPDATE: Özkan Işık’s solo show “Kısır Gecesi” at YÜZONBİR has been extended until 11 January 2025.