Mutlu Yıllar / Happy New Year!
A brief look back at 2024
The past twelve months have brought in plenty of change, even just within the world covered by this newsletter: new directors at the Istanbul Biennial and the Istanbul Modern in the wake of controversies, new rules and admission fees for visits to the Hagia Sophia and the Chora Church, a new type of museum card for foreigners living in Turkey, the cancelling of MUBI’s Istanbul film festival in protest of censorship, and the banning and online rebirth of the beloved radio station Açık Radyo. So how to recap an eventful year?
These are some of my arts and culture highlights of 2024, in roughly chronological order – not a ‘best of’ list by any means, but simply a few of the moments, images, exhibitions, and events that stick out in my memory as reminders of just how powerful, beautiful, inspiring, intriguing, and fun creative expression can be.
Getting out of my Istanbul bubble and exploring a bit of the Los Angeles art scene and the splendid collection at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon
Choral music group Chromas’ resonant performance in the atrium at SALT Galata
Swedish artist Jennifer Rainsford’s cosmic visual poem All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars at SALT Beyoğlu
Artist Cevdet Erek’s shaman-like performance on his “Derisiz Defler” and Rafiel Lain and Angela Detanico’s gorgeously simple/simply breathtaking video “Flower Fields” at the Mardin Biennial
Zeyno Pekünlü’s menacingly mesmerizing video Without A Camera, screened with live soundtrack at Sendika
Being reminded of the range of expression found in one medium in Painting Today at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat
Playing with tricks of perception at Olafur Eliasson’s solo show Your unexpected encounter at Istanbul Modern [on until 9 February]
Berlin-based band Brass Riot making saxophones rock harder than you ever thought possible at the Istanbul Jazz Festival
Thinking about urban archaeology in new ways at artists Osman Bozkurt and Berka Beste Kopuz’s solo shows at Merdiven Art Space
Finnish artist Pia Männikkö’s hypnotic installation piece “Midsummer Night's Dream” inside Yeldeğirmeni Sanat, a lovely late 19th century former French church
Discovering the Tokatlıyan Han through the eyes and imaginations of the artists who work there
Inspiring talks on socially and politically engaged art by Nairi Khatchadourian, founding director of AHA collective, and Eyal Weizman, founder of Forensic Architecture, both at DEPO
Feeling all the emotions evoked by one color in the group show Distilled From Scattered Blue at Galerist
Having the bizarre rendered mundane and the ordinary start to appear strange while immersed in the group show Suppose You Are Not at Arter
Some personal and professional highlights of 2024:
Getting my first article published by BBC Travel, about newly restored heritage sites around Istanbul.
Covering the challenges facing Turkey’s LGBTQ+ art community; the reopening of the Chora Church in the context of concerns about Istanbul’s Byzantine heritage; controversy around the Mardin Biennial; and the work of artist Larissa Araz in articles for Hyperallergic.
Writing about the work of Istanbul-based studio SO? Architecture and Ideas for The Architectural Review.
Seeing the new Lonely Planet Turkey guidebook I contributed to finally published.
My first multi-day solo hike (on the Troy Culture Route), my first backpacking trip (in the Kaçkar mountains), my first experience with freediving, and a great running year including finally leading a run around all four of Istanbul’s main Princes’ Islands.
And of course… starting this newsletter. Thanks for being along for the ride!