What's on: Animals in art, Istanbul's multi-layered past, and more
A biweekly roundup of art exhibitions, cultural events, and arts and culture news in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey.
Animals in art at SALT, Yapı Kredi, and İMÇ
Just a couple of weeks before Turkey’s top court upheld a controversial law on culling of stray dogs, a large new exhibition opened at SALT Beyoğlu that asks viewers to reconsider the relationship between humans and animals. Centered around the work of the late Iraqi-German artist Lin May Saeed, The Lives of Animals features both humorous and poignant pieces in a variety of mediums by more than two dozen artists as well as an archival project that dives deep into the history of street dogs in Istanbul. Just up the road at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat, animals take on metaphorical weight in the paintings and drawings of İlhan Sayın (such as his tender pencil sketch “Stray Dogs”), whose The Night of The Deer shares the space with Fulya Çetin’s excellent Daydreams. And this weekend İMÇ hosts a fundraising “Four-Legged Exhibition” for street animals with works by 21 artists, performances, and mask-making workshops.
The Lives of Animals is at SALT Beyoğlu until 10 August (İstiklal Caddesi No:136, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-6pm; free admission).
The Night of The Deer is at Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat until 4 January 2026 (İstiklal Caddesi No:161, Beyoğlu; open Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 11am-7pm, Sun noon-7pm; free).
⏰ Four-Legged Exhibition (Dört Ayaklı Sergi) is at İMÇ 5. Blok No. 5533–5554 and 6. Blok No. 6531 on 30 and 31 May (today and tomorrow) only (Atatürk Bulvarı, Fatih; open 3pm to 7pm; free, click here for program details).
Last Chance: Exhibitions ending soon ⏰
Contact (to 31 May) – Three photographers share their contact sheets alongside final prints for a glimpse into their process in this small show at Fotoğrafevi (Münir Özkul Sokak Raif Bey Apt. No:7, D:1, Cihangir, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat 1-6pm).
Kipple (extended to 21 June
4 June) – Irish photographer Samuel Laurence Cunnane’s images have the vibe of ‘70s film stills and an eerie sense that something is about to happen (at Öktem Aykut, Meşrutiyet Caddesi No:99, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat noon-7pm).Can’t Come, Still Emerging (extended to 21 June
4 June) – Artist Melih Çebi pokes at tech addictions and self-involved bubbles in this pop art-influenced show (at Pilot, Sıraselviler Caddesi No:85/A, Cihangir, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat 11am-6pm).Spectral Variations (to 8 June) – Brett Sroka’s mobile-style sculptures give visual form to the harmonic series underlying music. The artist will be at the space for an open studio on 31 May and 1 June from around 11am to 6pm. Upstairs, the Binding References mini-festival (to 5 June) features works by artists from Germany and Turkey accompanied by various events (at Barın Han, Boyacı Ahmet Sokak No:4, Çemberlitaş, Fatih; open Tue-Sun 10am-6pm).
Istanbul’s multi-layered past at Kazlıçeşme Sanat
As the wife of Ottoman court painter Fausto Zonaro, the Italian photographer Elisa Zonaro had a ringside seat on late 19th-century Istanbul, with access to official ceremonies and figures. But she also ranged widely throughout the city, capturing the daily lives of people from many social classes, as an exhibition of her work ending this weekend at Kazlıçeşme Sanat in Zeytinburnu shows. Elisa Zonaro’s Istanbul also includes some of Fausto’s paintings and their family artifacts; the exhibition captions and texts are only in Turkish, so download the bilingual catalog to follow along in English.
The red-brick building, a former Ottoman military hospital, also contains a permanent exhibition of a 5th century late Roman/early Byzantine-era mosaic that was discovered during restoration work in the 2010s.
You can see part of the mosaic through the floor inside the building (all the way at the back), where texts in English and Turkish explain the art and history of mosaic-making, and part underneath the building, where there are glass walkways above the mosaic as well as a Byzantine-era sarcophagus and tomb. The mosaic is thought to have originally decorated the floor of a villa and lay buried under a parking lot until recently.
Operated by the Zeytinburnu Municipality, Kazlıçeşme Sanat is a short walk from the Zeytinburnu Marmaray station. There’s a restaurant in the complex, but more adventurous eaters may want to venture inland to explore a small cluster of Afghan restaurants amidst the neighborhood’s leather and textile shops; the Afghan mantı (mantu) I had at Afghan Pamir was a delicious twist on the usual Turkish style, with a creamy sauce of spiced yellow lentils.
Elisa Zonaro’s Istanbul is at Kazlıçeşme Sanat (Hacı Reşit Bey Sokak No:7-9, Zeytinburnu) until 31 May (tomorrow) only; the mosaic is on permanent display. Open Tue-Sun 10am-6pm; free admission.
Recommended Reads etc 📚 🎧 🎥
Mark the 12th anniversary of the Gezi Park protests this week with a watch (or rewatch) of photojournalist Emin Özmen’s short documentary Witnessing Gezi.
Lara Fresko Madra writes insightfully for e-flux about states of waiting in Zeyno Pekünlü’s first solo exhibition in the U.S., Perfect Loop, featuring work previously shown at Sanatorium gallery in Istanbul.
In The Art Newspaper, Ayla Jean Yackley writes about the Troy Museum in Çanakkale and its forays into exhibiting contemporary art alongside its main collection of historical artifacts.
After K-pop, will T-pop be the next big thing? Eda Uysen writes about the Turkish girl-group Manifest for Rolling Stone.
The Fall of Civilizations podcast was one of my pandemic obsessions; creator Paul Cooper published a book of the same title last year, which Iason Athanasiadis reviews for The Markaz Review with an eye on the parallels these stories of greatness and decline draw with the present day.
It was fun to recently run across this 2022 interview with Istanbul-based DJ Kornelia Binicewicz, talking with We are Europe about her Ladies On Records project.