What's on: Doc Days are here again, Music Festival kicks off, June gallery shows, and more
A biweekly roundup of art exhibitions, cultural events, and arts and culture news in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey.
A Feast of Documentary Films 🎥
Founded by a group of documentary filmmakers, Documentarist has been bringing artful, diverse, and impactful real-life stories to cinema screens in Turkey since 2008. Their latest Istanbul Documentary Days festival, which kicks off tomorrow, is no exception, with timely selections of films on Palestine (this year’s focus country) and on historical student uprisings in Mexico, Lebanon, Brazil, and the USA. The program also includes 12 films by featured director Alanis Obomsawin, an acclaimed Indigenous filmmaker from Canada (who unfortunately will not be able to attend the festival in person).
Three mini-retrospectives spotlight the work of Brazilian director Eduardo Coutinho, Serbian director Mila Turajlić, and Turkish director İmre Azem, including the latter’s prescient 2011 film Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits, about unchecked urban development in Istanbul; Turkey on the Edge, about the political crackdowns following the Gezi protests and the 2016 coup attempt; and Hatay: 24 December 2024 – 8 January 2025, about the aftermath of the devastating 6 February 2023 earthquakes.
My personal watchlist also includes Hand in Hand: Women from Yırca, about a rural resistance to coal-fired power plants; Radio, My Love, about women radio broadcasters in Turkey; Tomato Pepper Depression, on the challenges of village life; 100: The Story of a Newspaper, about the first Greek newspaper in the Turkish Republic; Sound Dreams of Istanbul (previously screened at the Istanbul Film Festival), about the city’s free improvisation music scene; and A Terrible Thing Happened, about the infamous 1993 massacre at the Madımak hotel in Sivas.
The festival program also includes other international selections, animated documentaries, and films on environmental issues and the lives of women and members of the global LGBTI+ community. All films are screened with English and Turkish subtitles unless otherwise stated.
Out of town this week? Documentarist also organizes the Which Human Rights? Film Festival each December and the ongoing SaturDox series of Saturday documentary screenings at Depo cultural center in Tophane.
18th Istanbul Documentary Days runs from 14 to 19 June with screenings and events at Aynalı Geçit, the French Cultural Center, Metrohan, Pera Museum, and Postane in Beyoğlu and at Eksi On Altı Mekan in Kadıköy. Screenings of films produced in Turkey are free of charge, others cost 100 TL per ticket (50 TL for students) or 750 TL / 350 TL for a 10-film combo pack. Tickets are available for sale at the venue entrances. See the Documentarist website for the full program and day-by-day schedule.
Cultural News in Brief 🗞
Turksh pop stars including Mabel Matiz, Cem Adrian, Hadise, Sertab Erener, and Melike Şahin who expressed support for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu after his arrest in March have reportedly been blacklisted from performing in a concert series being organized at the Ephesus ancient theater by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
The Rexx Sinema in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district has been demolished after closing in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus and unaffordable rent increases.
Popular protest band Grup Yorum has shared its full discography with the public via a Google Drive link after reportedly having some of its music removed from YouTube and Spotify.
Some major museums and archaeological sites around Turkey will be open for night visits again this summer; when the program was launched last year, some preservation experts raised concerns about its potential impact on fragile heritage.
Classical with a Twist or Two 🎼
The classical-focused Istanbul Music Festival opened this week with a performance by the Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Choir Bulgaria at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Taksim Square. The 53rd edition of the festival, which runs through 26 June, includes a concert by acclaimed Turkish pianist Fazıl Say with the Austrian chamber orchestra Camerata Salzburg (14 June); Geneva Camerata’s “Revolta,” which pairs hip-hop dance with symphonic music (18 June); a night of “classical disco” with Ah! Kosmos (20 June); a showcase of young women classical musicians (21 June); a concert tour of Büyükdere’s churches (21 June); a performance by the tango-tinged Cuarteto SolTango (22 June); and a celebration of shared Greek and Turkish cultural heritage at Christos Greek Orthodox Monastery on Kınalıdada (25 June).
For music-lovers on a budget (aren’t we all these days?), don’t miss the free concerts this weekend, in Yıldız Park in Beşiktaş on Saturday, 14 June, and Fenerbahçe Park in Kadıköy on Sunday, 15 June. Both events start at 5pm.
Short Takes: Gallery Shows to See this Month 🖼
The group show Everybody Knows features a diverse range of artists grappling with the political crises of the present moment, the possibilities for resistance, and the role of art in it all (to 28 June at G-art Gallery, Çukurcuma Caddesi, Hacı Osman Çikmaz No:5, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm). Artist Ali Taptık’s ongoing project Osmanbey: Social and Spatial Entanglements dives deep into the stories and urban fabric of one Istanbul neighborhood (to 15 June at SALT Galata, Bankalar Caddesi No:11, Karaköy; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun to 6pm). Nuri Kuzucan’s All Fragments of a Painting considers the relationship between art and architecture by playing with space and emptiness in an abstract way (to 28 June at Galerist, Meşrutiyet Caddesi No: 67/1; open Mon-Sat 11am-7pm). And the pioneering contemporary artist Gülsün Karamustafa’s A Sort of Invasion explores urban memory and different aspects of Istanbul’s identity (to 1 July at Merdiven Art Space and BüroSarıgedik, Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi No:31, Murat Han floors 1 and 2, Tophane; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm).
Recommended Reads etc 📚 🎧
The spirit of creative resistance, collaboration, and political solidarity is alive and well at İMÇ, Kaya Genç writes for Frieze. (ICYMI, I also wrote about the growing art scene at İMÇ for this newsletter late last year.)
The authentic sound of Byzantine chants is being revived by the Greek community in Istanbul’s Balat neighborhood, Lina Giannarou writes for Kathimerini.
Palestine's literary scene is thriving despite attempts at erasure, attacks, and the horrors of war, author Selma Dabbagh tells New Humanist.
Antiquities smuggling is surging in Syria after the fall of the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, with looted goods sold freely on Facebook, William Christou reports for The Guardian.
Get some new tunes in rotation with playlists of Turkish Black Sea music (compiled by Jocette Arıbeyi), metal songs about Istanbul (compiled by historian Jeremy Swist), and contemporary Turkish favorites (compiled by film director Ümit Ünal).