A Museum in motion at Arter |
Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.
“April is the cruellest month,” wrote T. S. Eliot, “breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain.”
It is cruel, this year, in the way it sharpens perception. In a recent essay, Hannah Lucinda Smith traces how Istanbul, once so legible in its chaos, has grown heavier, its rhythms dulled by a slow accumulation of strain. A must-read for the fans of this insightful and articulate author and journalist.
And yet, Istanbul insists on its layers. In Dolapdere, daring art museum Arter turns inward with “Work in Progress,” revisiting its own making in a neighborhood that once raised eyebrows. Its cafe invites you to linger between books and thoughts. Across the city, artists conjure monsters, silence and data into new forms, while on Buyukada, a vast orphanage stands suspended between memory and decay.
If you want to receive this newsletter or our other new weekly City Pulse newsletters — for Doha, Dubai and Riyadh — sign up here.
Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)
P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.
Also, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram: @citypulsealm
1. Leading the week: 'Work in Progress'
Gozde Ilkin’s “Bosphorus Tour,” embroidery and paint on fabric (Firat Ruzgar/ Arter)
There was a time when placing a contemporary art institution in Dolapdere, long written off as rough-edged, neglected and stubbornly outside Istanbul’s cultural comfort zone, felt almost mischievous. When Arter unveiled its new home in 2019 and moved there from its home on Istiklal, reactions hovered between intrigue and skepticism. The building was immaculate; the surroundings were not.
Now, with “Work in Progress,” Arter turns that contrast into content. Curated by Emre Baykal, the exhibition gathers works drawn from more than 300 pieces produced or supported by the institution over the past 15 years, pairing them with new commissions that continue that lineage. The result is a portrait of an institution through the works it has midwifed, collected and lived with.
The show unfolds across the building, slipping from gallery spaces into corridors and public areas. On the entrance level, works orbit around how we leave marks on the world. One floor below, the mood shifts inward: Architecture, spatial memory and the choreography between........