Art rebels shake up Istanbul’s spring scene
Sunset cocktails and classic views at Bebek Hotel.
Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.
In a city that never truly chooses between chaos and charm, May brings exhibitions that revel in the tension, celebrating artists who refuse easy labels, terraces that keep reinventing glamour and books that remind us that Istanbul has always been a little bit wild after dark.
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Nazlan
1. Leading the week: Celebrating two art rebels
John Armleder’s “Yakety Yak,” 2022. (courtesy of the artist)
This spring, Dirimart’s twin spaces — Dolapdere and Pera — showcase two exhibitions that challenge how we see art, history and memory. From John Armleder’s joyous sabotage of traditional forms to Jak Ihmalyan’s politically charged visions of exile, both shows highlight two creators who never did things by the book, though their styles could not be further apart.
At Dirimart Dolapdere, “EVER” marks the first Turkish exhibition of Swiss artist John Armleder, co-founder of the Fluxus-inspired Groupe Ecart. Famous for turning puddles of paint, mirrored surfaces and household furniture into art, Armleder invites viewers to embrace pure chance. His massive 10-meter painting, “Yakety Yak,” dominates the space with cheerful chaos, while his classic “Furniture Sculptures” — and a new site-specific installation created during his stay in Istanbul — extend his playful interrogation of what art can be.
A few hills away, Dirimart Pera unveils the first major Istanbul show of Jak Ihmalyan, a Turkish Armenian artist forced into exile in 1949 for his Marxist beliefs. Moving between Beirut, Warsaw, Beijing and Moscow, Ihmalyan took on jobs as a radio host, teacher and graphic designer — yet painted relentlessly through it all. Nearly 100 works on view blend Anatolian folklore, socialist ideals and vivid personal memories into a deeply humanist vision.
Jak Ihmalyan’s “Hope,” 1974. (Courtesy of the gallery)
Dirimart Dolapdere: Irmak Caddesi 1-9 34440 Dolapdere. Through May 25.
Dirimart Pera: Mesrutiyet Caddesi 99 34430 Beyoglu. Through May 18
2. Word on the street: Bebek Hotel terrace
Bebek Hotel terrace — here to “stay” since the 1950s. (Bebek Hotel website)
A fixture of Istanbul’s social scene since the 1950s, the Bebek Hotel terrace remains the city’s most coveted perch for Bosphorus-gazing, where the sea sparkles, the rosé flows and aging celebrities sail in, one after another. After a meticulous renovation of the Bebek Hotel in 2019 under The Stay Collection, the terrace now pairs its iconic view with a refreshed — though, costlier — menu of Mediterranean and international dishes, served daily from 9:00 to 22:00. My hard-to-please sister and I had the most amazing cocktails at sunset. Still, the team assured us they were equally proud of their leisurely breakfast.
Address: Cevdet Pasa Caddesi No:34, 34342 Bebek
3. Istanbul diary
Arda Diben’s “City Killer.” (Courtesy of the gallery)
- At Akbank Sanat Beyoglu, “Dots/Dashes/Dots: S.O.S.,” curated by Hasan Bulent Kahraman, traces drawing as the line between destruction and reconstruction. This is the last week to see the works of Deniz Aktas, Arda Diben, Tugce Diri and Lara Sayilgan before it closes on May 9.
- Ilhak Altiparmak, whose textiles we admired in the “Istanbul Gaze” of February 28 issue, is back with “Soft Love” at Kairos Gallery, which asks whether love can punch harder than Cupid's arrows. Until May 17.
- Rast., the edgy newcomer on Beyoglu’s historic Simal Stairs, throws a dark party with “Misanthropy,” a show where loneliness, rage and irony waltz together. Until May 9.
4. Book of the week: “Midnight at the Pera Palace”
Charles King's “Midnight at the Pera Palace” offers a vivid portrait of a city caught between the ruins of an empire and the birth pangs of a new republic. Through the Pera Palace Hotel halls — where spies, writers, revolutionaries and rogues rubbed shoulders — King unpacks how Istanbul in the 1920s was a hotbed of intrigue, glamour and brutal change.
We meet unforgettable characters like Frederick Bruce Thomas, who was the son of a Mississippi slave and who ran a dazzling dance joint (more on that in next week’s “Book of the Week”), Trotsky in exile on the Princes’ Islands and even a young Joseph Goebbels, left awe-struck by the beauty of Hagia Sophia.
If you’d rather watch the Netflix series, adjust expectations: It borrows the name and a few costumes, but leaves the history politely at the door.
5. Istanbul gaze
“Kadifekale,” 2018, captured by Sinan Kilic. (Courtesy of the artist)
Izmir, to many Istanbuliots, is the stuff of Aegean daydreams: pastel houses, olive groves, vineyards, endless summer. Sinan Kilic’s lens finds a different Izmir: a gutted house, a black dog in midstep and a minaret etched against an emptied sky. Kadifekale’s old heart, demolished under landslide risk, is reduced to rubble.
Kilic, an iconoclast who loves taking down myths and prejudices, documents the slow erasures of the city and memory from his hometown. He co-founded Mahzen Photos and the independent art space No 238, and gives photography courses to underprivileged and refugee children.
6. By the numbers
- In Istanbul, April and May are tulip time, so let’s start there: About 3,000 tulip varieties were cultivated in Ottoman Istanbul during the so-called Tulip Era. Today, Istanbul Municipality plants around 30 million tulip bulbs across the city every spring, blanketing parks and avenues in color, according to the municipality’s website.
- Looking beyond tulips, Turkey is a biodiversity hotspot. It is home to roughly 11,000 plant species, with more than 3,700 of them found nowhere else on earth, official data show. It also hosts three global biodiversity hotspots — the Mediterranean, the Irano-Anatolian and the Caucasus regions — making the country a natural bridge between continents and climates.