Cabinets, couture and curiosities in Istanbul
Explore a fashion-infused hotel, mythic art, and a deep dive into the city’s antique scene.
Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.
This week, we open literal and metaphorical drawers in the city's most theatrical minds and myth-infused corners. From a boutique hotel with a fashion wing to an artist's psychological salon, our Cabinet of Curiosities edition is all about glamorously unsettling the present.
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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)
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1. Leading the week: Kezban’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Whimsical and unhinged: Kezban at her cabinet. (Courtesy of the artist)
Multimedia artist Kezban Arca Batibeki was born into Turkish cinema royalty. Her father, Atif Yilmaz, who directed over 100 films, shaped the Golden Age of Yesilcam, the Turkish equivalent of Hollywood. Her mother, Nurhan Nur, was a legendary beauty of the white screen. Batibeki was named “Kezban” after a naive but courageous heroine in Yilmaz’s filmography.
Batibeki’s “Kezban’s Cabinet of Curiosities” at MeshRu Istanbul, a relatively new gallery located near the historic Pera Hotel, is a room-sized puzzle. Inspired by the clutter and character of her own studio, the artist has curated a cabinet of 37 new works that blur the line between installation, archive and autobiography. The toy-sized figures of her favorite artists, mirrors with eyes (Snow White’s Evil Stepmother, anyone?) and multimedia artworks with Medusa heads, snakes (Eve, Medusa or Freud?), ropes and blindfolds dominate the scene. Scattered throughout are pulp romance novels, leopard-print fabrics, wigs and quotes (“I can’t believe I forgot to have children”).
Mustaches and blindfolds – Kezban’s cabinet is filled with surprises. (Photo courtesy of Nazlan Ertan)
This is not a white cube experience, but lipstick and latex, memory and myth, boudoir and battlefield. Batibeki’s work toys with glamour, control, pressure and artifice that often lie beneath. Women in her universe are not just muses; they are performers, temptresses, rebels and archivists of their own experiences.
A little Cindy Sherman, a little Atif Yilmaz and a lot of Batibeki — this cabinet of curiosities dares you to look twice at your own past, self-image and, dare I say it, Electra complex.
Date: Through Sept. 30
Location: Mesrutiyet Cad. No: 99 Asmalimescit
2. Word on the street: The Talented Mr. CAS
One of Mr. CAS’ amazing corners. (Photo courtesy of Mr. CAS)
The best-kept secret of Istiklal isn’t a jazz club or a forgotten passage. Meet Mr. CAS — a boutique hotel named after a mysterious gentleman once said to have lived across from the opulent Cicek Pasaji, famed for hosting the most spectacular parties. Housed in the elegant Guney Palas, built in 1900 and renovated by Erhan Sagir and Kitchen-ist in 2016, the hotel boasts 35 high-ceilinged rooms, velvet or leather-clad settees on every floor and front-row views of Galatasaray Lisesi’s garden.
The hotel includes a mini-museum devoted to couture legend Yildirim Mayruk, featuring three gowns and his original sewing machine (below). Mayruk, likened to Yves Saint Laurent for his flawless tailoring and reverence for form, brought the same devotion to elegance and structure to Istanbul couture that YSL did to Paris.
Yildirim Mayruk Corner. (Photo courtesy of Mr. CAS)
Three floors up, the rooftop bar serves craft cocktails with sweeping views of the Golden Horn, Galata and Topkapi. In short, the hotel is a blend of Art Nouveau elegance and modern mischief, featuring myth-inspired sculptures, custom-made furniture, and a lingering thought that Mr. CAS might just be an urban myth based on the talented Mr. Mayruk.
3. Istanbul diary
Mariana Vassileva’s “Selfmade.” (Photo courtesy of Arter Collection/ Kayhan Kaygusuz)
- Arter’s “Under Pressure Above Water,” curated by Nilufer Sasmazer, brings together 15 artists and 33 works to explore how we stay afloat amid crisis, collapse and chronic anxiety — and what art can do with fear. Alert: The entire museum will stay open until midnight on June 21, marking the longest night of the year. While the late-evening guided tours are in Turkish, there is an English guided tour at noon.
- At Zilberman Dialogues, Memed Erdener’s “You Are Not One of Us So You Are One of Us” confronts the post-human condition with sharp irony and conceptual muscle. Once known as “Extrastruggle,” Erdener now offers a deadpan meditation on sameness, silence and the machine we’ve become. The exhibition is on display through July 26.
- On June 24, the Istanbul Philharmonic and Resonance Choir brought Mendelssohn’s full “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” score to life at Turk Telekom Opera Salonu to mark their 80th anniversary. You may try to find much-coveted tickets here.
4. Book/watch of the week: Istanbul Encyclopedia
Helin Akdemir, as “Zehra” in “Istanbul Encyclopedia,” gazes at Istanbul with curiosity and bemusement. (Official photo courtesy of Netflix)
Before there was Wikipedia, there was Resad Ekrem Kocu, the Ottoman flaneur who in 1944 set out to catalog “everything” about Istanbul, from firemen's uniforms to scandalous murders. His sprawling, unfinished “Istanbul Encyclopedia” remains a masterpiece of obsession. Then there is Netflix’s new series of the same name, which doesn’t adapt the encyclopedia so much as channel its eccentric soul. In this series, where one heroine tries to fit into İstanbul and the other to get out of it, each episode zooms in on a quirky corner of the city and lets Istanbul narrate itself.
5. Istanbul gaze
Playfully staged – 2013 “Natural History” by Nazif Topcuoglu. (Photo courtesy of Nazlan Ertan)
Nazif Topcuoglu, a photographer and multimedia artist known for his staged narratives and visual wit, transforms the still life into a tableau of cultural commentary in “Natural History.” Drawing on the aesthetics of 17th-century curiosity cabinets and 20th-century film sets, he assembles a surreal interior from porcelain, dried flowers and household debris. Delightfully artificial, the image functions as a visual pun, perfectly at home in the exhibition “Staged,” curated by Billur Tansel at Arkas Alacati Cultural Center.
6. By the numbers
- 150+ antique dealers operate in Istanbul’s Cukurcuma neighborhood alone — a maze of ottomans, brass telescopes and taxidermied peacocks. Add the 200+ vendors at Horhor Antique Bazaar and weekend stalls across Kadikoy, Ferikoy and Mecidiyekoy, and the city easily hosts over 500 dedicated antique sellers, according to city stats.
- Turkey’s broader secondhand retail sector — which includes antiques, vintage furniture, household goods and clothing — is projected to reach 230.8 million euros in 2025, with 3,415 registered businesses across the country. Not every item is museum-worthy, but the national appetite for all things preloved is growing.