Embraceable (E)U: Poland’s sculpture garden blooms in Ankara
Nostalgic Istanbul galleries, rising contemporary artists, and earthquake survivor stories.
Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.
This week, the Istanbul Newsletter takes a detour, traveling from Istanbul to Ankara to explore what the capital has to offer, from the stylized goat sculptures at the city’s airport to the open-air sculpture gardens behind an embassy wall.
Istanbul, the capital of three empires, likes to boast that it still rules Turkey’s cultural scene. But Ankara, the landlocked city hand-picked by the country’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, also has some trump cards: stellar museums, literary tradition and an events calendar that runs deep.
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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)
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1. Leading the week: Embraceable (E)U
“Human Cloud” by Aykut Oz. (Courtesy of Demarche)
Unlike Istanbul, gardens are not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of gray, bureaucratic Ankara. Yet the city has great parks and, behind tall walls, surprisingly lush ambassadorial gardens.
Earlier in June, the Polish Embassy’s garden turned gallery for “Kavusma / Embrace,” an open-air sculpture show curated by Attila Gullu, the sharp-eyed impresario who led Bilkent University’s renowned art gallery for decades. Six Polish and Turkish artists placed their works among the trees and walkways with quiet intent.
Beata Zalewska’s “Poplar Valley” pairs nature with womanhood. Aysel Alver’s “Cannot Be Done,” a girl poised in yoga stillness, stands before the embassy’s austere modernist facade. Aykut Oz suspends fairy-tale creatures and unsaid thoughts like fruit from trees.
The venue itself is a testament to the early friendship between Turkey and Poland. Poland was among the first nations to recognize the young Turkish republic and relocated its embassy to Ankara in 1927, securing a generous plot in the heart of the city.
Over the years, Poland ceded parts of the grounds — first for the widening of Ataturk Boulevard, then for what is now the genteel Kugulu Park, Radoslaw Sadowski, charge d'affaires of the Polish Embassy, told Al-Monitor.
If Turkish-Polish links kindle your curiosity, there are two must-sees in Istanbul: the leafy enclave of Polonezkoy (aka Adampol), a Polish village founded in 1842 in Beykoz; and the Adam Mickiewicz Museum in Beyoglu, where the poet lived and died during the Crimean War.
“Cannot be Done,” by Aysel Alver. (Courtesy of Attila Gullu)
The show is open on Thursdays through the end of September. E-mail ankara.amb.rsvp@msz.gov.pl at least three days in advance to arrange a visit.
2. Word on the street: Siyah Beyaz
Nostalgic, deeply political and artistic – a scene from the film “Black and White.” (IMDB)
Since 1984, Galeri Siyah Beyaz (Black-and-White) has blended gallery quiet with barroom camaraderie in a mid-century apartment near Kugulu Park. Upstairs, it showcases Turkish and international art; downstairs, the bar hums with nostalgia. Black and white portraits of cultural icons and political figures line the walls, and music sessions often close with the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black.”
The bar, its founders and its regulars are also immortalized in Ahmet Boyacioglu’s 2010 film “Black and White.” Together, the gallery, the bar, and the film form a triad of Republic-era reflection — art, drink, and story in black, white and all the shades in between.
While you’re there, explore the surrounding Chile Square — once home to this lone establishment, now a lively hub of bars and culture.
3. Turkey diary
“Au Marche” by Fikret Mualla. (Courtesy of Hancan Art Collection/Erimtan Museum)
The Erimtan Museum in Ankara presents “A Route at the Limits of the Mind,” a contemplative exploration of 20th-century expressionist Fikret Mualla’s gouaches and sketches, curated by Ebru Nalan Sulun. Whilst there, take a look at the great archaeological collection.
Back to Istanbul, the last two weeks to catch the Akbank 43rd Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition at Akbank Sanat, showcasing 27 rising talents exploring friendship, ecosystems, and unexpected connections. Closes on July 31.
On the coast in Bodrum, the International Gumusluk Music Festival brings global sounds to the Aegean coast from this week through early September, with guests like Katya Apekisheva, Jean-Philippe Collard, and Gulsin Onay.
4. Books of the week: “Noontime in Yenisehir”
Sevgi Soysal’s 1973 modernist classic unfolds over a single hour in 1970s Ankara, where a fallen poplar tree triggers a cascade of intersecting stories. The English edition, “Noontime in Yenisehir,” translated by Amy Spangler and published in 2016, blends irony, idealism and political tension through students, civil servants, anxious mothers and rebellious daughters. My personal favorite for anyone who hopes to understand Turkey, then or now.
5. Turkey gaze
Pinar Bakar, survivor and innovator, taming fire. (Courtesy of EU Delegation to Turkey)
Flames curl around a copper pan as Pinar Bakar cooks with quiet intensity. Her portrait, part of the EU’s “One Life, One Story” exhibition, tells a story of survival. Trapped under rubble in the devastating February 2023 earthquake, she emerged with 96 fractures and fierce resolve.
With EU support, she opened a restaurant named after her late son and now trains young chefs, including refugees, at the Ipekyolu Social Entrepreneurship Centre. The exhibition debuted at the European Parliament, then had a brief stop at Ankara’s Erimtan Museum. The book is available free from the EU Delegation to Turkey and EU Info Network points.
6. By the numbers
- Istanbul’s metro population tops 16 million; three times that of Ankara, according to official statistics.
- Istanbul produces over 30% of Turkey’s GDP; Ankara contributes around 10%.
- Despite public perceptions that Istanbul is thrice as expensive as Ankara, livingcosts.org says Istanbul is just 10–12% pricier than Ankara in daily living costs.