Co-founded by two brothers, interior architect Enis Karavil and entrepreneur Amir Karavil, SanayiI313 is a prolific design studio also operating a contemporary eatery,  a curated boutique and an online publication. The duo is based in a converted auto repair shop in an industrial district of Istanbul, and it is this location’s heritage that has inspired their latest launch.

Located on the European side of the city, just north of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the neighbourhood of Atatürk Oto Sanay in Maslak is one of the first planned industrial zones in Istanbul. Its streets are lined with warehouses and non-descript buildings housing garages and car repair shops.

The 313 Lounge collection by Sanayi313

‘The products are the outcome of our daily-life encounters, a dialogue between the spirit and culture of this industrial zone and aesthetic beauty,’ explains Enis Karavil, the studio’s creative director. And this ordinary context, which others might call full of ‘visual pollution’, has proved particularly inspiring for the pair, with the new 313 Lounge collection including six different pieces of furniture.

Crafted from hard-wearing materials, the bulky yet sculptural pieces refer both to the surrounding built environment, using ‘industrial’ stainless steel, glass and metal, and to the automobiles themselves, with leather work and maple burl veneer nodding to the interiors of classic cars.

The ‘14313’ lounge chair is made of what looks like thick slabs of maple burl veneer, and is also available in a leather-upholstered version, while the low-slung ‘19313’ daybed feature more maple veneer as well as leather-upholstered armrests.

Completing the offering is the matching and equally monolithic ‘3313’ coffee table; the generously-sized glass-topped ‘21313’ dining table; and a new version in stainless steel of the studio’s signature ‘07313’ tiered twin side tables.

All are perfect examples of Enis Karavil’s approach, which he describes as ‘maximalist expressions in minimalist details’. And it’s not just the aesthetics but also the manufacturing that is local: Sanayi313 works directly with neighbouring craftspeople and artisans to realise its prototypes and finished pieces.

Sanayi313’s '313 Lounge' collection will launch in Europe during Copenhagen’s 3daysofdesign, from 12-14 June 2024

sanayi313.com

The location of this Istanbul mosque, the island of Büyükada, about an hour away via a ride on the city's historic vapur (ferry), is a welcomed detachment from the Turkish metropolis' intense bustle. Once the summer getaway of Istanbul’s well-heeled Greek, Armenian, and Jewish people, and members of the Ottoman court, former lavish residences line the car-free streets in between flowering trees and private gardens. Here, on the island’s northwestern side, an old mosque with great functional inadequacies was replaced with a new design, created by the Istanbul-based architecture practice Degostudio.

Step inside this modern Istanbul mosque

Deviating entirely from the typical mosque style seen all over Istanbul, Degostudio focused on a structure of original aesthetic that aims to harmonise with its surroundings. A 'different' mosque emerged, replacing the old, with a contemporary, structurally competent design, which solved previous functional issues such as a lack of disabled access and natural light and air.

Located on a relatively small parcel of 200 sq m, the project features seemingly fragmented walls – the mosque’s main façade elements. This feature was the result of the parcel layout and the relationship of facing Qibla. To increase the worship space (and capacity), the mosque’s mass was positioned symmetrically, narrowing from two sides towards the mihrab, which can be viewed from every point of prayer within the main space.

Two more elements complete the main mosque mass: a staircase that provides access to the mezzanine and is surrounded by curvilinear walls, and the minaret itself, the building’s only vertical element. Without a dome, often found in the classic mosque design, the minaret of the new Nizam Mosque is the only indicator of its religious symbolism.

Vertical joinery placed between segmented walls not only lightens the structure but also allows for natural light to stream into the interior during the day, following the movement of the sun as it's felt within the space. 

To prevent thermal load within the building, especially on hot summer days, metal sunshades were placed in front of the mihrab joinery. Inspired by traditional patterns, the ornate shadows that fall within the interior at different times of the day act as a form of dynamic decoration.

Overall, decorative elements were kept modest, and include Kufic inscription on the exterior wall. Specially designed hexagonal ceramics on the mosque’s side walls, reminiscent of the traditional Iznik tile designs, and the carvings on the wooden entrance door were influenced by traditional decorations. 

Once again deviating from the typology's norm, the mihrab was treated as a niche, devoid of ornaments, and the pulpit is a simple cantilever staircase. The wood-panelled, suspended ceiling is completed with opening skylights at two points, allowing for hot air to be diffused naturally.

dego.studio

A Michelin-starred restaurant connotes many things: exceptional food, acclaimed chefs, a rarefied atmosphere, elite guests, glamour, and prestige. Arkestra, the Istanbul restaurant from the young Turkish-born, French-trained chef Cenk Debensason and his partner in life and business Debora Ipekel, has all these qualities, but with an added element few such restaurants share: fun.

Arkestra is home to a restaurant, a bar, and a bistro

The restaurant is one of the first in Turkey to receive a Michelin star – an achievement made all the more impressive since it only opened a little over a year ago. In addition to the restaurant, set in a refurbished 1960s residential villa, Debensason and Ipekel opened a buzzy bar upstairs called The Listening Room and, as of last month, a bistro called Ritmo across the hall from the main dining room. All three offer a different dining experience, but together, they suggest that the Arkestra project is poised to set a new, more joyful standard of what a fine dining restaurant can be.

From the outset, Debensason and Ipekel wanted their venue to have a casual but opulent atmosphere to make guests feel the excitement of going somewhere special without the rigidity or seriousness of many fine dining establishments. At Arkestra, guests can choose from a seasonal menu that is heavy on French influence but also draws from Japanese, Italian, Mexican and Thai flavours.

A restaurant’s bread and butter is usually a telling barometer of how the meal will be; if its most standard dish is impressive, chances are the rest of the menu will be as well. That principle is certainly true at Arkestra, where the potato bread is fermented for five days, baked into an airy roll, grilled and served alongside burnt butter, whipped in an ice cream machine and finished with bright green scallion oil. It has the soft, creamy consistency of challah with a malty, slightly smoky taste; unique but not so experimental that it loses its straightforward deliciousness. That balance between innovation and accessibility extends to all of Arkestra’s dishes.

Stand-out examples include the tuna sashimi – the most ordered dish on the menu – which combines delicate tuna slices with sushi rice ice cream and crunchy puffed rice for an intriguing texture combination that heightens the freshness of the tuna and its ginger ponzu vinaigrette. Meanwhile, the katsu sando is a perfect strip of succulent steak sandwiched between two buttery pieces of bread with a sweet and savoury sauce.

Debensason’s freewheeling and expansive approach to Akestra’s menu is echoed in the restaurant’s interiors. Designed by Tayfun Mumcu, an elusive architect who doesn’t have a website or any social media but with a prestigious reputation, the space combines cosy elements like wood-panelled walls and caramel-coloured leather booths with glamorous touches such as retrofuturist crystal chandeliers.

The Listening Room

At the Listening Room, Ipekel applies her former experience as a music programmer for Boiler Room and an NTS Radio host by curating a roster of local and international DJs with sets that range from jazz, disco, hip hop, and more. With a hand-painted mural on the walls and snug leather seats, The Listening Room is an elegant bar for pre-dinner drinks, yet on weekends, as the night wears on, the space transforms into a boisterous dance floor with a packed crowd spilling out onto balconies.

Ritmo

Ritmo has a slightly more tempered atmosphere than the Listening Room and offers a more intimate and relaxed alternative to the dining experience at Arkestra. The menu includes palm-sized oysters filled with champagne sabayon, rich beef tartare enlivened by gochujang sauce and served with crunchy rice crackers, and an unexpectedly delicious combination of caramelised Jerusalem artichokes with white chocolate potato.

Whether you are a dessert person or not, you shouldn’t leave without trying the churros with a decadent chocolate sauce spiced with Japanese togarashi spice. From the cocktail menu, a must-try is the Salted Grapefruit Mule, a dangerously drinkable, Paloma-like concoction blending vodka and orange liqueur with salted grapefruit cordial and spicy ginger.

‘We wanted Ritmo to have an entirely different identity to everything else on offer at Arkestra,’ says Debensason about the new space. ‘Working with Tayfun to create such an original space also influenced the plates we’re serving – we want guests to feel like Ritmo is their second home but that there will always be an element of surprise when they drop by.’

With Arkestra, Debensason and Ipekel have undoubtedly created a one-stop destination for every night out – an exceptional meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant, cocktails with friends, or an evening spent dancing into the early hours.

arkestra.com.tr

The Istanbul Modern, founded in 2004, returns to its original location on the historic Karaköy waterfront on the European side of the Bosporus, in a striking new contemporary architectural statement in glass, concrete and steel by Italian architect Renzo Piano and his studio. The new museum, designed to house modern and contemporary works of art from 1945 to the present, marks the final stage of Galataport, an ambitious urban renewal project that has seen a strip of the once inaccessible waterfront of warehouses and government buildings transformed into a cultural hub of Turkish and international boutiques, and luxury department stores such as Beymen and Gizia, along with chic restaurants, bars and offices.

Istanbul Modern by Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Piano is no stranger to melding heritage and innovation, and Istanbul Modern sits comfortably between the newly created public waterfront promenade that leads from The Peninsula Istanbul near Galata Bridge on one side, past the museum to shops and restaurants on the other, and to nearby Clock Tower Square. Here, historic landmarks abound, including the Tophane Clock Tower, Fountain and Pavilion, the Mimar Sinan Kılıç Ali Paşa Complex, and Nusretiye Mosque, as well as the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Museum of Painting and Sculpture.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop's sensitive response to the location is an engaging façade, where art and activities – and the Bosporus - are visible from indoors and out. A cavernous basement set aside for car and coach parking, deliveries and all other building services, keeps the surrounding area free from clutter, and the ground floor is wrapped in transparent windows with entrances from both the waterfront and the plaza towards the city. The rest of the building is clad in 3D-formed aluminium panels that evoke a ship, and as any ocean-going traveller knows, the most spectacular views are from the interior.

The studio's expertise lies in crafting spaces for art that function as well as they look. The ground floor of the simple 10,500 sq m geometric building feels especially welcoming. There are sculptures outdoors and inside there is a library, which is open to the public free of charge. There are also education and event spaces, a café, and an unusually large shop with interesting and original items by Turkish artists and designers. The wide central staircase Piano has designed to appear to float is a clever construction of high-performance cast concrete steps with glass balustrades, suspended by steel rods. 

At the time of opening, the staircase features Your Unexpected Journey (2021), a three-part, site-specific installation by Olafur Eliasson, which highlights the sense of being immersed in space. However, architectural enthusiasts should first head to the inaugural exhibition that focuses on the building’s design and construction, with models and a display of exceptional images taken throughout by architectural photographer Cemal Emden. 

In addition to spacious, stylish staff offices furnished with Vitra pieces, the first floor contains several galleries and a dedicated space for pop-ups, and a restaurant with panoramic Bosporus views from an outdoor terrace. One floor above, is a gallery that is dedicated to the museum’s permanent collection of contemporary art from Turkey and beyond.

The museum appears simple, yet is sophisticated, eschewing decoration for finesse in the detailing. There are super-slim columns that provide maximum flexibility for showing art; ultra-clear glass supplied by Saint-Gobain Glass; a sea of photovoltaic panels; and perfectly precise detailing of symmetrical joints and light tracks. Not to mention a special state-of-the-art bracing system to accommodate the highest level of seismic activity, which can be experienced in the region.  

However, the pièce de résistance is the simple and inspired rooftop, where Piano has installed a shallow infinity pond perfectly reflecting the bustling Bosporus and the steep hillside of Beyoğlu. This vista, complete with the iconic Galata Tower built by the Genoese in 1348-49, proves that in Istanbul, heritage and innovation always go best hand-in-hand.

'Since our doors opened in 2004, Istanbul Modern has played a pivotal role in the cultural and artistic life of Istanbul. Showcasing Turkey’s artistic heritage, creativity, and dynamism, the museum quickly became an important cultural destination for people across the city, and from around the world, staging major exhibitions of modern and contemporary art from Turkey and beyond, alongside a vibrant public program. With the momentum provided by this new, world-class building designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, we aim to strengthen Istanbul Modern’s position among the global leading centers of art,' says Oya Eczacıbaşı, Chair of Istanbul Modern. 

rpbw.com 

Istanbul is confounding and enthralling, with a multitudinous past and a vivacious present. Ambitious architectural projects, such as the soon-to-open Istanbul Modern contemporary art museum designed by Renzo Piano and the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture by Emre Arolat, are propelling the city forward. 

Five of Istanbul’s most eminent chefs, who have been defining modern Turkish cuisine for years, received their Michelin stars in 2022, expanding the city’s fine dining scene to international fame. And on the down-low, Istanbul is also facing its past with the Miras (Heritage) project by the Istanbul Municipality, which has been actively restoring abandoned historic structures, from Ottoman fountains to dilapidated neoclassical apartments, and turning them into public cultural spaces.

Here, for our design-led tour of Istanbul, travel writer and author of the guidebook, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Istanbul, Feride Yalav-Heckeroth shares some of her favourite discoveries from her favourite city.

What to do in Istanbul: a design lover’s guide

Florya Atatürk Marine Mansion

A structure that rarely makes the list of popular Istanbul sights, Atatürk’s secret summer home in Florya is a Bauhaus dream that seems to float above the sea. Built in 1935 by the Turkish architect Seyfi Erkan, who worked with Hans Poelzig in Berlin, the house served as a getaway for the first president of the newly formed republic. Nowadays, the sea mansion is a museum, with its impeccable Bauhaus furniture as well as personal belongings and photos of Atatürk on display; a real journey back in time. Another nostalgic experience awaits a few steps away in Beyti, the city’s best kebab restaurant, inside a stunning brutalist structure from the 1970s with Ottoman-inspired details by the renowned Turkish architect Yılmaz Sanlı. 

turkishmuseums.com

@beytilokantasi

Cendere Sanat

Part of the Istanbul Municipality’s Miras restoration project, the former Cendere Hamidiye Pumping Station – built in 1902 to provide water to around 100 fountains around the city during the Ottoman era – was restored to become the Cendere Sanat art gallery and cultural centre. In its garden with a historic plane tree, a glass pavilion, created by the Istanbul-based firm Zemberek Design, features a modern café with a sunny outdoor terrace. 

@cenderesanatmuzesi

@ibbmiras

Kutnia

Aiming to revive kutnu – a traditional silk and cotton blend fabric from Gaziantep once worn exclusively by the Ottoman sultans – Kutnia was established in 2017 by Jülide Konukoğlu. Working alongside designers Günseli Türkay and Selen Şahin, the sustainability-focused brand creates both modern ready-to-wear womenswear collections as well as home textiles. With every bit of fabric produced by master Gaziantep artisans, Kutnia’s luxurious collections are rich in colour as well as craftsmanship. 

kutnia.com

@kutnia_official

Mürver

Overlooking the Bosphorus and the historic peninsula, Mürver is Michelin Young Chef Award-winner Mevlüt Özkaya’s gastronomic sanctum, where ingredients from the Turkish land and sea are prepared on an open-flame wood-fired grill. The octopus in ash with sumac, isot pepper and sour pomegranate, and the Trakya kıvırcık, slow roasted lamb shoulder with smoked firik wheat, spicy apricot compote and salted yogurt have become classics, as have the restaurant’s signature cocktails. 

murverrestaurant.com

@murverkarakoy

Anatolian Craft

Inspired by a pair of hand-embroidered shoes that she found in her grandmother’s antique wedding chest as a child, architect and designer Bilge Can founded Anatolian Craft in 2016 to create her own wearable heirlooms. The brand’s collection of slow fashion shoes, handmade from kutnu fabric, are hand-embroidered by talented female artisans from Anatolia. Each built-to-order pair is one-of-a-kind with colourful motifs of flora and fauna expressing timeless elegance. 

anatolian-craft.com

@anatoliancraft

Fahri Konsolos

Hidden away on a busy bar street in Kadıköy, one of Istanbul’s best cocktail bars is an experimental affair, where unexpected ingredients come together to create unforgettable concoctions. Mixologists Burak Ayaz, Eren Sönmez and Engin Baysal serve up such cocktails as the Mardini, an amalgam of gin, sumac pomegranate molasses and parsley, or the Leb-ü Derya, composed of mezcal, beetroot shrub, mustard sprouts and agave nectar. 

@fahrikonsolosluk

Six Senses Kocataş Mansions

Built in the second half of the 19th century, the Turkish-Ottoman Sait Paşa and Kocataş Mansions were restored by Six Senses to become one of the city’s most unique accommodations. With interiors designed by the famed Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu, the historic heritage mansions have unencumbered views of the Bosporus from their rooms and suites, offering guests dining, spa treatments, private boat tours and strolls through the hotel’s more than two acres of landscaped pathways, a rarity in the crowded Turkish megacity. 

sixsenses.com

@sixsenseskocatasmansions

Çukurcuma Hamamı

Dating back to 1830, this historic Turkish bath became famous in the 1990s, when it was featured in the Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Özpetek’s celebrated film, Hamam. After closing in 2007, the historic structure underwent an extensive period of renovation, reopening in 2018 with a more luxurious demeanour. Çukurcuma Hamamı offers the traditional Turkish bath experience with its body scrub, bubble wash and massage in a more refined and private setting, complete with a relaxation period in the lounge with tea and dried fruits. 

cukurcumahamami.com

@cukurcumahamami

Wallpaper* City Guide: Istanbul

Find out more in the Wallpaper* City Guide to Istanbul, £8.95, phaidon.com

‘Disembodiment and migration are all themes I'm always concerned with,’ says Hussein Chalayan, who submits them to an anthropological dissection in a new exhibition, ‘Souffleur’.

Now on view at Istanbul’s Sakıp Sabancı Museum and coinciding with the 17th Istanbul Biennial, the exhibition is composed of three series and a video installation that considers both identity and the changing role of the body in the digital sphere.

‘For me, all the parts are connected – that’s why I call them prompters,’ says Chalayan of the objects in the installations. ‘I felt they were filling gaps in these subject matters; it’s a way of looking at these subjects, as reactions to some of these issues. But they’re also proposals [for] how you can look at it, so the whole thing becomes in some way an anthropological reaction.’

In Chalayan’s world, nothing is as it seems. In the first series, Pre-tension, the duplicity of popular culture is imbued with a sinister tangibility, bringing a clownish contortion to the traditional form of a mask. In Fake Celebrations, sculptures and garments become interchangeable, bodies frozen in movement, in a reflection of the synonymous relationship between Chalayan’s own career in art and fashion. 

It is a transposability carried through to Post-Colonial Body, where furniture takes on anthropomorphic qualities; drapes of material becoming body parts dangling out of a day bed, investing furniture with a sense of movement. ‘The postcolonial representation of the body is merged with fetish elements,’ Chalayan adds of the shiny material that forms the base of the pieces. ‘It’s about that submission, and I quite like the connection.’

The film Gravity Fatigue, designed and directed by Chalayan, encompasses this intersection between the garments and their surrounding space. ‘It took me three years to develop, it was very intense,’ he says. ‘The idea of digital isolation, and the postcolonial project which I have been working on for three years now, are themes I also use in my fashion work. They're very current concerns for me, both because of the digital world we’re living in and how we’ve become digital beings in a way. On one side I think there's a postcolonial backlash, and I wanted to look at how it could affect the demeanour of the body. I’ve been working with these themes for a couple of years, but this is a new medium for me in a way.’

INFORMATION

'Souffleur', a collaboration between the Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Pilevneli, will be on view at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum until 8 January 2023

Istanbul is a city like no other. Stradling two continents, it has been the capital of two empires and is home to two distinct identities – one youthful and liberal, the other conservative and traditional – simmering against the backdrop of a turbulent eco-political climate. Throw in the enduring impact of Covid-19 on the artistic community, and the stage is set for a fascinating moment of public contemporary art as the 17th Istanbul Biennial opens (until 20 November 2022).

‘We began working on the biennial amidst a spiralling health crisis and were very conscious that many artists were focused on solving the economic, political, social and ecological problems plaguing our planet, many of which were heightened by the pandemic,’ said David Teh, one of the exhibition’s three curators at the press conference. ‘It seemed natural to us that the biennial should support and amplify those efforts.’ 

Dispersing the 50 or so projects by the 500-plus contributors, including artists, researchers, architects, fishermen and ecologists, across the city was a way of doing just that. There are 12 exhibition venues as well as a wealth of satellite spaces ranging from second-hand bookshops to cafés and metro stops, all of which reflect different aspects of city life.

The scattered layout also encourages visitors to discover the city and its multi-layered narratives in new ways. The freshly restored 16th-century Çinili Hamam, for instance, has opened its doors to the public for the first time in 12 years, ahead of its inauguration as a hammam-museum complex in 2023. Other storied newcomers include the Zeytinburnu Medicinal Plants Garden and Barin Han, the former atelier of Turkey’s leading calligrapher and bookbinder Emin Barin. 

‘After periods of extended isolation, we wanted to bring people from different communities together to connect and reflect on the way that art can help us do things differently in future,’ says Istanbul Biennial director Bige Örer. ‘We hope to stimulate conversations that will last beyond the Biennial and positively transform those that have them.’

This collaborative spirit is underlined by the great number of long-term research projects by artist collectives carrying out transformative work in their local communities, as well as the extensive public programme of events, workshops, guided tours, and poetry readings courtesy of the Poetry Channel. Radyo Bienal, meanwhile, celebrates the diversity of biennial participants through its 25-episode weekly programme and English podcast series. 

While there is no single title this year – a nod to the fractured artistic response to the pandemic – there is a clear focus on process rather than production, with the curators describing the biennial as a form of compost, primed for the dissemination of all manner of ideas and conversations. Örer uses the metaphor of a newspaper when we speak: ‘Biennial participants are bringing us news from all around the world,’ she says. ‘It can be difficult to speak the truth, so we wanted to find new ways of spreading it for those that do.’  

This feels especially pertinent in Turkey right now, with its autocratic government and recent history of artistic censorship. When asked how the current political climate has shaped the biennial’s programming, Örer answered: ‘Artists find inspiring ways of expressing themselves so that they don’t become victims of the system.’ 

The Dumpling Post is a case in point. The free biennial publication from Istanbul’s Hrant Dink Foundation (HDF) was conceived following the government’s ban on the foundation’s 2019 conference in Kayseri exploring the social, economic, political and cultural changes in the city. Instead of capitulating, the HDF staged a festival around the region’s most famous dish: dumplings. More than 500 people attended not only to eat and make dumplings but also to stand in solidarity against the restrictions imposed. Scattered around the biennial, the Dumpling Post continues HDF’s fight against censorship, prohibitions and the shrinking of the civic space.

With no unifying theme, however, this sprawling showcase can feel somewhat disparate at times, especially in historic venues like the Pera Museum, which is jam-packed with archival projects that lurch between such diverse subjects as the feminist movement in Nepal and the anti-colonial guerrilla war waged in British Malaya. The avalanche of information displayed in web-like networks on two of the three floors feels overwhelming and the visual impact underwhelming. Still, there are some wonders to behold on the top floor, notably Alice Miceli’s photographic works documenting the continuing and traumatic impact of lethal mine-contaminated sites in Cambodia and Bosnia.

Also noteworthy is Wallowland, a collaborative research project conceived by the artist duo Cooking Sections that aims to raise awareness around water buffalo herding practices as well as the water buffalo and wetlands around Istanbul under threat from urbanisation. Their biennial presentation at Büyükdere35 takes the form of a shop, serving tasty Turkish puddings made with Buffalo milk, soundtracked by traditional Buffalo songs.

Inside the cavernous main room of the Küçük Mustafa Pasa Hammam, meanwhile, is Tarek Atoui’s Whispering Playground, an assemblage of found objects that conduct and amplify sounds, including compositions from Istanbul’s working harbours. Conceived in collaboration with instrument makers and sound recordists, it reveals how sound can be manipulated and accessed in multisensory ways, including by sight and touch. 

Over on the Asian side at the Müze Gazahane is the latest iteration of Arahmaiani’s ongoing Flag Project. During performances, brightly coloured flags featuring communally identified Turkish words such as sevgi (love) are waved by the participants in choreographed processions. Another notable highlight is a presentation from The Silent University, a knowledge exchange platform by and for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, documenting ongoing work on a new branch of the platform in Turkey. Nearby in Arthereistanbul are three captivating video works by Lida Abdul exploring the consequences of war, destruction and displacement in her home country of Afghanistan.

Not surprisingly, there is a lot to digest, which is why the curators urge you to take your time, mull it all over and talk about it. ‘These projects are the result of a huge sometimes risky decision to make sense of a particular moment and do something about it,’ says curator Amar Kanwar. ‘Skip the need for a precise “ah-ha” kind of moment and connect with them as stimulants for change.’ And it’s as this sinks in that this most disparate Istanbul Biennial conversely comes together.

INFORMATION

The 17th Istanbul Biennial runs until 20 November 2022. bienal.iksv.org

Turkey has begun easing its lockdown measures, and with it comes the gradual promise of engaging in the pre-pandemic activities we once so enjoyed. ‘In Turkey, shopping is a social moment, people like going to shop to talk, have a coffee...' explain Beste and Merve Manastır, founders of cult Istanbul-based accessories label Manu Atelier, which is celebrating the opening of its debut bricks-and-mortar boutique, located in Nişantaşı, the dynamic fashion district of its home city. ‘In a digital-driven era and especially after the current pandemic, we find it important to learn how to interact and re-connect with each other,' they add. 

Founded in 2014, Manu Atelier is renowned for its sculptural, colour-inflected bags and shoes, which revel in architectural details, chain hardware, and tactile fabrications, from supple ruched leather to shearling. For the opening of the Manu Atelier Istanbul boutique, the label teamed up with Istanbul-based design studio Barlas + Parlak Architecture, founded by two women, Ekin Barlas and Burcin Parlak, to translate the ‘retro-futuristic', ‘geometric', and ‘sustainable' visual elements of its design DNA into an architectural language. ‘We played with natural and unprocessed textures and recycled materials,' Beste and Merve add. They also found inspiration in the aesthetic impetus of Le Corbusier and the ‘bold, sculptural expressionism' of modernism.

Fixtures and furnishings in the boutique emphasise Manu Atelier's commitment to sustainable design. 'We've focused on a minimum waste policy in our Italian and Turkish factories since the first day we launched the brand,' they explain. The brand's S/S 2021 collection was also crafted using deadstock fabrics and its latest Harley Weir-lensed A/W 2021 campaign features clothing crafted from recycled fabrics. A sofa which sits in the middle of the store – and nods to the curving silhouette of the female form – has been crafted using surplus leathers. 

‘Nişantaşı is a neighbourhood that can be easily explored on foot,' Merve and Beste add, recalling moments when shoppers and tourists used to stroll Turkey's streets, unphased be social distancing measures. When we're next able to amble about, we'll be exploring sporting Manu Atelier shoes. 

INFORMATION

manuatelier.com

Arter, the new, monumental contemporary gallery space in Istanbul’s Dolapdere district, is something of an optical illusion. For it is difficult to tear one’s eyes away. In the midst of the fourth biggest city in the world, a sprawling warren of cacophonous noise and movement, Arter is like a portal into a parallel universe, or a worm-hole into a very serene and tranquil neighbouring planet.

The gallery, which is designed by London-based firm Grimshaw Architects, is covered with a mosaic of rectangular planes of glass-fiber. They tessellate together, rhomboid-like, in convex and concave shapes, and have been glazed by hand so they resemble the surface of the beautiful ceramics that forms such a part of Turkey’s long and proud artistic heritage. As the sun moves over the Istanbul cityscape, Arter’s façade shimmers with light and shade, mirroring the patterns of the clouds and the movement of the city.

The building is Istanbul’s – and indeed Turkey’s – first home to a permanent collection of contemporary art. This is not a humble beginning. Without an entrance fee, the citizens of Istanbul can now view 1300 works by more than 300 artists, half of which are of Turkish origin, with around 30 per cent from Europe and 20 per cent from the rest of the world. Arter’s collection includes world-renowned luminaries like Joseph Beuys, Geta Bratescu, Mona Hatoum and Sophie Calle. 

Arter has been funded by the Koç family, who, as art patrons the Vehbi Koç Foundation, have acted as sponsors of the Istanbul Biennial for the last 15 years. The opening of this stunning new building marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Foundation.

Arter began life as a subsidiary of the foundation in 2010. But Grimshaw’s significant involvement began as the result of a paid project competition initiated in 2013. The competition was won by Grimshaw, whose design was augmented by contributions by Thornton Tomasetti, Max Fordham and Neill Woodger Acoustics. Construction of the building started in 2015, and opened for the first time alongside the press previews for Istanbul Biennial 2019.

Arter’s new building, which covers six floors and more than 18,000 sq m, is conceived as a versatile ‘series of spaces', says Kirsten Lees of Grimshaw Architects, who describes the building as ‘a complex, engaging totality that changes constantly depending on the viewer’s position, creating a multi-layered, integrated and interdisciplinary public space.' Arter is connected by a central atrium that serves and intersects with six varying galleries and a terrace, which is used for sculptural works. All together, the building has a designated exhibition space of approximately 4,000 sq m. 

Many modern art galleries seem satisfied with a series of adjoining white cube spaces. Yet the design itself has enabled Arter, in its very being, to exhibit the most contemporary of contemporary art as the form cross-pollinates and breeds with other mediums.

Arter thus opens with seven separate exhibitions, four of which are drawn from the collection. ‘What Time Is It?', curated by Emre Baykal and Eda Berkmen, and ‘Words Are Very Unnecessary', curated by Selen Ansen, are both carefully compiled explorations of the permanent collection, loosely based around themes of shared memory, cultural lineage and vernacular history. 

These are joined by a retrospective exhibition of Altan Gürman, the pioneering Turkish artist whose influence has only recently been recognised. Gürman was born in 1935 and graduated from the Department of Painting at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts as a young man in the late 1950s. Yet he only produced work from 1965 until his untimely death in 1976.

Curated by Başak Doğa Temür, the exhibition brings to light Gürman’s entire oeuvre for the first time. Whilst many of his contemporaries were working on traditional canvases, onto which they carefully applied acrylic and gouache, Gürman incorporated  to his creations various types of metal and wood, barbed wire, thick cardboard and the kind of cellulose paint you might find in heavy industrial processes. Gürman would spray paint onto his workspaces with a pesticide pump.

After his death, Gürman’s works were meticulously preserved by his wife, Bilge. Yet Gürman remained largely undiscovered by the art world. The presentation of his work in such epic surroundings makes, in itself, Arter a worthwhile investment. Close-by, we find a room dedicated to video art, and here we view Rosa Barba's solo presentation ‘The Hidden Conference', which comprises of a three-part film series the artist shot at different museum storage facilities.

‘The building as a complex, engaging totality that changes constantly depending on the viewer’s position, creating a multi-layered, integrated and interdisciplinary public space'

In the building’s bowels, we find two performance halls; Karbon, a ‘blackbox' designed for installation-based performance work, which houses a flexible seating structure for 332, and, thanks to a tension wire grid system, allows sound and light equipment to be suspended from the ceiling. Here, we find Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s ‘Offroad v.2', which, to a deafening abstract soundscape, features three grand pianos that, quite by themselves, drift and interact at various speeds and angles. They have been programmed, somehow, to respond to the speed and direction of the wind that hits Arter’s exteriors, we are told.

Then there’s the Sevgi Gönül Auditorium, with a telescopic seating system of 168, which is designed to double as both a darkened cinema, an intimate conference space and a chamber for concerts and dance performances. It has a sprung floor, while wall panels transform into seamless mirrors. Arter’s cinema programme will kick off with a retrospective on director Jonas Mekas.

‘Arter’s varied programme offers opportunities to foster and create new synergies between art forms, while providing a focus for physical and intellectual interaction and the creation of innovative creative communities,' Lees says. If one needs an escape in Istanbul, Arter is indeed a portal to another world.

INFORMATION

grimshaw.global

Istanbul is perhaps the most fascinating of urban venues in which to gather and discuss art. It’s a true metropolis – the world’s fourth biggest city, home to just over 15 million people. Its streets are a warren-like maze, a cacophony of noise and movement. Up high, in one of the many sky-bars, it’s impossible to see the city’s edges. And it’s easy to marvel at the Bosphorus, a glistening strait teeming with vessels that, from the days of the Silk Road, have joined west and east.

And it’s a place singularly capable of harmonising two identities: one determinedly secular, youthful and outward-reaching, the other deeply conservative, patriarchal and embedded in the mores of the past. Turkey also has one of the oldest and proudest artistic traditions of any culture in the world, yet modern day Turkey is an almost uniquely hostile place for contemporary art. This tragic paradox lies in plain sight on the World Press Freedom Index, where Turkey currently stands at number 157, below failed states like the Democratic Republic of Congo (154) and renowned dictatorships like Russia (149).

Beyond the high-profile arrests of the artist Zehra Doğan and the composer Mehdi Rajabian, as well as the exile of feminist artists Özgül Arslan and Ekin Onat, huge numbers of lesser-known Turkish creative luminaries been arrested and imprisoned or glued-up in legal proceedings. Turkey remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with at least 68 in jail in direct relation to their work at the time of the Committee to Protect Journalist’s 2018 prison census.

How to deal with this, and still successfully host a commercial art fair? And what work to show if you are among the country’s latest generation of artists, both native and diaspora? Answers lie at the 16th Istanbul Biennial and Contemporary Istanbul, both of which opened to the public on 14 September. For Nicolas Bourriaud, the French curator of the Istanbul Biennial (running until 10 November), the answer appears to be to focus on the relatively safe and collegiate topic of climate change – ‘the landscape of the Anthropocene’, as Bourriaud terms it.

The title of Bourriaud’s biennial – The Seventh Continent – refers to the mammoth islands of plastic waste that now float in our oceans. They cover, we are told, an area five times larger than the geography of Turkey. Bourriaud has organised the exhibition of works from 56 artists (36 are showing new work), who comment on this phenomena.

The most talked-about highlights include the sculptural work of Polish artist Agnieszka Kurant’s Post-Fordite, which she terms a ‘natural-artificial hybrid formation’. The sculpture, we learn, is moulded from something known as Fordite (also known as Detroit agate) – a paint that, over time, has congealed and solidified into a rock-hard mass on the floor of car factories. Kurant invites us to look at the resulting formation as if it’s an uncut diamond.

Simon Fujiwara’s project began after he discovered and salvaged the semi-ruined figurines of pop icons in the rubbish heap of an amusement park outside of Istanbul. Around the face of each figurine – from Homer Simpson to Mickey Mouse – he built architectural models of cityscapes, thus drawing attention to ‘the ways in which fantasy and escapism have bled into the core structures of our everyday lives, often masking the brutal pragmatism of globalised capitalism’, he says.

Among the prominent Turkish artists at the Biennial, perhaps the stand-out is Amsterdam-based Müge Yilmaz, whose work Eleven Suns can be described ‘as a future archaeology incorporating leftovers of our times’. Yilmaz’s installation resembles the discovery of a sacred shrine in a hidden cave, where we find her mesmerising drawings of hybrid plant-human-animals.

Uptown is Contemporary Istanbul, which took place at the Istanbul Convention & Exhibition Centre (ICEC) in the affluent Sisli neighbourhood. The fair is – at least outwardly – a more commercial presentation of art, one more focused on emergent Turkish artists and less curated around a unifying theme. Much of the work here is highly conceptual in form; perhaps because, to put it bluntly, the government finds it harder to censor abstracted work.

Yet Ali Güreli, the founder and chairman of the fair and a significant patron of contemporary art in Istanbul and Turkey, is adamant that the fair does not, and would never allow, the government to censor any work shown at the fair. ‘I cannot say that we feel any pressure from the government,’ Güreli told journalists at the fair’s opening press conference. ‘We never felt it before. But of course we have been living in a different environment in Turkey in the last 15 years, governed by a conservative party. As the art fair, we are a bit more conscious about these precious issues. But I cannot talk about pressure or any censorship.’

Be that as it may, Contemporary Istanbul art fair deserves credit. For, amid the populist turbulence of Istanbul’s recent history, it has remained steady, providing an outlet for Turkish artists and gallerists to exhibit to an international audience. It has taken place every year since 2006, and, now in its 14th edition, brings to Istanbul 73 galleries from 22 countries, with the works of 510 artists on show. As Güreli rightfully points out, much more is to come. The fair has laid the groundwork for Arter, a new five-floor museum dedicated to contemporary art, which this recently opened its doors in the city, while nine more dedicated art galleries and museums are poised to launch in the near future.

There’s no doubt that certain artists here have to practice a form of self-censorship; to do so is to safeguard one’s freedom and self-preservation. Yet some artists on show are clearly finding ways to push the envelope; to say things without explicitly stating it. Take for example Whip of Justice by Turkish artist İz Öztat, who is represented by Istanbul-based gallery Pi Artworks. The sculpture is erected from the metal barriers used by police during the violent Gezi Park demonstrations of 2013, which rocked the city after the Turkish government attempted to ban all public protests.

Meanwhile, the Turkish gallery Galeri 77 exhibited a series of works by Armenian artists like Vav Hakobyan, who, with his work Stop This Craziness, appears to be referencing Picasso’s Guernica or Goya’s ghosts with nightmarish, semi-opaque scenes – yet the human faces have been replaced with cartoon characters.

At local gallery Art On Istanbul, the influential Istanbul collective who go by the name Oddviz, displayed a mesmerising video work of a street being denied all its civilising features, the vibrant colours of life stripped away so that only the cold grey of concrete is left. An adjoining large-scale photographic print showed traditional Turkish ceramics, exquisite in their artistry and craftsmanship, smashed into a Klimt-esque mosiac of fragments and shards.

Significantly, the fair included the work of Turkish curator Esra Özkan, who has curated Plugin, a strand of exhibitions focusing on new media and digital arts within the conventional format of an international art fair. This feels especially relevant to Istanbul, at a time when the older generation wield the levers of power, it’s in the digital and online space where virulent resistance movements can be found. This is perhaps best summed up by, the night before my arrival in the city, the sudden release on Youtube of an openly anti-authority hip-hop tune titled Susamam, which translates as ‘cannot stay silent’, and garnered more than 22 million listens in the space of a week.

Some of the stronger criticisms of power came from Turkish artists who no longer have to live under the government, like the New York-based Sarp Kerem Yavuz, who debuted new works at Hüsrev Kethüda Hamamı in Ortaköy, a historic hammam in the heart of Istanbul, considered the famed Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan’s final masterpiece. Yavuz’s exhibition – titled ‘I think the Sultan knows about us’ – ‘uses narrative as a form of resistance’, he says. The artist has channelled the pixelated visual aesthetics that millennial generations will recognise from 1990s Atari games to dress neon skeletons in traditional Ottoman iconography. Yavuz says of the work: ‘The sense of humour I am determined to instil in the visual depictions of this universe is the most unyielding form of resistance in the face of oppression, of fear.’

INFORMATION

16th Istanbul Biennial, 14 September – 10 November, various locations; Contemporary Istanbul 2019, 12 – 15 September. bienal.iksv.org; contemporaryistanbul.com

Airports still loom large on the architectural agenda, despite the slow but burgeoning shift in attitudes towards this emissions-heavy mode of transport. Aviation architecture crosses the full spectrum of design, from bespoke private spaces to refurbished icons and some of the largest covered public spaces in the world. The mega-airport era is still with us, but the vast majority of major projects are, unsurprisingly, in China, with Europe and the US at capacity.

That hasn’t stopped expansion schemes from getting underway, although proposals like Heathrow’s Third Runway are by no means guaranteed. Berlin Brandenburg Airport is running a decade behind schedule (due to open in 2020), while other big projects include the overhaul of Moscow’s three main airports, a multi-stage project that won’t end until around 2023. In South America, the cancellation of Mexico City’s proposed new airport at Texcoco, designed by Norman Foster and Fernando Romero, demonstrated the social, political, financial and environmental complexity of the mega-project. In China, the government is pressing on with plans for over 200 more airports by 2035, including Beijing’s $12bn Daxing Airport, masterplanned by Zaha Hadid Architects and due to open later this year. Even Beijing is trumped by Istanbul’s new airport, billed as the largest airport contained within a single terminal. Here are some of the newest designs and projects to take flight.

Istanbul Airport

The consortium for Istanbul’s new airport includes Haptic Architects, Grimshaw Architects and Nordic Office of Architecture, with a masterplan by Arup and execution by Scott Brownrigg. Announced in 2014, the first phase of what will eventually be a six runway behemoth serving 90 million people a year is the main terminal, one million square metres of covered space beneath a distinctive vaulted ceiling. The complex ceiling construction filters the daylight to the main concourse, helping travellers get a sense of direction and steering them through the space to the five piers. Integration with a metro station, train station and road network is contained beneath the building, with the potential capacity for another 60 million passengers in the future.

Of particular note are the lounge areas for Turkish Airlines, designed by London-based studio Softroom. The expansive space is designed as a haven from the main terminal, with its own gallery and museum area, sleeping pods, lounges and a cinema. 19,000 square metres of international lounges are united by a winding ‘Flow Wall’, clad in oak and lit by over 5km of LED lighting to reference the airline’s branding. Hapticarchitects.com, grimshaw.global, nordicarch.com, softroom.com

LaGuardia Airport

Airport design is such a specialist field that it’s unsurprising to find the same names crop up again and again – Grimshaw, Fosters, Hadid. HOK are making a splash as the go-to architects for major airport renovations. As well as working on Tampa International Airport, the firm is also undertaking extensive work at LaGuardia in Queens, including a new Terminal B.

The first stage is now open and follows the trend for bringing natural light and views into terminal buildings, with indoor green spaces and pedestrian bridges that take passengers high above the concourse to see distant Manhattan skyline views. America’s largest domestic-only airport had lagged behind the times and facilities were tired and sub-standard. When fully opened in 2022, the $4bn refurbishment will transform the airport into a worthy gateway for New York. www.hok.com

Paine Field, Seattle

This modest new airport terminal in this small Seattle airport was designed the architect Clive Lonstein. Responsible for just 22 flights a day, the building is just under 2,800 square metres and has a richness of fixtures and fittings reminiscent of a private aviation terminal or first class lounge. Lonstein has used extravagant materials, including Amande limestone, black granite floors and handcrafted walnut tables, with furniture pieces by Gueridon Bas and Jean Prouvé’s Fauteuil de Salon chairs from Vitra adding to the upscale ambience, all set beneath a vast custom steel and glass chandelier. There’s even an on-site concierge to help travellers with their onward plans. clivelonstein.com

TWA Flight Center

Finally, an icon reborn. The TWA Terminal at JFK was opened in 1962 to a striking, bird-like design by Eero Saarinen. One of the boldest symbols of the jet age, this cathedral of flight was a virtuoso demonstration of flowing, organic concrete forms, a finite moment frozen in neo-expressionist form. Sadly, Saarinen’s vision was no match for the commercial realities of the modern airport. Trans World Airlines went bust in 2001 and although the terminal was restored and refurbished for use by JetBlue, the central structure never returned to its original use. Now the refreshed TWA Flight Center is finally back, this time as the lobby space for the new TWA Hotel.

Overseen by restoration specialists Beyer Blinder Belle Architects, it’s a worthy reuse of an undeniably significant building, even if the new hotel overlays the original with a bright veneer of retro-fetishism, the Mad Men aesthetic rebooted for the Instagram age. The new Sunken Lounge makes the most of the central hall’s vaulted ceilings and arched walkways, while a new pool bar promises runway views from your lounger. In addition, interior firm Stonehill Taylor oversaw the public areas, including transforming an original 1958 Lockheed Super Constellation into a bar for hotel guests. beyerblinderbelle.com, twahotel.com

Once the last marquee has been taken down, it’s sometimes difficult to work out just what to do with a historic theatre building, especially the public spaces. Happily, many have fine bones by way of high ceilings, easy street access, and strong proportions – all attributes that Istanbul-based interior designer Sami Savatli has accentuated in the newly minted Mitte Karakoy restaurant.

Set in Istanbul’s Karakoy hipster quarter, the ground floor of the old theatre has been reimagined as a spacious, light-filled cocktail bar and restaurant that is two parts French art deco and one part Keith Haring.

Very confidently, Savatli imbues the space with a light modern touch whilst emphasising the building's heritage by using Italian terrazzo flooring, handcrafted ceramics, brass lamps, raw iron-legged tables, and a dramatic ceiling embedded with 166 wooden blocks of abstract designs, that are hand-painted with ink and gold leaf.

The somewhat eclectic menu echoes Istanbul’s straddle of East and West, executive chef Irem Esen soaking up the flavours of India, Indonesia, Japan and China to deliver tacos and beef tartar laced with truffled soya sauce, alongside bulgogi noodles, dim sum and beef udon fried Hokkien-styled. 

ADDRESS

Kemankes Mah
Necatibey Cd. 66 A
Karakoy
Istanbul

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Soho House

Located in Istanbul’s creative Beyoğlu neighbourhood, Soho House is set over four buildings, one of which is the former US Embassy originally built in 1872 by a Genoese shipping magnate with a penchant for Carrara marble floors and Italian rosewood, ornate frescoes and crystal chandeliers. Along with the three newer structures, the property, in total, houses 87 bedrooms,  a speakeasy-style bar called The Embassy Club and that Soho House failsafe, Cecconi’s restaurant. Of course, there is also a Cowshed spa, which wins extra authenticity points for its incorporation of two hammam rooms.

Evliya Çelebi Mahallesi, 34430 Beyoğlu/Istanbul; T: 90 212 377 71 00; www.sohohouseistanbul.com; Rates from: £216

Shangri-La Bosphorus

On prime waterfront territory in a revived tobacco warehouse from 1929, the Shangri-la's no-frills neoclassical exterior belies the opulence of what lies inside. Echoing the splendour of Istanbul's Ottoman palaces, but with discreet dashes of the brand's signature Chinoiserie sensibility, the understated blue, beige and cream colour palette shines through in extravagant details like the two-storey high chandelier suspended in the atrium or the 59ft long Chinese silk painting. In contrast, the 186 rooms - most overlooking The Bosphorus - are low-key with plush details from framed wall panels to marble bathrooms. The signature restaurant serves Cantonese dishes, while IST TOO -- designed by Anré Fu -- is an all-day international affair. One of the highlights though, is the hotel's location, right outside the Beşiktaş Ferry Terminal, which means you can get to the Asian side within minutes where you can tuck into authentic Turkish fare.

Sinanpaşa Mahallesi, Hayrettin İskelesi Sk. D:No.1, 34353 Beşiktaş/ Istanbul; T: 90 212 275 88 88; www.shangri-la.com/istanbul; Rates from: £244

Raffles

Part of Istanbul''s Zorlu Centre, an ambitious mixed-use development that also comprises an upmarket shopping centre, Raffles eschews the Byzantine and Ottoman references found in so many of the city's luxury hotels, instead positioning itself as a symbol of modern Turkey. That's not to say the property is completely devoid of a sense of place; The LA-based interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates has dressed the space in lush Byzantine silk, gold mosaics, traditional Turkish textiles and an impressive collection of specially commissioned local artwork. All rooms feature a balcony with the best views overlooking the city. If none of that pleases, the two pools (one on the roof alongside the helipad) and a 3,000 sq m spa stocked with products from The Organic Pharmacy most definitely will.

Levazım Mahallesi Koru Sokağı Zorlu Center, 34340 Beşiktas; 90 212 924 02 00; www.raffles.com/istanbul; Rates from £303

Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at The Bosphorus

Following the success of its first venture -- in a listed prison building in the tourist hub of Sultanahmet -- the Four Seasons hotel group's second opening in the city, which launched in 2008, was an equally bold move, setting up inside a restored 19th-century Ottoman Palace on the Bosphorus. In keeping with the brand's traditional aesthetic, local outfit Metex Design Group layered the building's original neoclassical details with understated furnishings, marble and glass in a palette of aqua, silver and taupe that reflects the shimmering Bosphorus outside. The highlight is the sprawling terrace - also the best spot from which to look back and admire the building's elegant façade - from where you can laze by the pool or have a bite at one of the three restaurants while soaking up the waterside activity.

No:28, Çırağan Cd., 34349 Beşiktaş/İstanbul; T: 90 212 381 40 00; www.fourseasons.com/bosphorus; Rates from: £342

Karaköy Rooms

'Rooms' pretty much sums up what this bolthole is about, but located in the buzzing harbourside Karakõy neighbourhood, what you can't find inside, you will almost certainly find nearby. That said, the hotel's restaurant seems to be a local favourite, serving up traditional Turkish meze with a good side of raki. Upstairs, the 12 light-filled antique rooms have been crisply updated with parquet flooring, antique furnishings and luxe details, creating the perfect haven to return to after a day spent pounding the streets of Istanbul.

Kemankeş Karamustafa Paşa Mahallesi, Kemankeş Caddesi & Galata Şarap Iskelesi Sokak No:10, 34425 Beyoğlu/Istanbul; T: 90 212 252 54 22; karakoyrooms.com; Rates from: £56

Park Hyatt Istanbul Maçka Palas

Its location in the upscale Nişantaşı neighbourhood might be a world away from the charm of Istanbul's Old City, but it is perfectly fitting for the Park Hyatt brand's signature clean-lined and modern aesthetic. Set over two contrasting buildings, the property takes its name from the older neoclassical wing which dates back to 1922. Here, the 90 guestrooms feature a low-key, design with an art deco flair that complement the building's original arches and ornate mouldings, while the spa starts with the bathrooms, where steam rooms are bound to cure any jet lag. In the newer section -- a former car showroom -- is the hotel's restaurant and wine bar, but come summer, you'll likely find us on the rooftop sipping poolside cocktails.

Teşvikiye, Bronz Sk. D:no: 4, 34367 Şişli/İstanbul; T: 90 212 315 12 34; www.hyatt.com; Rates from: £180

Room Mate Emir

From the candyfloss froth of the reception, to the crisp confines of the breakfast area and the sensual elegance of the 47 suites, Room Mate's Istanbul hotel is a light-flooded study in contemporary chic; cool but also romantic. Credit Lázaro Rosa Violán, whose total remodelling of this period property honours the city's cosmopolitan past by retaining painted ceilings, parquet floors and exposed brickwork but brings it firmly into today with a mix of mid-century flourishes, strategically-placed mirrors, lovingly-crafted woodwork and ultra-contemporary furnishings. There is no restaurant, but located just a 20-minute stride away from the bustling harbourside neighbourhood of Karaköy, means that what you don't get inside, will certainly be found on the outside.

Kuloğlu Mh., Sadri Alışık Sk. No:33, 34433 Beyoğlu; T: 90 212 393 19 39; room-matehotels.com/en/emir; Rates from: £67

The House Hotel Bomonti

In Bomonti, a newly revitalised industrial district, not far from Nişantaşı and Beyoğlu neighbourhoods, this stylish 51-room offering -- from homegrown Turkish brand, The House Group -- is the work of London-based architects Conran + Partners. Inspired by the the neighbourhood's urban atmosphere and bold industrial heritage, the firm layered the space with a monochromatic palette of concrete floors and walls, natural stones and black-framed factory-style glazing, while rich textures like marble and timber, together with the furnishings, create a modern sensibility. There is a gym and a spa - complete with a marble Turkish bath  and an indoor pool - while the restaurant serves breakfast and an all-day Turkish and international menu. The hotel's biggest draw however, is its location which is brimming with shops, restaurants and bars.

Cumhuriyet Mah. Düzoğlu Sok. No:2 / A Bomonti, 34380 Şişli/İstanbul; T: 90 212 916 11 11; househotels.com; Rates from: £69

The Marmara Pera

We can think of at least two reasons why you should stay at The Marmara Pera. First, is its location in the trendy Beyoglu neighbourhood just steps away from the pedestrian shopping street Istiklal Avenue, second is its rooftop terrace and pool with views of the city and beyond. Of course, each of the rooms has a view, but plump for a Bosphorus View Suite, where low-slung mid-century-style furnishings are perfectly placed to admire the Golden Horn and the historic peninsula of Istanbul. And while an abundance of nearby cafés and restaurants are just outside, there's no excuse not to stay in and sample chef Mehmet Gürs delicious Anatolian dishes at Mikla Restaurant.

Asmalı Mescit Mahallesi, Meşrutiyet Cd., 34430 Beyoğlu; T: 90 212 334 03 00; www.themarmarahotels.com; Rates from: £62

Witt Istanbul Hotel

Upping Istanbul's design hotel bar is this intimate 18-room bolthole in Cihangir- a former unassuming block that has been refreshed by local firm Autoban. Eclectic retro furnishings, like the sleek rocking chairs and boxy leather sofas, from the firm's own collection can be found throughout the hotel including in the guestrooms, which have been outfitted as fully-equipped lofts with kitchenettes. Modern accents like winged leather headboards, plywood Magnolia lights, and polished black tiles are incorporated into each of the sultry yet subdued interiors, while bathrooms feature Ross Lovegrove fixtures and Molton Brown toiletries. There is no on-site restaurant (apart from the lobby that serves a daily breakfast) but if you do fancy staying in, there is the option to order in from any of the neighbourhood eateries- which is ideal, especially if you have booked a Sea View Room.

Kılınç Ali Paşa Mahallesi, Defterdar Ykş. No:26, 34433 Beyoğlu; T: 90 212 293 15 00; www.wittistanbul.com; Rates from: £134

From the candyfloss froth of the reception, to the crisp confines of the breakfast area and the sensual elegance of the 47 suites, the latest Room Mate hotel is a light-flooded study in contemporary chic; cool but also romantic. 

Credit Lázaro Rosa Violán, whose total remodelling of this period property honours Istanbul’s cosmopolitan past by retaining painted ceilings, parquet floors and exposed brickwork but brings it firmly into today with a mix of mid-Century flourishes, strategically-placed mirrors, lovingly-crafted woodwork and ultra-contemporary furnishings. 

Skip over the chain’s mildly mortifying Alt-AirB&B notion that each of its 22 hotels is the embodiment of an actual person (guests booking online for Istanbul are greeted by plaid-shirt pretty boy, Emir) for what founder Enrique Sarasola has pulled off – affordable, stylish properties in central locations – is genius.

It’s the hotel equivalent of an Uterqüe. Or a Zara. Little wonder that Inditex heiress Sandra Ortega holds shares.

ADDRESS

Kuloğlu Mahallesi, Sadri Alışık Sokak 33

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The political events that have rocked Turkey have scared many visitors away in the last year, but slowly, they are returning, and with the 15th Istanbul Biennial and Contemporary Istanbul, and the unveiling of a new arts development, Juma Karakoy, in the capital this week, art is rebuilding confidence. The Biennial, running since 1987, and Contemporary Istanbul, started 12 years ago, have both played a significant part in establishing Turkey as a global destination, opening up the city’s contemporary culture in various ways.

‘We wanted to build the biennale like a neighbourhood,’ said the curators of the 15th Istanbul Biennial, Elmgreen & Dragset – the Scandinavian duo (and former Wallpaper* Guest Editors) known for putting a Prada store in the middle of the Texan desert. They invited 56 artists from 32 countries— including 10 Turkish artists – to participate in their theme for 2017, ‘a good neighbour’. At a press conference, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset were clearly irritated by media sensationalism: ‘It’s very sad to read in the international press that the Istanbul scene is closing, there are so many new artist-run spaces and small institutions opening.’

The six chosen venues for the biennial reflect different aspects of life in the city: the historic Kucuk Mustafa Pasa Hammam, (where the usual male/female spaces have been reversed, two women artists exhibiting in the larger male area, and one male artist in the female), two schools an artist workshop, and a former Bauhaus family home are among them. As a consequence, many of the artists have responded to the purpose of the buildings and their architectural features.

At Istanbul Modern, currently under construction, artists Latifa Echakchch’s installation, adjacent to Yonamine’s collages, both cull materials from the streets and destroy them to make their works, reflecting on the idea of creation and deconstruction in an urban environment. At the Pera Museum, meanwhile dedicated to Orientalist art and artefacts of the Ottoman Empire, American artist Fred Wilson has traced the roles of black Africans in Ottoman handcrafts, in an installation Afro Kismet. The works—and the spaces they highlight by inhabiting them—reflects Istanbul’s 8,000 year history as a cultural melting pot, and a city that is capable of constantly redefining itself. Even in the current wave of increased conservatism, the city’s architecture tells a story of co-existence, from the minarets of the mosques that prick the skyline to Byzantine fountains and glittering 13th century mosaics.

Contemporary Istanbul has supported Turkey’s gallery scene, as the country’s only contemporary art fair, since its art market took off in the early 2000s. The fair has encouraged 20 new international galleries to come to the city after a difficult 2016, when 40 international galleries pulled out. Among 40 returning galleries there is a major representation of Istanbul’s own, such as Dirimart, Galerist, Mixer, Gallery Nev, and Gaia Gallery. Political events have undoubtedly affected the Turkish economy and impacted in turn on its art market, but as CI Chairman Ali XX explains, ‘We are not for yesterday, nor today – but for tomorrow. Just as cities shape art, art shapes cities.’

Among the solo booths of international artists at Contemporary Istanbul is Gerald Chukwuma, presented by Gallery 1957, who travelled from Accra to Istanbul, for the first time, while Victoria Miro, Flowers and Bejing’s Galleria Continua are also participating for the first time. Sending a strong message of confidence, CI have also organised their first outdoor exhibition this year: a public sculpture garden in Sanatçılar Park that includes works by Tony Cragg, Jannis Kounellis, Wim Delvoye and Jan Fabre.

The united front among galleries, both local and international, in Istanbul, is a powerful statement after one of the most difficult periods in Istanbul’s recent history.  As the Istanbul Biennial curators see it, ‘the art community can give problems a human face and a different kind of perspective.’

INFORMATION

The 15th Istanbul Biennial runs from 16 September – 12 November. Contemporary Istanbul runs from 14 – 17 September. For more information, visit the Istanbul Biennial website and Contemporary Istanbul website

Istanbul’s newest and most talked about concept boutique isn’t to be found within the city’s polished shopping malls or well-heeled shopping streets. Instead, the recently opened Sanayi 313 can be found in a converted car repair shop in Atatürk Oto Sanayi, an industrial estate in the north east of the city.

Dreamt up by two brothers, interior architect Enis Karavil and entrepreneur Amir Karavil, alongside long-time friend and fashion designer Serena Uziyel, Sanayi 313 opened in 2015 with the aim of creating a lifestyle destination for those with a passion for modern design, fashion, art and food.

While furniture, home and fashion accessories sit alongside a restaurant serving up healthy cuisine on the ground floor, the building’s upstairs plays host to the offices of Sanayi 313 Architects and Atelier.

The architectural design service and a design studio is headed up by Enis Karavil, who creates the brand’s limited-edition furniture collections. Having completed interiors projects in locations including London, New York, Istanbul, Riyadh and Doha, Karavil’s studio specialises in the refurbishment and customisation of vintage and antique furniture.

Meanwhile, the Atelier is run by Uziyel, whose Italian-honed shoe-making skills have gained her international acclaim. Uziyel’s collections offer up a range of handmade shoes and bags, which aim to blend modern design aesthetics with traditional craftsmanship. Outside of Istanbul, Sanayi 313 Atelier’s collections are stocked in the UK, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Ukraine, USA, China, Japan, Korea, Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar.

For those wishing to linger in the space a little longer, the ground floor restaurant and patisserie, helmed by chef Müge Ergül, serves up breakfast and lunch to the store’s shoppers, while dinner is reserved for private parties only.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Sanayi 313 website

ADDRESS

Atatürk Auto Industrial
Site 2
Part 10 Number 313
Maslak Istanbul

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The 11th edition of Contemporary Istanbul kicked off last month and by some measures, it’s impressive that it even went ahead at all. Amid a wave of fair cancellations – with casualties including Art International and the 5th International Çanakkale Biennial – and a suffocating climate of political uncertainty stifling a flagging market, there was understandable speculation that the event would be called off.

To the credit of the organisers, galleries and artists, the fair went ahead in a palpable show of solidarity, and the city was treated to four days of contemporary art from local galleries as well as those from afar, all held in the city’s cavernous ICEC and ICC convention centres. While exhibitors came from across several continents, the event’s regional focus was faithfully represented in an Istanbul-centric collection of galleries including strong showings from the likes of Pi artworks and Dirimart, while New York’s Marlborough staged a solo show for Turkish artist Ahmet Güneştekin, whose elaborate Anatolian skulls were the fair’s unequivocal favourite on social media.

Further afield, the Shanghai-based Australia China Art Foundation elegantly displayed ink works by Chinese new wave artist Song Ling, whose stark monochrome ink diptychs stood in stark contrast with Ling Jian’s hyperreal and exaggerated feminine portraits. Artist Jaume Plensa’s spatially distorted sculpture of a head, entitled White Forest, drew onlookers to Paris-based Galerie Lelong’s stand – of little surprise, given that it was later revealed to have sold for a fee in excess of €250,000, one of the fair’s largest sales.

Interestingly, the organisers put together a new event for this year’s fair dubbed Collectors’ Stories, in which 60 prominent collectors chose two works each to display, each accompanied by a short text. While this was an excellent opportunity to build a narrative of Istanbul’s oft-turbulent relationship with contemporary and post-war art, the execution left much to be desired, with technicians allocated only two days to start and finish. Unfinished displays marred the works, with the overall effect more self congratulatory than explanatory. However, as programme director Marcus Graf pointed out, it was nevertheless an opportunity to catch a glimpse into the tastes of Turkish collectors.

The political subtext of the fair’s existence was rudely brought back into focus when protesters stormed the stand of Chilean dealer Isabel Croxatto to demand that a sculpture by Ali Elmaci, depicting a woman in a bikini with a portrait of the last Ottoman Sultan painted on her midriff, be removed (it was). Along with a car bomb attack on the second day of the fair, in the district of Diyarbakır, the reminder of most Istanbulites’ everyday reality was never far away during the event.

When asked about the subject of artist censorship, chairman Ali Gureli answered: ‘There’s no reason to fear. Do what you want, you may get into jail,’ he said, before continuing. ‘This is a choice, and you may be put in jail because of what you’ve done, and it’s totally wrong. There is this environment, there is this situation – it’s a reality. But when I look at the artists, I don’t think there’s a fear.’

While there are still questions surrounding the selection process for this year’s fair, most agree that the fair’s existence this year was a credit to the city and a minor miracle of organisational will. Gureli wants the fair to be the biggest player in a region he defines as central Asia, the Middle East and Caucasus, even creeping towards Moscow and Italy. Next year’s event will be pushed back to September to coincide with the Istanbul Biennial, to form a larger Istanbul Art Week. Depending on the country’s political climate – and with Elmgreen & Dragset preparing to curate next year’s Biennial – he and his team will need to be at their best.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Contemporary Istanbul website

An Unfinished Encyclopedia of Scale Figures Without Architecture is a fascinating collection of over 2000 scale figures drawn by over 200 architects, compiled by MOS Architects into a single hefty tome. For the Biennial, the figures were also applied to a bright green satin curtain that wrapped the space.

‘Are we human?’ is the urgent question posed by the third edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial, which is currently taking place in the city. Curated by academics Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, the Biennial showcases the responses of over 250 participants to a curatorial manifesto written by the duo.

‘Don’t think that the world of design belongs to designers,’ cautioned Wigley at the show’s opening last week. ‘It’s possible that designers are playing the smallest role in design today.' It's a theory that’s reflected in the diverse professions of the Biennal’s contributors, which as well as designers and architects, includes artists, scientists, labs, centres, institutes, theorists, film makers, historians, choreographers, NGOs and archaeologists.

Documenting the spread of the oil extraction industry across the planet through vast and highly detailed maps, the Territorial Agency’s ‘The Museum of Oil’ showcase considers the urgent and complex negotiation needed to wean ourselves from oil.

Their response to Colomina and Wigley’s invitation was a tidal wave of concepts and ideas that are divided into four ‘clouds’ or categories – body, planet, life and time – each one, the curators note, a broad enough topic to fill its own Biennial, yet all interconnecting.

The resulting showcase, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts with sponsorship from ENKA Foundation, Petkim and Vitra Global, spans five locations across the city with over 70 projects taking the visitor on a safari of ideas, that lurch from pressing global issues such as deforestation and the refugee crisis, to our troubling addiction to mobile devices. ‘The imprint of our species,’ the curators note, ‘is in every dimension of the environment.’

Despite the presence of pessimism and disaster, the showcase is an optimistic experience; a celebration of possibility, highlighting that design could, for once, be serious. ‘When life is difficult, that’s when you should talk about design; not when you’re feeling rich and you’re feeling relaxed and you need a new coffee pot to show to your friends,’ says Wigley. ‘You too could come up with your own response, perhaps you disagree with almost everything you see here and you’ll start to generate a new idea, and if there are new ideas in the mind of the visitor, we would be very honoured.’

The walls, floor and ceiling of this gallery space have been covered by artist Annett Zinsmeister in wallpaper digitally printed with hundreds of tower block windows. By turning the exterior of a building inwards, Zinsmeister brings the viewers attention to the way that we personalise our domestic space, posing questions about communication and social interactions. 

‘We live inside design like the spider who lives inside the web that it’s constructed from it’s own body,’ explained Mark Wigley at the show’s opening. Nowhere was this better demonstrated than within Joyce Hsiang and Bimal Mendis’ ‘City of 7 billion’ where two vast web-like drawings suspended from the ceiling chart the traces of roads, shipping lanes, flight paths and submarine cable across the globe. 

The Voyager Golden Record, a collection of 116 images, sounds and pieces of music selected by NASA in 1977 to explain human civilisation to alien species, is explored as part of ‘Voyager – Humanity in Interstellar Space’ – a project put together by Rutger Huiberts and Evangelos Kotsioris. 

Composed of a series videos around a curtained dance floor, Köçek Dance Floor by Mona Mahall and Asi Serbest celebrates the practices, spaces, costumes, objects, and music of the köçek, the young cross-dressing male dancers of Ottoman times. Because of their unclear gender, the köçek became morally offensive figures after Western understanding of sexuality was imported onto pre-colonial Islamic societies during 19th century modernisation. 

Nine common building materials: marble, wood, glass, travertine, copper, aluminium, concrete, leather and styroform are represented in both their finished and raw matter in a series of sculptures called Nine Islands by Neyran Turan and Mete Sönmez. 

Noting the irony, Kazma comments, ’The same species blindly pushing the limits of the Earth’s sustainability through over production and consumption are also building a contemporary Noah’s Ark to sustain those who may survive what is to come'

Especially prepared for the biennial at the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, three full galleries at the city’s Alt Design Space showcase huge casts of multiple 8500-year-old Neolithic footprints of the first inhabitants of present-day Istanbul. ‘Emotionally, this is the most important piece in the whole Biennale,’ explain the curators. 

One of six curatorial interventions developed by the Curatorial Team of students from Columbia and Princeton Universities, ’Homo cellular’ is an examination the cult of self-surveillance that has developed since the emergence of the first mobile phone in 1983.

INFORMATION

The 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial runs until 20 November. For more information, visit the website

In the multi-layered city of Istanbul, multiple voices resounded last weekend at the sixth edition of IST Festival. Held at the Vakko Fashion Centre on Saturday and at Soho House Istanbul on Sunday, the days were packed with panel discussions that revealed myriad viewpoints.

Silvia Venturini Fendi opened up about her life as a scion of the Fendi family – an honest story of having to prove her capacities in the face of prejudice against nepotism, of the responsibility that a matriarchal lineage brings, and her incredibly long and singular partnership with Karl Lagerfeld.

Fierce female talent was also central in the ‘Women in Film’ panel with the Turkish actress Serra Yılmaz and indie queen Parker Posey. The relatively broad subject has personal and political relevance in today’s Turkey, where the cultural sector finds itself increasingly restricted by government regulation that, especially with television, subdues the strong opinions this festival generates.

British architect David Adjaye, in an exchange with Turkish architect Murat Tabanlıoğlu, addressed the complex question of how architecture can reflect values. Today’s cities, that are getting denser and denser, require more than just architecture, he argued. 'The trauma of my work is that we contribute to this incredible destruction of the plane,' he said. 'How do we find symbiosis? That requires a radicality that is more than just architecture. It is about society thinking very carefully about what we want to be in 50, 100 years time and how we’re going to achieve it.'

José Parlá premiered his new film, One: Union of the Senses: a fast-moving, rhythmical love letter to New York that narrated the point of view of his mural with the eponymous title, commissioned by One World Trade Center.

Interestingly, and a manifest testament to IST Festival’s cross-pollination of ideas across all fields, Parlá echoed Adjaye’s sentiment with his bold statement that it’s not the graffiti in our cities that is the crime, but the cities themselves, built as they are upon ground that previous civilizations respected. 'Who’s the biggest space thief?' he asked, but continued to add that 'it’s too late now, we can’t erase the cities. But it’s not too late to educate and spread real culture.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the IST Festival website

Istanbul’s contemporary art scene has been on the rise since the 1980s, but it’s the last decade that has seen an unprecedented surge, boosted by a growing Turkish economy. The continent-straddling city’s teeming streets once housed an estimated dozen galleries in the early noughties – this figure has now flourished to over 200 as a slew of institutions both local and foreign open outposts there.

Established in 2002 by Hazer Özil, Dirimart gallery is one such driving force behind the Turkish art world’s recent boom. Today sees the official opening of its second space in Dolapdere, launching with the exhibition ‘Surface and Beyond’, that brings together the work of renowned international and Turkish artists, including Sarah Morris, Haluk Akakçe, Tomás Saraceno, Isaac Julien and more.

Dirimart looked abroad for a vision to match its ambitions to create the largest commercial art venue in Istanbul. It found it in German-Iranian architect and Studio MDA founder Markus Dochantschi. He was enlisted at the end of last year and the new gallery completed in less than three months – hardly surprising for an architect behind the Lisson, Paul Kasmin and 303 other galleries in New York, where his practice is based.

‘To come to Istanbul and deliver the expectations of what a Chelsea gallery can do was a great challenge. Is there a conflict between architecture and art? I don’t see it that way,’ says Dochantschi. He adds, ‘Architecture is there to create a flexible platform for the curator and the artists. When you look at the space it looks like we didn’t do much – and that’s the idea.’ To wit, the open, pared-back space features a flexible system of sliding walls hung from concrete ceilings that can be rearranged easily, including forming temporary rooms to show film works.

Also crucial was to create a sense of openness, inviting in the residents of Dolapdere who might normally feel intimidated by a contemporary art gallery. The building's glass walls help achieve this, connecting the gallery's interiors with an outdoor sculpture garden and the street. ‘It’s important that art communicates with different ages and social backgrounds,’ the architect says.

Heinz Peter Schwerfel, meanwhile, has curated the inaugural show, which centres on the theme of surfaces and getting beneath them. The works chosen for the exhibition make the most of Dochantschi’s versatile design – a delicate sculpture by Berlin-based, Argentine artist Tomás Saraceno mirrors natural light back into the space. Elsewhere, Ayşe Erkmen’s large, neon-pink ball punctuates an artificially illuminated corner of the gallery, flanked by a duet of glossy Isaac Julien photographs and a matching Sarah Morris painting. Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat has created a triptych of photographs especially for the show, which leads into a separate room with a film installation, also by Morris.

The transformation of entire neighbourhoods in Istanbul has been triggered by a recent spate of cultural builds – Karaköy and Tophane are two such districts that have benefited from the opening of the Istanbul Modern, for example. Dolapdere – and, by extension, Dirimart’s new space – will soon be bolstered by a contemporary art museum next door – led by the Vehbi Koç Foundation – due to open at the end of 2017.

INFORMATION

‘Surface and Beyond’ is on view until 30 July. For more information, visit Dirimart’s website

ADDRESS

Dirimart Dolapdere
Irmak Caddesi 1-9
34440 Dolapdere
Istanbul

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TELEPHONE

90.212 232 6666

When it comes to pedigree and location, it’s difficult to trump the new Hagia Sophia Mansions in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet quarter.

The British interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard has parlayed his penchant for Middle-Eastern exoticism, geometric patterns and lush fabrics into a 21st-century pasha’s pleasure dome.

Located on the edge of the Topkapi palace, the hotel comprises a sweep of richly textured  75 rooms and a private villa that were carved out of a cluster of Ottoman ambassadors’ homes. The illusion of Arabian Nights romanticism is reinforced by a number of conceits, not least reflecting water pools, chandeliers, brass lanterns and Ottoman-inspired wallpaper to go with the hand-carved beds and mini-hammam in each bathroom.

And if the views of the Topkapi or the Blue Mosque aren’t sufficiently thrilling, the subterranean spa earns extra points for its atmospheric setting in an original Roman aqueduct, as does the house restaurant Sarnic, which is inserted into a cavernous 1,500-year-old water cistern.

ADDRESS

Cankurtaran Mh., Kabasakal Cd. No. 5

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Updating and fine-tuning the oldest and largest library in Istanbul is not a project for the faint hearted, but Turkish international firm Tabanlioglu Architects rose to the occasion, embarking on the sensitive re-organisation of the interior and restoration of the State Library's fabric in 2006.

Located on Beyazit Square, the library was first founded in 1884 and sits in a historical context, adjacent to the Beyazit Mosque – the oldest surviving imperial mosque in the city – and located on the main axis of Istanbul's historical heart, Divan Yolu. Previous uses of the building had involved it being everything from a soup kitchen to a traditional inn (or 'caravanserai').

The architects placed a light and transparent inflatable membrane structure over the building's open courtyard. This filters light through and creates a controlled atmosphere for books and visitors, while abstractly mimicking the library's iconic domed roof.

Transparent glass box pavilions now dot the interior, creating a modern counterpart to the historical surroundings. These enclosed spaces are also able to ensure an optimum atmosphere in which to preserve the library's rare book and manuscript collection.

The flow through the building was tweaked in order to best serve its modern function, so the main entrance is now through the aforementioned courtyard. Modern Turkish publications sit on the second floor, and periodicals on the first, while the ground level houses the rarer, more precious objects of the collection in their cubic boxes.

During the construction works, the remains of a Byzantine church were revealed. These have been preserved and can now be enjoyed through a glass roof – a gesture that highlights Tabanlioglu Architects' careful restoration work and minimal intervention, aimed at respecting the spirit of the historical library.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Tabanlioglu Architects website

Photography: Emre Dörter

In the pipeline since 2013, the brand new Astana train station is one of the Kazakhstan capital's key infrastructure projects – combining a variety of rail links, public areas, pedestrian passages and an urban park. 

The brainchild of Turkish firm Tabanlioğlu – the architects behind more major works, such as the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul – the complex sits on the traditional ceremonial route from the Presidential Palace. 

Its striking monolithic roof defines the design. Made out of lightweight steel, the roof was crafted to optimise 'strength and stiffness', explain the architects, providing 'an economical yet durable configuration', responding to the region's climatic requirements. 

The distinct roof structure also hints to what happens below, its linear profile aligned to the direction of the tracks. Cantilevering out from both ends of the station, this surface also creates a spectacular shelter from the elements for the station's users. By keeping this an open-air area, the architects aim to link the station to the street life and urban fabric beyond. 

Heralding a new era in the region's transport and infrastructure system, its completion – currently estimated for 2017 – will be an important one for the country. 

Currently on site, the station has already received its first, prestigious win, scooping one of the AR MIPIM Future Project Awards at the Cannes fair.

INFORMATION

For more information on Tabanlioglu visit the 

website

Istanbul may not be known as a global cultural capital, but Demet Müftüoğlu Eşeli and her husband, Alphan Eşeli, are changing that thanks to the Istanbul Arts & Culture Festival. IST Festival for short - which just closed its fifth edition last Sunday, bringing a number of bold names in fashion, art and entertainment from around the globe to Turkey, included is Los Angeles-based fine art photographer and filmmaker Alex Prager.

On the first night of the festival, the Eşelis introduced Prager to Istanbul during the opening of her eponymous exhibition, which will be on display until June 20 in ISTANBUL'74's gallery space, in conjunction with Lehmann Maupin.

'Normally I show a body of work that was all shot around the same time, and I thought it would be interesting to show a broader view because I felt like I was introducing myself and my work to Istanbul for the first time.'

Consisting of a dozen hyper-realistic large-scale photographs littered with influences from Hollywood and her 12-minute film starring Elizabeth Banks titled Face in the Crowd. The pieces ranged from 2008 to 2013, beginning with 'Cindy,' a 2008 image of her friend in a floral dress standing in front of a red car before a completely black background. 'I thought it was the most perfect red, it was so beautiful, so I left a note on the car asking if they would sell it to me, and they never got back to me, so I kept on leaving notes on the car,' said Prager, who eventually succeeded.

The newest work in the exhibition is a 2014 photograph of a woman's face and a nose below that evolved from her 'Face in the Crowd' series. 'I kept thinking, that's such a great nose,' she said. 'I almost want to crop out that person and show that as the picture, but it didn't work that way because I was making a series of crowds, so then after the crowd series, I went and shot individual parts.'

And what did Prager take away from working in such close detail with people's faces? 'Everyone is so interesting, and everyone is so different, and how we're all built so differently, and all the individual, unique parts together that make up who we are, it's just fascinating,' she said.

ADDRESS

Istanbul '74
Kuloğlu Mh
Turnacıbaşı Cd No:9
Beyoğlu
Turkey

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The latest addition to Soho House’s growing litany of outposts finds itself in Istanbul’s creative district of Beyoglu. Consisting of four buildings, the hotel and private members club is a smart amalgamation of old and new, with its most historic component — an 1873 structure called the Corpi Building — known locally as the former US embassy and consulate. It has been carefully merged with a series of newer structures, which in their totality houses 87 bedrooms, two rooftop pools, a speakeasy-styled bar named The Embassy Club and that Soho House failsafe, Cecconi’s restaurant. Buried in amongst the hotel’s restored frescoes, Carrara marble flooring and rosewood doors, is a Cowshed spa that wins extra authenticity points for its incorporation of two hammam rooms.

ADDRESS

Evliya Çelebi Mahallesi Mesrutiyet Cad. No 56
Istanbul
Turkey

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Former professional windsurfer Kemal Demirasal’s talents have extended to the kitchen, where since launching his first restaurant in 2007, in the town of Çesme on the Aegean coast, he has emerged as one of Turkey’s most acclaimed chefs. Now, bringing his culinary vision to Istanbul, Demirasal has opened Alancha, a two-floor eatery, designed by Alaçati-based firm Cacti Architecture, whose understated interiors successfully counteract the glossiness of the Armani Maçka Residences- the building it is housed in. Tactile woods, leathers and a wall of live greenery give life to a mainly concrete space, while low-hanging pendant lights reduce the effects of the lofty ceiling, creating a warm and intimate atmosphere. Using fresh ingredients from Demirasal's own farm, the menu celebrates the origins of Anatolian cuisine, and features dishes such as galantine salad with lamb brain cream, a nod to Istanbul's street food traditions, and 'yahni', an onion stew brought form Persia to Anatolia by Alexander the Great. All food is cooked in the restaurant's wood-fired oven, while an on-site research and development facility with a test kitchen and library allows the chefs to constantly experiment and explore new directions.

ADDRESS

Hüsrev Gerede Cad. Sehit Mehmet Sok 9
Besiktas

Istanbul

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The first property under the Morgans Hotel Group umbrella to open outside of the US or UK, Istanbul’s 10 Karaköy is the beginning of a series of hip, upcoming international launches for the brand. Named after the burgeoning neighbourhood it is resident of, the 71-room hotel is housed in a handsome neoclassical pile – the vision of architect Araditi Razi – dating from 1875. Inside, the property achieves the cloistered quiet, remindful of the hospital it once was, thanks to architect Sinan Kafadar, who kept much of the building’s original features, including a soaring, arched atrium, which is now home to the hotel’s lobby. Evidencing his knack for understated elegance, the rooms and public spaces are plush in their devotion to rich fabrics, deep armchairs, ink-streaked marble and elegant bronze trimmings, all in a healing palette of light greys and teal. In a city with flourishing culinary offerings, Rudolf, the in-house restaurant, comes up trumps with a Mediterranean menu that includes slow-cooked octopus, topped with pesto, carrots, beetroot and coriander. The low lit Sky Terrace bar meanwhile, flaunts romantic vistas of the old city.

ADDRESS

Kemeralt? Caddesi 10
34425 Karaköy
Istanbul

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Ist Too, one of the two restaurants found within the newly opened Shangri-La hotel in Turkey's culture capital, certainly lives up to the building's exterior grandeur. Designed by Hong Kong-based Andre Fu of AFSO, the interior is inspired by lavish 16th- and 17th-century Ottoman aesthetics, with Fu working to a traditional Turkish colour scheme of neutrals, dark metallics and rich complementary colours. Turkish marble, which takes centre stage in the restaurant on the flooring, tables and other smaller furnishings throughout, is thoughtfully matched with dark oak furnishings, taupe leather seats, bronze light fittings, gold details and flecks of royal blue and deep purple. There is a variety of cuisines (from Asian to Mediterranean) to suit most palates, but it's the impressive wall of wine that will have us coming back for more.

ADDRESS

Sinanpasa Mah
Hayrettin Iskelesi Sok, No.1
Besiktas

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On reflection, it was a canny decision to open Raffles in Istanbul’s most ambitious mixed-use development. Designed by architects Emre Arolat and Murat Tabanlioglu, the Zorlu Center, in the Besiktas district, is a mammoth 21st-century bazaar heaving with boldface-name retailers (the world’s third largest Apple Store, for instance), a West End-style theatre, private apartments, offices, food and drink outlets, and art galleries. Occupying the seventh to 21st floors of the east tower, the 181-room Raffles has the feel of a modern pasha’s digs. The LA-based interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates has dressed the space in lush Byzantine silk, gold mosaics, traditional Turkish textiles and an impressive collection of specially commissioned paintings, sculpture, video art and photography. All rooms feature a balcony with the best views overlooking the Bosphorus and the Princes’ Islands. If none of that pleases, the two pools (one on the roof alongside the helipad) and a 3,000 sq m spa stocked with products from The Organic Pharmacy most definitely will. 

ADDRESS

Zorlu Center
34340 Istanbul
Turkey

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After the success of his first restaurant Münferit, Istanbul-based chef Ferit Sarper has launched a new eatery located in the bustling district of Karaköy. Gaspar, with its menu of contemporary Turkish dishes, from broiled octopus with polenta to pasta with bottarga (Mediterranean cured fish roe), is designed by Seyhan Özdemir, Sarper’s wife and one half of the Istanbul-based design studio Autoban.

Anchored inside a century-old printing house - a beautiful neo-classical building with high ceilings - Gaspar unfolds into a double-storey space clad in a dynamic patchwork of plywood panels in different sizes and finishes. Playing with mathematical order, the backlit panels create a kinetic randomness on the walls. Interiors, inspired by the concept of the Cabinet of Curiosities, are furnished selectively with unusually contoured pieces that bring character to the space.

ADDRESS

Müeyyeyzade Mahallesi
Necatibey Caddesi
Arapoglan Sokak No.6
Istanbul
Turkey

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The French Mama Shelter hotels have a new Turkish sibling. Set over three floors at the top of a new department store on Istiklal Caddesi in central Istanbul, the 81-room hotel has Mama's usual mix of humour and fun. Like the other properties, Mama Shelter Istanbul is designed by Philippe Starck and features guest rooms with whitewashed walls stippled with pops of orange. The communal bar hosts a programme of hip DJ parties to attract young Turks, who begin the evening at the restaurant. The menu offers a mix of local and European fare by Michelin three-star chef Alain Senderens and features his special boeuf bourguignon with mashed potatoes. A roof terrace, serving an equally delectable menu of cocktails, is bound to be a summer hit.

ADDRESS

Huseyin Aga Mahallesi Istiklal Caddesi 50-54
Beyoglu
Istanbul
Turkey

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Offering one of Istanbul's best waterside views, the newly opened Tapasuma restaurant is yet another reminder of what a cosmopolitan contender the city has become. Housed within a nineteenth century Ottoman distillery, the interior features a striking centerpiece in the form of an eight-metre long Calcutta marble bar, while a palette of mushroom and charcoal grey have a warming effect, brightened by plenty of natural light. Chef Gokay Cakiroglu serves up a tempting menu of traditional yet modern Turkish fare that includes a selection of hot and cold tapas dishes such as baked, dry figs stuffed with goats cheese. The extensive wine list, offering an array of regional grapes, adds to the locality of this very modern Turkish restaurant.

ADDRESS

Kuleli Caddesi 43
Çengelköy
Istanbul

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As the Design Biennial returns to Istanbul for its second edition, the capital of Turkish culture is hosting a glut of projects selected by this year's appointed head, Zoë Ryan. The chair and curator of the Art Institute of Chicago has worked with associate curator Meredith Carruthers on the six-week event, held over five floors of the Galata Greek Primary School and at several locations across the city.
 
Ryan's curatorial starting point was a statement made by French poet Paul Valéry in 1937 – 'The future is not what it used to be' – which she found just as relevant today as 80 years ago. But her inspiration wasn't only borne from the significance of time; geography played a role. 'The city is going through a deep transformation,' says the British-born curator, 'so it is fitting to be here talking about the future and the changing of ideas.' What attracts her to design biennials, she explains, is their nature to look at the future, a concept borrowed from art biennials. The fact that they are detached from institutions and run independently allows for a proper collision and exchange of ideas.
 
To answer Ryan's question – 'What is the future now?' – her showcase develops through four departments, inspired by academies and retail spaces. It is intended to be a personal and physical journey through the building. The circulation system, devised by Istanbul design agency Superpool in collaboration with Project Projects, guides visitors through the departments in a crescendo of complex ideas and solutions.

The journey through the neo-classical building starts with the Personal Department, an overview of everyday issues pertinent to our personal lives. Further up, the Norms and Standards Department includes a series of projects questioning the status quo, inviting visitors to rethink daily rituals. Perhaps the most enticing of the four departments, it allows visitors to interact with a variety of installations, from a punching print machine to a nap room. 

The Resource Department follows with a series of practical installations that explore odors and gastronomy and includes a reading room designed by Istanbul-based duo Can and Asli Altay. 

The tour ends with the Civil Relations department, where stronger social themes of architecture, ethics and urban and rural landscapes are explored and illustrated. 'The scope of the biennial is open ended,' says Ryan. 'It is meant to encourage discussion and debate and to understand what's going on in the here and now.'
 
The city seems to have responded positively to this message, with local galleries partaking in the design fest by exhibiting the best of Turkish and international design. The small apartment-gallery Rodeo dedicated its space to wooden shelves and lights by Cyprus-born, London-based designer Michael Anastassiades.

Nearby at Istanbul '74 is a mind-blowing collection of 3D-printed lamps by Turkish-born, Chicago-based designer Defne Koz. Combining local craftsmanship with design, European initiative Glass is Tomorrow showcases the fruits of a workshop held in Denizli, southwest Turkey, with projects by Autoban and Nigel Coates, among others.

The newest member of Istanbul's ever-expanding design-hotel scene, the Marti is a 270-room venture playing heavily on Turkish art and culture (its designer, Zeynep Fadillioglu, is notable for being Turkey's first female architect to build a mosque). While strikingly modern, the hotel threads together traditional Turkish elements like mosaic murals and wooden screens in the rooms. At its heart is a large atrium centred on an Ottoman tent and water installation by Turkish Carnegie Prize-winner Kutlug Ataman. The four restaurants and bars include a placid courtyard café, which should interest the Young Turks who frequent frenetic Taksim Square, just a few moments away.

ADDRESS

Abdülhak Hamit Cad No.25B
Taksim 34435
Istanbul
Turkey

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The fourth project from Istanbul's House Hotel group is new accommodation inside the former Ottoman Bank buildings in the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Karaköy. Dating from 1863, the storied structure, restored by Turkish architect Han Tümertekin, retains all of its original details, while the contemporary décor was created by Sinan Kafadar - best known for the interiors of both Four Seasons hotels in the city. Artwork comes from owner Yilmaz Ulusoy's personal collection, while advisor Zeynep Berik also commissioned emerging local artists to create exclusive pieces for the hotel. High ceilings further create a rich library atmosphere, complete with antiques and vintage objects and further down the lobby, the old vault serves as a backdrop to a sophisticated bar area.

ADDRESS

Bankalar Caddesi No. 5
Karaköy
Istanbul
Turkey

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Perched on the rooftop of an old building in Istanbul's up-and-coming creative district, Karaköy, FerahFeza is the latest restaurant offering from the team behind the successful Leb-i Derya. Boasting two terraces with views of the neighbourhood rooftops on one side and a sprawling vista of the Golden Horn on the other, the eatery - designed by local outfit i-am - features brass countertops with Tom Dixon lights in the bar along with contrasting warm woods and grey upholstered chairs in the restaurant. Outside, the terrace is airy with concrete walls, enhanced by metallic paneling and sleek grey marble slates that reflect the sky and mimic the deck of an elegant yacht. Serving a local menu with a contemporary twist, the restaurant has already been embraced by trendsetters as a natural game changer.

ADDRESS

Kemanke Caddesi No.31 
Kat: 5
Karaköy
Istanbul

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As the economic behemoth that is Turkey sprints into the future (see W* 176 celebrating the CIVETS countries), reminders of the past remain few and far between. Perili Köşk – otherwise known as the fairy-haunted mansion – is a spectacular exception, teetering on the western bank of the Bosphorus in the heart of Istanbul.

The century-old manor, home to the Borusan Contemporary Art Museum, remained unfinished for decades, until a recent renovation brought it back into the cultural sphere. A new installation by lighting designer Thierry Dreyfus does even better, setting it alight at night and, as the artist says, 'brings the fairies back into view'.

Dreyfus takes the building's most distinctive features - the cantilevered balconies that hug the corners and curve around the nine-storey spire - and illuminates them from below with cosmic video screens embedded in the undersides. As dusk falls and the muezzins begin the evening call to prayer, the screens come alive with recordings of passing clouds, currents of water, or rays of sun peeking through the trees. It's as if the building were broadcasting scenes from its own memory.

The Borusan originally commissioned the installation as part of the 13th Istanbul Biennial. After lighting up briefly in September, it came to life again this week in honour of the 70th anniversary of the Borusan Foundation, rescuer of the building.

As for the best view? Dreyfus says it's from the Bosphorus – from the hundreds of boats that float past each evening. 'When the sun sets, when the images of the films are melting into the sky,' he muses. Passers-by, however, will also get an eyeful for some time to come, as the installation is set to light up the historical building for the next three years.

INFORMATION

Borusan Contemporary Art Museum
Baltalimanı Hisar Street
Perili Köşk No:5
34470 Sariyer
Istanbul

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As part of the inaugural Istanbul Design Biennial, Domus editor Joseph Grima curated a large, sprawling exhibition entitled 'Adhocracy'. Billed as 'an exhibition about people who make things,' Adhocracy was also a portal into the ongoing debate about design, ownership, copyright, copying, and the evolution of manufacturing culture.

Located in the former Galata Greek Primary School, a magnificent piece of neo-classical solidity, the exhibition replaces the sound of chattering school children with the whirr and buzz of 3D printing machines, the worker drones of a whole host of projected future micro-economies.

Grima brought together a selection of projects from around the world, focusing on designer-makers who are subverting the traditional structures of industry, taking production out of the factories and back into the workshop, using open source designs and strategies and the fast-evolving technologies of 3D printing and rapid prototyping.

In many respects, this story is an old one, a return to the days before the industrial revolution centralised production, taking control it out of the hands of the workers and setting up a hierarchical society that valued efficiency over skill. It's also an appropriate subject for Istanbul's debut Biennial; the city's millennia-old status as a bridge between east and west also sees how the passage of goods and labour flows around the world.

ADDRESS

Kemeraltı Cad. No: 49
34425 Galata
Beyoğlu
İstanbul

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As part of its official launch in May this year, Le Méridien Istanbul Etiler played host to a three-day series of events that saw leading international artists and local talent from Istanbul’s booming art scene come together for an exciting programme of cultural happenings. 

Cultural curator Jérôme Sans led a panel discussion entitled ‘Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts: Motivations, Potential, Problems’, which focussed on issues of funding and strategy. The panel featured insights by Istanbul-born artist Ayşe Erkmen, Erdal Yıldırım, president of the Vehbi Koç Foundation – a leading NGO supporting and organising art exhibitions in Turkey – Louise McKinney, head of Campaigns at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and Nick Aikens from Outset Contemporary Art Fund. McKinney’s description of the global shift of art funding from public to private institutions underscored the importance of the event and Le Méridien's inventive integration of art into their brand concept.

The evening continued with the official first night opening of the hotel, which saw Istanbul’s cultural, business and social elite gathering in the Le Méridien Hub. 'First Night Istanbul: The Art of Connection' highlighted Le Méridien's passion for connecting creative talents, countries and cultures by six art installations created for the event by LM100™ members that connected key creative cities in the world. 

A DJ party and music performance followed in the hotel’s La Torre restaurant and pool deck, with dancing continuing late into the night in the Boaz Bar on the 34th floor with its amazing views of the city.

The morning after saw Istanbul conceptual artists and LM100™ members Birol Demir and Yasemin Baydar (who make up :mentalKLINIK) stage their ‘moving sculpture’ art installation, Terribly Jolly. The duo thrust small groups of visitors into a disorienting experience that recreated the interior of a nightclub, complete with pumping house music, flashing coloured lights and dancers. After a few minutes the whole ensemble of sound and movement would stop and freeze the moment into a piece of art. This juxtaposition of a nightclub in the morning that challenges expected notions of day and night was a typical example of :mentalKLINIK’s work. Following this experience :mentalKLINIK launched the first ever illy espresso Art Collection cup and saucer, a playful design in gold, exhibiting the artists’ signature pop-art vocabulary, which will be rolled out into Le Méridien hotels worldwide.

Under the direction of Sans, ten artists from the LM100™ creative family were on hand throughout the three-day event to meet guests and discuss their work both for Le Méridien Istanbul Etiler and for the other hotels globally.

Guided tours of a handful of local galleries, including the hotel's Unlock Art™ partner Istanbul Modern were led by LM100™ members :mentalKLINIK and Sam Samore, rounding off the two days of celebrations which had given guests a taste of Istanbul's vibrant creativity.

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It may only be three seasons old, but Istanbul Fashion Week has definitely whetted our appetites for more sartorial Turkish delights. Its latest staging saw a gathering of the best of the country's fashion in the city's Itu Taskisla Campus.

Backed by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, the week's fashion schedule featured internationally established names like Bora Aksu, Arzu Kaprol and Dice Kayak, as well as new design talent and lesser-known local names.

A precursor to the international fashion week roster, the current European City of Culture had international press and buyers flock to the city to take in shows, exhibitions and customary trips to the city's Grand Bazaar for inspiration.

With Turkish textile export being a world frontrunner, it came as no surprise that highlights of the week included quality finishes, intricately constructed fabrics and experimental textures. Also interesting was the fact that many ready-to-wear collections featured designs and prints that were heavily inspired by Turkish culture as a whole.

Another thing that stood out was the show schedule, which was executed with military precision. This made it probably the only fashion week in the world where almost every show started on time.

Despite it lacking quite the same finesse as other major fashion weeks, the buzz around the fledgling IFW was alive, making it certainly one to watch.

'Fashion is architecture,' as Coco Chanel memorably proclaimed, and a new exhibition at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art explores the synergy of the two disciplines. Turkish fashion brand Dice Kayek has taken aspects of Istanbul - including some of its most iconic buildings - and translated them into sartorial form.

The exhibition's 12 themes include 'Istanbul by night', 'Bosphorus' and 'Dome' - with certain designs channelling specific architectural icons. The metallic embroidery of Dice Kayek's 'Galata' dress, for example, echoes the cast-iron latticework of the Galata Bridge; the intricate embroidery of the 'Aya Sofya' gown was inspired by the mosaics of the Haghia Sophia museum; and the geometric shapes of the five 'Istanbul Modern' designs evoke Istanbul's contemporary architecture.

Established in 1991, Dice Kayek is one of Turkey's most acclaimed fashion labels. Now based in Paris, the brand's designer Ece Ege has drawn inspiration from her city of birth for these 26 designs celebrating the diversity, history and architecture of this famous intersection of cultures.

The collection was previously exhibited at the Les Arts Decoratifs Museum of Paris in March, but five new designs have been created specifically for the Istanbul Contrast show. A sculptural installation - 'LogForest' by Arik Levy of LDesign - was also specially commissioned.

As I stood in Eminönü Square, Istanbul, experiencing what might only be described as an experiment in sound, art and architecture, I was approached by a rather trepidacious Turkish teenager. "What's going on?" he enquired. "It's a sound installation," I replied. "I don't know what that is," he answered, obviously puzzled. "But it's not love is it?" And certainly for that moment in time it was not as, sitting behind a MacBook, was Aphex Twin collaborator and eminent sonic artist Russell Haswell, playing a sound poem by Yasunao Tone, entitled Paramedia, that sounded like a million arcade computer games at war.

The occasion was the launch of a sonic temple christened The Morning Line that was created by artist Matthew Ritchie, in collaboration with award winning architect, Ben Aranda, and Arup AGU. The launch was held over five days and featured a series of exciting new works by some of the world's greatest sonic artists. A formidable, almost foreboding Gothic-like construction, The Morning Line is basically an eight-metre high, 20m long, perforated coated aluminium modular tent weighing in at 17 tons, that can be dismantled and transported over borders and re-assembled in a variety of new shapes - almost like a box of Lego.

No ordinary construction, the structure comprises 40 speakers within its confines and uses an interactive ambi-sonic sound system (made by the Music Research Centre Of York University) that serves to broadcast said 'music' in the shadow of the Yeni Cami Mosque, next to the Spice Bazaar and overlooking the Bosphorous.

The whole shooting match has been put together and sponsored by, Francesca von Habsburg, international patron of the arts, heir to the Thyssen Bornemisza Collection and founder of TBA 21 contemporary arts foundation, along with Turkey's Vehbi Koç Foundation.

A rather spectacular event, its curated by Haswell, who chose the 16 individual works to be broadcast on an irregular basis in between prayers until September 19th. Amongst the works are a soothing electronic classical opus, Bridges from Somewhere, by Peter Zinovieff (who in the 1960s invented the VCS3 synthesizer so popular amongst the likes of Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd and David Bowie) and composer Carl Michael von Hausswolff's, No Rest Even for the Static Matter, that employs sine waves voiced into 40 different compositions - one for each speaker - all to be played simultaneously.

A quite dazzling array of talent, amongst the other works are: Maelstrom by Lee Ranaldo - co-founder of Sonic Youth; Cannibal in Tuxedo, by Icelandic duo, Ghostigital (Einar Örn of The Sugarcubes and Curver the Sigur Ros remixer); Timeless Wave by Erdem Helvacıoğlu; and Snaefellsnes by Cabaret Voltaire founder Chris Wilson.

Indeed, the event fields the full disparity of modern sonic art - some pieces almost lull one to sleep, others create an inner turmoil - but all are created to provoke an emotional effect and all within the confines of a rather radical piece of architectural art that sits in a very important heritage site.

"The location of these pavilions are as important as the pavilions themselves and here we are with this very contemporary construction and concept in the middle of this very historical square casting a calligraphic shadow over the Bosphorous." explains Francesca von Habsburg.

"This was a chance to do something on a large scale and experiment with the relationship between sound and architecture. I hate compromise and this was the opportunity not to do so."

Turkey is cementing its position as European Capital of Culture 2010 with a festival of fashion, film, art, literature and more - boldly named 'Istancool'.

Guests, including architect Zaha Hadid, artists Terence Koh and Haluk Akakç, fashion designer Gareth Pugh and author VS Naipaul, will descend on the city for the three day event - from 2nd to 4th July - which will feature exhibitions, film screenings and literary talks and readings.

Events will be held in the Pera Museum and Sakip Sabanci Museum, among others, and there'll also be a tour of Turkish label Vakko's impressive new Fashion Centre. Designed by New York firm, REX, the complex comprises two interconnected glass volumes created from the skeleton of an unfinished hotel.

If architectural talent spotting is your thing, then head to the Architecture Foundation’s new Carmody Groarke-designed project space in London this month.

The AF launched its London_Istanbul exchange program at the end of 2009, which sent three upcoming London-based practices - David Kohn Architects, Studio Weave and 00:/ - on a trip to the Turkish capital for a series of lectures and workshops at the Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture.

The programme will this month come full circle, with three emerging Turkish firms - Asli K. Ingin, ddrlp and Tuspa NK - winging their way to London to present their work on a number of formats - including a public talk which took place at the Architecture Foundation last night at the AF.

Organised with the help of the AF’s Istanbul partners - Arkitera Architecture Center and Garanti Gallery - and featuring practices from each country, selected by two respective international advisory boards - the exchange programme looks set to provide a sneak peek into the future of contemporary Turkish architecture.

ADDRESS

The Architecture Foundation
Ground Floor East
136–148 Tooley St
London SE1 2TU

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Last weekend on the banks of the Bosphorus, Istanbul played host to a series of catwalk shows by some of fashion's biggest names - Cavalli, Westwood, Ferre, Ferragamo and Missoni. The event - which went by the somewhat clunky title of Fashionable Istanbul - was organised with the intention of putting the city on the international fashion map.

There are two ways seemingly to 'create' a fashion week. The first is to work with the grass root scene (students and small, local labels) and any heritage companies of the same nationality in the hope that as it develops year on year the more interesting it becomes. This relies quite heavily on the city having cool credentials in the first place and a vibrant, young creative scene. Like Berlin.

The second is to transplant elements of existing fashion weeks - designers, models, journalists - and this was Fashionable Istanbul's tack. Although the city has a thriving luxury retail scene and a considerable wealth of student talent, not to mention one of the world's finest textile traditions, big (foreign) names and models on the catwalks were what mattered more first time round here. It might sound a bit phoney, short-term and a narrow-minded approach by comparison with option one, but it was a tactic that worked very well.

For the international fashion crowd this had more to do with the setting than the shows themselves. The collections shown were all A/W 09 (except Missoni, who showed S/S 10), seen earlier in the year - but it was the first time anyone had been on a catwalk, floating on the Bosphorus, in the shade of the Dolmabahce mosque. The spectacular views made everyone a bit giddy and quickly it mattered neither here nor there that the collections weren't 'new' and this wasn't the first time they were being seen.

For the Turkish crowd, enthusiasm was high for the fact that five of fashion's biggest names had flown specially to inaugurate the gala and didn't just make it a flying trip but stayed, partied, boat-tripped and generally enthused about what an enchanting city Istanbul is and what a slick event Fashionable Istanbul was proving to be.

Proof that it wasn't purely a flash in the fashion pan though came in the form of a student catwalk show from two of Istanbul's three fashion schools. Of the forty-odd students who showed, a winner will be selected by a panel and offered an internship at one of the fashion brands who showed (further details are yet to be announced).

The organisers Hakan Baykam and Maia Guarnaccia of Baykam and RBM were very honest about their intention and approach. "We get a little fed-up with people always talking about Istanbul as 'the bridge' between east and western culture. We want to make this a destination in itself, not just a gateway." Quizzed on why they'd chosen to 'transplant' rather than 'grow' their fashion week, they explained, "models, designers and journalists create this fashion world."

"Turkey is a bit like Italy was in the 1960s - we have a very strong textile industry but weak branding and marketing. 'Made in Turkey' has no association with luxury." Building the city as a destination for fashion and opening people up bit by bit to what we have here - students, young designers, textiles, a retail scene - is how we can start opening the country up, getting people to take interest and building a dialogue."

Year one was indeed a good start in getting people excited about Istanbul. Year two will need to present more in the way of Turkish names and brands though for 'Fashionable Istanbul' to develop. If the event is the same as last year it runs the risk of being seen as just an extravagant venue for international designers, which would be a shame, given the Turkish heritage, industry and talent, established(albeit abroad) and new, that clearly do exist.

Read our interview with Roberto Cavalli

As the fashion crowd sipped champagne on a floating, red-carpeted catwalk just up the Bosphorus at Fashionable Istanbul, a rather more gritty, bleak take on life was to be found at Istanbul's 11th Art Biennial downstream.

The biennial is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts, spread across three venues (a former factory, warehouse and school) and curated under the title "What keeps mankind alive?". Showing the work of over 70 artists from 40 countries, it was predominantly Turkish and in places was really very good.

Chinese art might be the headline grabber and though the din is dying down a little and eyes are turning more to India, Iran and the Middle East the emerging generation of contemporary Turkish artists deserve attention too, if the new work on show here was anything to go by.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the title of the biennale, combined with the many conundrums Turkey faces as a nation, much of the art was angry - angry at the repressive elements of traditional culture and the destructive elements of globalization. Photography featured a lot, predominantly found old photographs or postcards - an easy way to highlight how dramatically and how quickly the country has changed, which was another recurring theme.

Democracy and the economy came in for the severest bashings though, many young artists taking the cynical approach that these lifelines of modern humanity are the source of all that is evil in the world. This thread produced the most varied work and the fine line between thought-provoking, subtle art and brash, crass pieces was where the biennale was at its best - the weaker pieces serving to highlight how strong the cleverer ones were by comparison.

The were two particularly memorable pieces. Shahab Fotouhi's 'Study For a Nuclear Bomb Shelter' - a cage with an inflatable mushroom cloud above, suggesting we're locked in nuclear destruction and there's really no protection. Unemployed Employees' (Aydan Murtezaoglu and Bulent Sangar) 'I Found You a New Job' is a performance of sorts, with t-shirt folders and perfume sprayers, out of context serving to question the futility of the widespread jobs. "We're supposed to be happy to have a job like this but what are we doing - there's no point, it's false employment doing nothing to keep people busy," Sangar explained.

Perhaps the most striking, thought-provoking work though belonged to Oraib Toukan. Part of his 'Equity is in the Circle' project was a gold calligraphic arabic text, like an old illumination, though blown up to the scale of a logo you might see on the street. Called 'Own It', the Arabic is a phonetic translation of the English phrase, succinctly capturing the spirit of the show and the underlying message to be found in so many of the works - that with globalization the social and cultural values of the most dominant powers are transplanted onto those with less authority.