Events in İstanbul
Concerts, theater, exhibitions, and more.
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Exhibitions
Bosphorus Light — New Exhibition at Istanbul Modern
A major new photography and video installation exploring how Istanbul's waterways shape identity and memory.
Istanbul Modern · Beyoğlu
₺180
Editor's Pick
Exhibitions
Permanent Collection — Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Ottoman calligraphy, 19th-century Turkish painting, and Islamic manuscripts in a grand Bosphorus yalı in Emirgan.
Sakıp Sabancı Museum
₺200
Exhibitions
Istanbul 1900–1950 — Free Archive Exhibition at SALT Galata
A free archival exhibition presenting rarely seen photographs and documents from early 20th-century Istanbul.
SALT Galata · Beyoğlu
Exhibitions
Energy Museum & Art Walk — Santral Istanbul
Explore the original 1914 power plant turbines, then tour the contemporary art galleries inside this remarkable Golden Horn campus.
Santral Istanbul · Beyoğlu
₺150
Exhibitions
Pera Museum: Permanent & Current Exhibitions
One of Beyoğlu's most dependable cultural anchors, Pera Museum holds an exceptional collection that spans Orientalist painting, Anatolian weights and measures, and Kütahya tiles alongside rotating contemporary shows. The building itself — a restored 19th-century Bristol Hotel — is worth the entrance fee alone. Arrive on a weekday morning to have the galleries largely to yourself.
Pera Museum · Beyoğlu
₺100
Exhibitions
Saturday at AURA: Han Tümertekin on 'The Aesthetics of Necessity'
One of Turkey's most quietly influential architects, Han Tümertekin, takes the stage at AURA Istanbul to speak about a subject at the heart of his practice — how constraint and necessity give rise to genuine beauty. It's a rare chance to hear rigorous architectural thinking delivered with the directness of someone who has spent decades building it into physical form. Expect an intimate afternoon conversation rather than a formal lecture.
Exhibitions
Sema: Whirling Dervish Ceremony at Yücel Arts Center
One of Istanbul's most visually and spiritually arresting traditions, the Sema ceremony brings the meditative practice of the Mevlevi Order to life through slow, concentric rotation and haunting ney flute music. Performers in tall felt sikke hats and billowing white tennure robes turn as an act of prayer, not performance. This regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday programme makes it genuinely accessible without sacrificing ritual gravity.
Price varies — check venue
Exhibitions
A Design Problem 08
The eighth edition of SALT Galata's ongoing 'Bir Tasarım Problemi' series brings together designers, thinkers, and practitioners to wrestle with a single, carefully framed design challenge. Set inside the grandly repurposed Ottoman banking hall on Bankalar Caddesi, these evenings have built a quiet reputation for generating genuinely uncomfortable — and genuinely useful — conversations about the state of design in Turkey and beyond.
SALT Galata · Beyoğlu
Exhibitions
We Are the Stars of the Future: Ada Yalın Yücel, E. Ferhat Güneri & Zeynep Kanber
Three emerging Turkish artists — Ada Yalın Yücel, E. Ferhat Güneri, and Zeynep Kanber — converge at the Austrian Cultural Forum for an evening that places a bet on what comes next. The title itself, 'Geleceğin Yıldızlarıyız' (We Are the Stars of the Future), reads less as boast than as manifesto. Expect work that is restless, considered, and very much of this moment.