Arts, Culture & History

By Bairma Kihoro People have always been crossing borders. Not just geographical, but social, cultural and psychological ones as well. Everyone has their own dramas,...

Cities like Istanbul stand alternatively as testaments to humanity's sustained success and survival and to its limitless culture of waste and forgetfulness. While Newton...

                They spoke to me of people, and of humanity. But I've never seen people, or humanity. I've seen various people, astonishingly dissimilar, Each separated from the next...

In a city whose skyline is spiked with thousands of minarets, it is sometimes forgotten just how many churches are snuggled in the back...

When I first lived in Istanbul for 6 months in 2013, some of my most memorable days were spent simply wandering the old city...

Surprising to say, but Ottoman palaces in Istanbul are a dime a dozen. Palaces were a necessary part of imperial life, but after the...

A notable player in the current world of art house cinema, Turkey has seen a new wave emerge and establish itself. Amongst others, there...

From the organizer: Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and...

C. M. Kosemen is an artist and independent researcher born in Ankara, Turkey in 1984. He studied at Cornell University, Istanbul’s Sabancı University and...

Emilie Varlet and Gabrielle Reeves began exploring Istanbul's hans in the summer of 2014, when they first started their sketching adventures in the city. They have...

Nestled deep in the back streets of Göztepe lies the Istanbul Toy Museum. The lovely white house is guarded by two giraffes ready to...

Contemporary Turkish cinema often oscillates between bland, commercial movies (that range from broad comedies to over-sugared romances) and magnificent under-performing films that demonstrate the concerns...

For those who are new to the city or unfamiliar with Turkish artists, Istanbul’s local music scene might seem alluring, if also slightly out...

The Princes' Islands (Adalar) are a chain of nine small islands in the Sea of Marmara, about 20 km east of the center of...

There is a new space for performing arts in Kadıköy’s vibrant Yeldeğirmeni neighborhood: Köşe ("corner" in Turkish). Located on the Asian side of Istanbul, Köşe...

“Çilesiz bir günüm olmadı gitti Bilmedim ömrümün suçu ne usta Allah'ın gücüne gider mi bilmem Verdiği bu candan ben bıktım usta My carefree days never came I don’t know,...

Why make such a list? Because after each two hour journey home from Taksim in the early hours of the morning, I have to...

Born on the 15th of January 1902 in Thessaloniki, where his father was serving as an Ottoman government official; Nazım Hikmet Ran, commonly known...

When my husband and I first visited Istanbul as tourists several years ago, we got the requisite blurry shots of the Hagia Sophia and...

Türkiye is known for its sigara (cigarette) smoking culture. And while many events have shaped this practice, there is an intriguing tobacco history that...

İş Sanat has launched its 20th season, with the Borusan Philharmonic, under the baton of Thomas Rösner and featuring the young virtuoso Demirhan Gokbudak,...

Some time ago, I was discussing Elif Şafak with a Turkish friend.  I mentioned that I was reading The Bastard of Istanbul, and after...

Salon İKSV’s one daylong festival Gezgin Salon, in which concerts are spread all over the city rather than taking place at only Salon İKSV,...

Sometimes it’s the unseen that is the most fascinating. The imagination can drift back to a time far before we existed to wonder about...