We’ve done our best to compile events we’re aware of. If you think we’ve forgotten one or want to see your event featured, please send an e-mail (with English press info) to events@yabangee.com.
This Weekend:
Christmas Bazaar @ Los Altos Istanbul – “The event features delicious foods, various designers, live music, DJs, book signings, workshops and more. The Mexican and Peruvian Consulates have also offered their support. Entry is free, with the festivities kicking off each day at 12:00.”
Karaköy Street Festival – A little something for everyone!
“Mayalı” Beverage Festival @ Marjo Karaköy – If you like fermented beverages and reveling in the street, then look no further!
LikeFest Istanbul 2016 @ Sirkeci Train Station – A “social media party” aiming to bring a variety of people together from the world of crafts, music, art and more.
Friday:
“Diamond Night Party” @ Conrad Summit Bar – “Yabangee is happy to offer our support to our good friend and party guru Senem Selimi (of Istanbul Expats & Internationals) and her always fantastic parties. After her most recent successful ‘Delight’ful Night Party, she’s returned with a fun-fueled Diamond Night Party to take place on Friday 23 December at Conrad Summit Bar. Blueritim Orchestra & Soloist Mert Ulu will perform live on the night, with DJ Valerio Proto following up to kick it up a notch. The event starts at 21:00, with free entry and a special menu for attendees. RSVP is mandatory.”
Hey! Douglas @ Babylon Bomonti – “Hey! Douglas, one of the most successful solo projects of the last decade, consists of Veyasin’s sets and samples blending psychedelic, funk and soul pieces from the 1970s with disco rhythms. Come join us at Babylon for a nostalgic performance where Veyasin reinterprets 1970s hits under Hey! Douglas.”
Kozalar @ Zorlu PSM – “The adaptation of Pandor Tiyatro Topluluğu is directed by Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu. With a cast consisting of actors such as Demet Evgar, Binnur Kaya and Esra Dermancıoğlu, Kozalar satirizes the norms and values of the patriarchal society with a focus on a typical day of three women. A standard day of three women at home turns around with a meeting full of pent-up passion, fear and alienation.”
Winter Stage: Mabel Matiz, Kalben, Evrencan Gündüz @ KüçükÇiftlik Park – If you’re trying to get a sense of some the best local performers around, then this is a fantastic starting point.
Limits off Presents: BeeGee, Mr & Mrs Kazan @ Anjelique – “Limits off presents ‘BeeGee’, head of electronic music scene and Future Generation 93.7, together with the dj duo ‘Mr & Mrs Kazan’ founder of the music collective Matinee Istanbul.”
Jimi Jules Equinox Album Tour @ indigo – “Jimi Jules is a very unique character in the electronic music scene. As a multi-instrumentalist and graduated school musician he has more to offer than the standard four to floor sound. Jimi Jules is deeply dedicated to the house and techno scene and in the same time he likes the intimacy of a studio session. He enjoys working alone or together with other producers and musicians and to discover new forms of music and energy.”
Saturday:
Radyo Eksen Party @ Babylon Bomonti – “Babylon continues the tradition of hosting Radyo Eksen parties. Radyo Eksen DJs invite all lovers of indie ska, alternative, punk and classic rock to Babylon on Saturday night, 24 December. Radyo Eksen guarantees to keep you on the dance floor late into the night with their extensive selection of great tunes.”
Mor ve Ötesi 20th Year Concert @ Zorlu PSM – “Becoming one of the defining names of the Turkish rock music scene with a total of 8 albums, 1 EP and 2 singles over a career that spans 20 years, mor ve ötesi also contributed to the albums of esteemed artists. The band reinterpreted the songs titled 1945, Telli Telli and Sen Varsın for the tribute albums of Onno Tunç, Murathan Mungan and Bülent Ortaçgil respectively, representing Turkey at Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 with the song called Deli.”
WHY SO CHR!STMAS // TANGUN & WSS Residents @ GLOW – “That night, you ll find a candle wall for your wishes in Glow.. Light a candle for peace, light a candle for love, light a candle that shines all away around the world, light a candle for me, light a candle for you, that our wish for world peace.. Will one day come true..”
Kök Summit – Terra Nova @ Impact Hub Istanbul – “In Terra Nova, we will glance upon the future of food. We will talk about what’s growing on this “new lands” together with food entreprenurs and innovators who work in gastronomy and food field. KökSummits is a productive thought provoking platform, which brings together opinion leaders, in order to question and discuss what the next steps are for establishing a sustainable, good and healthy food ecosystem.”
Blackout Presents: iO (Mulen – Apollonia / UKR) @ Clique – “Leaving aside the trend peak-time sound, iO is explores a deep flows of house music. Jazz reefs and an abundance of syncopation, samples and unhurried rhythms, gives a tribute to the traditions of the classical sound, but at the same time don’t without futurism. Due to the inventive production, iO have especially recognizable groove, and therefore deservedly valued of underground music lovers.”
Longest Night / Run or Ride @ Çekmeköy – Grab your bike or running shoes and join the commotion. Different routes are available ranging from 8K to 45K.
Istanbul Dance Fest New Year Party @ Renaissance Polat Hotel – A loaded program that starts early on and finishes quite late. Sounds like a solid choice for any dance enthusiasts out there.
Saturday Night Get Together Meetup & Party @ Asmali Pera Pub – “Saturday is the day to gather and meet new/old friends in İstanbul and have some, a bit more or lots of fun. Locals, expats, travelers, and their friends are welcome to event!”
Beatbox 10 Year Anniversary Showcase @ indigo – Murat Uncuoglu, Sezer Uysal, Mehmet Akar, Volkan Gunduz and Brohl Musik celebrate the occasion.
Sunday:
Kubilay QB Tunçer @ Zorlu PSM – “Forget everything you know about magic. QB Tunçer, the best magician in the world (Merlin Award 2009), will feature an entertaining and surprising new show in the #studio. Kids and adults will be able to enjoy and marvel at the show together!”
Chocolate Festival @ Zorlu PSM Square – The name sells itself.
Hara Yoga House Opening – An all day event loaded with yoga, meditation, world foods, live music and much more to celebrate their opening.
New Year Music Concert @ Pera Museum – “Pera Museum’s Turkish Music Concerts series begins the season with a program celebrating “New Year”. Programmed by consultant Prof. Dr. Alâeddin Yavaşca and coordinated by Sinan Sipahi, the Turkish Music Concerts highlight great composers and their works, underlining the different periods of Turkish music from the historical, cultural, traditional, sociological, anthropological, philosophical, and literary aspects.”
Christmas Party @ Ritim Roof – For all the uni students out there looking to celebrate Christmas late into the night…
Early New Year’s Celebration @ Moda (Brunelle, Club Quarter) – Chestnuts, hot wine, live music, vintage vibes and more await.
Ongoing:
“When Did We Stop Playing?” @ Anna Laudel Contemporary – “Through framing the question ‘When did we stop playing?’, the exhibition aims to explore the great, universal game of life in our shared, contemporary existence.”
“Creations / Creatures of the Mind” @ Bozlu Art Project – “In his exhibition, the artist who calls the audiences to reconsider and imagine through their daily lives focuses the people who will wake up their sleeps of mind and will recreate themselves in a marginalized, alienated society.”
“Ugly” @ x-ist – “Rendering contemporary problems ponderable and maybe laughable by expressing them through humour, this time the caricature artists meet the audience with their works as a reply to how outside the form of caricature they can address the uglinesses of the world in which we are living.”
“Library for Memory and Eternity (Twin)” @ Ariel Sanat – “Sharing in his nomadic nature, Sarkis’ work, shifting back and forth through time, invites the viewer to embark on journeys amid layers of memory. For memory is always plural, both thin stream and gushing river, each with its different sound, flow and channel. Sarkis listens to and records these sounds and movements as attentively as a seismographer, feeling them with his hands.”
“Who Throws Whom Overboard?” @ SALT Galata – “The exhibition brings together photographic works, wall texts, films and installations addressing migration, borders, citizenship, capital and alternative economics. It does not suggest that these “issues” are related in terms of policy, but rather that they can be read as the conjoined faces of an ongoing, global crisis.”
“Constructed” @ Zilberman Gallery – “Zeynep Kayan’s works reflect on the urge to escape the two-dimensional surface of photographs through chance and experiments again with the surface. Her process revolves around capturing and modifying the same scene again and again, looking for infinite possibilities in line with the artist’s wish to escape, letting the imagery stay in one and only state.”
“Lifesaving” @ Zilberman Gallery – “The metaphor of water is omnipresent in Janet Bellotto’s work and is a comment on submersion and reflection. Bellotto’s art tries to capture the in-between states that are always in flux. She is interested in oral histories, headlines and legends; and how they are reflected in daily life.”
“Fractum Regnum” @ Art On Istanbul – “Centered on experimental media and digital arts with a focus on generative computer arts in his works and visuals, Ozan Türkkan presents his works featuring virtual reality installations, as well as those relying on light frequency, such as holograms through which he plays with spectators` perceptions; generative videos from his researches in fractal geometry and 3D Lenticular prints.”
“Antique Romance” @ Pi Artworks Istanbul – “Antique Romance consists of a considered and minimal selection of paintings and sculptures that showcase the two main sides of Maris’ practice. These new semi-abstract compositions combine in unusual ways references to objects and architecture from both ancient cultures and contemporary civilizations.”
“Cold Front from the Balkans” @ Pera Museum – “The exhibition focuses on different generations of artists and art groups from the Balkan region. The exhibition avoids the usual unflattering political connotations the region’s name inevitably brings up but instead focuses on a natural phenomenon — the wind.”
“Wanderer on the Sea of Light” @ Pera Museum – “French artist Félix Ziem is one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. The exhibition Wanderer on the Sea of Light presents Ziem as an artist who left his mark on 19th century painting and who is mostly known for his paintings of Istanbul and Venice, where the city and the sea are intertwined.”
“EU 48/6/N” @ Elgiz Museum – “Rahmi Aksungur is a highly influential sculptor and academician whose body of work has made a significant contribution to contemporary sculpture in Turkey.”
Looking for more events happening in Istanbul? Keep up with our What’s On section.
