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.
Yabangee’s Weekend Picks:
Friday: Arabs are Not Funny Comedy Night @ CreAtolye – Istanbul&I’s first comedy night! We are proud to present the first ideation of ‘Arabs Are Not Funny’ in Istanbul! The purpose of this comedy night is to show the humorous side of Arab youth. We believe that people can come together through comedy. Please keep updated with our line up this week. The event will be open to all. Languages will be a combination of English and Arabic.
Byzantion Fest #7 – Featuring some of the city’s coolest bands and venues, it’d be a shame to miss out. Check the link for a full program. In Hoodies, Reptilians From Andromeda, Housing Crash, and Skata are just a few of our favorites making an appearance.
Sunday: Gathering Harmony in the Unknown Dance Performance @ Alt Art Space – Dans Yazım, in collaboration with ÇATI and Alt Art Space, have hosted Korhan Başaran‘s “Gathering Harmony in the Unknown” five-day workshop as part of their Yaratım Atölyleri Series at Alt. The participants are now ready to showcase all their hard work for a one-time only performance. Don’t miss it.
Friday:
Nilüfer Yanya @ Salon IKSV – “Received worldwide acclaim with her debut LP’s, ‘Small Crimes’ and ‘Keep on Calling’. Prophecied as the rising star of 2017. Guitars like Kaki King and smooth vocals of Jeff Buckley and vocal depth of Nina Simone is the secret recipe behind her music. Her concerts in London were immediately sold out within hours after announcement.”
Oldies but Goldies @ Babylon Bomonti – “Get ready for an all-night dance party at “Oldies But Goldies”, which will take you on a long journey with Depeche Mode, The Cure, Madonna, A-Ha, Chic, Duran Duran, Snap, Cyndi Lauper, ABBA, Donna Summer, James Brown, The Smiths, Wham!, Frankie Goes To Hollywood,Michael Jackson, and many others.”
Matinee Istanbul Presents: Nico Stojan @ indigo – “From Fusion to Burning Man, NICO STOJAN, a dreamy realist who understands that magic hides within our reach. Well known from the legendary Bar25 Nights in Berlin, Nico is now traveling around the World and appears on the best Festival and Clubs…”
Balkan Fever Concert @ Zorlu PSM – “On January 27th; Yarkın Rhythm Band, Kočani Orkestar and Serkan Çağrı, musicians who have created melodies that resemble one another while maintaining their uniqueness as they come from different parts of Anatolia and the Balkans, will come together at Zorlu PSM for the Balkan Fever Concert, a project by Fahrettin Yarkın!”
Crippled Black Phoenix @ Zorlu PSM Studio – “Formed by former Electric Wizard and Iron Monkey member Justin Greaves with the help of Mogwai’s bass player Dominic Aitchison in 2004, Crippled Black Phoenix released its debut album titled A Love Of Shared Disasters in 2006. The name of the band was found by Jim Rushby of Iron Monkey, who referred to a lyric from Big Loader, a song from the former band’s debut album. After the success of their first album, Crippled Black Phoenix started focusing on their concerts and gained critical acclaim with its dynamic live performances with large crews…”
Kış Sahnesi: mor ve ötesi, Gece, The Away Days, Hayat Meyal @ KüçükÇiftlik Park – Local music from serious talents in a lovely setting…
Hey! Douglas @ Dorock XL – Old 70s samples of funk, soul, disco and more with a modern twist…
Saturday:
Ah! Kosmos & Inal Bilsel @ Salon IKSV – “Her first EP ‘Flesh’ came out in 2013 with Müzik Hayvanı label. Released her first LP ‘Bastards’ from Germany-based Denovali Records, composing for contemporary art, video and site-specific projects in the meantime. It had been a while since we feasted at Salon with the award-winning visual performance of Ah! Kosmos.”
Radio Eksen Party @ Babylon Bomonti – A staple of their monthly calendar, featuring great DJs and a lively atmosphere.
Mazhar Fuat Özkan (MFÖ) @ Zorlu PSM – “The release of Ele Güne Karşı (1984) was the first step of MFÖ in a career which would make them become a domestic phenomenon with a total of 13 albums (3 best of, 10 studio albums), many huge hits and sold-out concerts throughout the country. MFÖ represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 and 1988, with the songs Diday Diday Day and Sufi respectively…”
Kış Sahnesi: Büyük Ev Ablukada, Adamlar, Son Feci Bisiklet @ KüçükÇiftlik Park – Enjoy the outdoors alongside some of the country’s most promising local acts.
Country for Syria @ Atölye Kafası – “The band blends traditional Middle Eastern music with American Country music. The band’s earnings contribute aid to Syrian refugees and those affected by conflict around the world. They recently returned from their first US tour, sponsored by the Giving Hunger the Blues Festival.”
Sunday:
Club-Mate presents: Sunday Afternoon Yoga session & Vegan Brunch @ Circuit – “To share our love for vegan cuisine & yoga we invite you to join us on Sunday 29th January Circuit Istanbul in Kadiköy. We will have a yoga session starting at 15:30 followed by a vegan picnic in a cozy atmosphere. Cafe Mahatma will provide delicious vegan food, and of course we will be serving Club-Mate, and our special Glüh-Mate!”
Multi-Day Events:
Ongoing:
“300 Issues / 27 Years / 1 Magazine / Arredamento” @ SALT Galata – “One of the longest living design and architecture magazines in Turkey, the 27-year life of Arredamento is visualized as an exhibition at SALT Galata. Installed in the Open Archive on the third floor, the exhibition brings together 300 issues of the magazine. Originally published as a popular design journal, over time Arredamento transformed itself into an architectural magazine with a theoretical slant, and managed to subsist without sponsorship or institutional support.”
“Not Seeing Anything” @ Alt Art Space – “Alt Art Spaces presents Not Seeing Anything, a group show of emerging artists with Özgür Atlagan, Luna Ece Bal, Berk Çakmakçı, Alexandra Howland, Burak Kabadayı and Serra Tansel. Not Seeing Anything investigates the personal, cultural and political impulse to cover-up or conceal, as well as the position of the witness. The exhibition space will function as a shared studio-workspace, part-time residency, for several of the artists during the four weeks leading up to the exhibition. Not Seeing Anything will be accompanied by a zine.”
“f r a g m e n t e d f r a g m e n t f r a g m e n t s” @ Pi Artworks Istanbul – “The installation by London based fibre artist Carys Briggs incorporates empirical methods of analysis, laying them over abstract representations in a constructed world of fragments. By reducing familiar forms to vague representations on layers of fabrics, whose textures are both surface and structure, she positions the viewer as a foreigner searching for associations -wandering through an environment that is between memory and discovery.”
“Born with a Silver Spoon in Mouth” @ Gaia Gallery – “Özmenoğlu faces the male-dominant society codes as a female artist in her first individual exhibition in 2017, ’Babam Sağolsun’. She says ‘’Just like in my previous works, (Senin Annen Bir Melekti, Cumaya Gittim Gelicem, Seni Sevmeyen Ölsün) I was inspired by a local idiom again. This time, I reveal a situation analysis.’’ And adds ‘’With this popular expression to which I assign the meanings of not only an opposition also a confrontation, I wanted the audience to think and ask themselves again and again in the society they live in.”
“Anatomy of Things” @ Pg Art Gallery – “Yonca Karakaş focuses on improvement of the human mind and dogmatic ideas at her first solo exhibition titled ‘Anatomy of Things’. The show that she re-defines the perception of ‘reality’ will be on view between January 21 – February 25, 2017 at Pg Art Gallery. Karakaş builds a new universe by the objects she uses, the spaces and characters she creates.”
“Common Field” @ Gallery Ilayda – “In his paintings , in an unnamed time , which are standing in the middle of the void, the core families, intervening people and loneliness themes are being processed intensively. The new paintings, prepared for the ”common field”, are built on the spine of pattern and created on top of intense layers of paint. Large-scale portraits and crowded compositions are mostly on display in the exhibition.”
“Observed Truths” @ Mixer – “Our systems of perception is programmed to render what is unperceivable to the perceivable. Considering that the concepts concerning measures and units are made up of self-referential realities, humans position themselves in between a thin line separating the relativity and the necessity of the concept of reality.”
“After the 20th” @ Mixer – “The Project, coming out of the recording of the production process of biologic coal in a forest village located in Istanbul’s northwest, is based on a single tree. The artist, in his analogy fictionalized from the story of a single tree, reveals the stages of representation.”
“An Astronomical Determination of the Distance Between Two Cities” @ Zilberman Gallery – “In a two-part project, Amin looks at the historical paradigms of technology and urban development in relation to contemporary migratory paths. By employing cartographic research and landscape surveillance, Amin critiques the predatory view of landscape and the exoticization of women’s bodies in relation to geography. The project proposes a visual allegory focusing on architectural fragments and sexual desires to challenge colonial histories.”
“MIRROR” @ Dirimart Dolapdere – “Placing the theory of memory at the core of his practice, Sarkis is introducing a layered critical view to today’s social and political issues by inviting various witnesses from the history to the exhibition. The works transform the art’s faculty of bringing the traces of the past to the present into the competence in conjuring up the future through artistic production.”
“Writing Remains” @ Zilberman Gallery – “Beler’s deep engagement with literature is manifest in her project exhibition, Writing Remains, in that the artist’s process includes thinking about the multitude of meanings in artistic practice, inspired by asemic writing. It is well established that taking notes by hand on a text while reading improves memory retention. Beler, who always uses this method while working, has been producing asemic writing, discovering the difficulty of writing credible ‘fake’ writing. The work included in the exhibition, ‘sentence’, is the first result of this effort to push the boundaries of credibility.”
“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.”
“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.
