World City Guide

Culture

Istanbul’s cultural activities, both traditional and contemporary, is rich and varied, although not well publicised. Matching the city’s exploding youth population, there is a growing number of festivals, galleries, new music venues and film centres and, within the last decade, Turkish artists have begun to make an international impact. There are now a number of independent record companies in the city, releasing experimental works that combine Turkish traditional artists with contemporary groups and new venues where this new music is showcased. In particular, however, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Art, the Istanbul Kltr ve Sanat Merkezi or IKSV (tel: (0212) 334 0700; website: www.istfest.org), puts on an impressive series of international festivals. The French Culture Centre, Istiklal Caddesi (tel: (0212) 334 8740) often has French film screenings, and dance performances.

Tickets can be hard to come by for the popular film and jazz festivals, so visitors should book well in advance for any events at existing concert venues, such as the Open Air Theatre, Aik Hava Tiyatrosu, Takisla Caddesi, Congress Valley, in Harbiye (tel: (0212) 296 6006), and the Ataturk Cultural Centre or Atatrk Kultur Merkezi, Taksim Square, Taksim (tel: (0212) 251 5600). The annual Contemporary Artist Istanbul Exhibition celebrates the work of young local artists, many of whom progress to being internationally renowned. Akbank Culture and Arts Centre, 14-19 Istiklal Caddesi (tel: (0212) 252 3500/01; website: www.akbanksanat.com).

The private sector has helped take the load off Istanbul’s government-supported venues, by opening specialised arts events and private galleries, many of which can be seen on Istiklal Caddesi and the Taksim area. Among the most adventurous is the Borusan Center for Culture and Art, 421 Istiklal Caddesi (tel: (0212) 292 0655; website: www.borusansanat.com), which alternates ‘conceptual’ Turkish and international exhibitions, plus an enormous music library and concert space. The Aksanat Cultural Centre, Istiklal Caddesi, near Taksim Square (tel: (0212) 252 3500), offers recorded jazz and classical music on a large laser-disc screen, as well as painting and sculpture exhibitions and drama.

Tickets for most cultural events are available at Biletix outlets (website: www.biletix.com), located at Ada bookshop on Istiklal Caddesi, Vakkorama, MMMigros supermarkets and Raksotek record stores.

The Guide Istanbul (website: www.theguideturkey.com) provides up-to-date information on cultural events and performance in the city. An excellent source of information is also available at www.istanbulcityguide.com/arts/index.htm. Time Out Istanbul and Turkish Daily News also have listings.

Music: The most reliable guide to music events in the city is fly posters and banners along Istiklal Caddesi. The 900-seat Atatrk Cultural Centre or AKM (see above), is shared by the State Opera and Ballet, the State Theatre and the State Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Istanbul Festivals. The most stunning venue in the city is the Byzantine church of Haghia Eirene, in the grounds of the Topkapi Palace complex – now a museum and used by the IKSV (see above) during the Classical Music Festival in June. The most popular summer venue is the Open Air Theatre, Aik Hava Tiyatrosu (see above), which hosts Jazz Festival events and other contemporary concerts. The indoor Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Darlbedayi Caddesi, Conference Valley, Harbiye (tel: (0212) 240 5012 or 231 5497/8 or 248 0863; website: www.crrks.org), is another popular venue for concerts and exhibitions. The International Istanbul Music Festival, International Bosphorus Festival, International Istanbul Jazz Festival and Rumeli Hisari Concerts are spread out throughout the summer.

Theatre: Plays by international and Turkish playwrights are frequently staged in Istanbul, many in smaller venues off Istiklal Caddesi, while the more commercial extravaganzas (such as during the Istanbul International Theatre Festival usually held in May) are at the Atatrk Kltr Merkezi (see above), sometimes with digital subtitling in English.

Dance: The Turkish State Opera and Ballet performs at the Atatrk Kltr Merkezi (see above) and there are also dance performances at the indoor Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall, Darlbedayi Caddesi, Conference Valley, Harbiye (tel: (0212) 240 5012 or 231 5497/8 or 248 0863; website: www.crrks.org). There are also performances in galleries and smaller venues; check the press for details. There are dance performances during the International Istanbul Theatre Festival.

Film: Foreign films, mostly from Hollywood, outnumber Turkish domestic output and generally show in their original language with Turkish subtitles. Most of the city’s cinemas are in Istiklal Caddesi, in Beyoglu. Visitors should check the Turkish Daily News for listings or simply comb the streets. The Alkazar Cinema Center, Istiklal Caddesi 179 (tel: (0212) 293 2466/67 or 249 7297), Fitas, Istiklal Caddesi 24/26 (tel: (0212) 249 9361), Emek, Istikalal Caddesi Yesilcam Sokak 5 (tel: (0212) 293 8439), and Beyoglu, Istiklal Caddesi Halep Pasaji 140 (tel: (0212) 251 3240), are good bets, showing European, Turkish, and Hollywood films. Mega cinema complexes are only found at huge shopping malls in the outer suburbs. Beyoglu cinemas also participate in the International Film Festival, usually taking place in April, and sometimes screen lesser-known international films.

Turkish films have made a recent impact on world cinema, especially Uzak (2002) and Hamam (1997), both filmed in Istanbul and winning several international awards. Uzak details the ponderous tale of two cousins, photographer Mahmut, who has his style severely cramped with the arrival of his luckless, uncouth younger cousin Yusuf from his village, seeking work. Hamam is about a couple, Francesco and Marta, who run a small design company in Rome. When Francesco's long forgotten Aunt Anita dies in Istanbul, he travels there to look after the sale of the hamam he inherited from her. There he meets the family running the hamam, gets attracted to one of its members (as well as falling for the whole Turkish atmosphere) and he decides not to sell the hamam after all.

Literary Notes: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey in 1716-18, was a well-known socialite at Pera and openly admired the sensuality of Ottoman daily life. She was an avid correspondent, describing life in the city to her friends in England, including Alexander Pope. Her Letters from Constantinople were published posthumously in 1763 and give a fascinating insight into upper-class 18th-century Istanbul.

Many writers have described the filth, the narrowness of the streets, the lack of women in evidence and the quantity of stray dogs. Those things have certainly changed but the Turks’ love of bargaining and shopping has not, nor has the difficulty of finding grave space, seeing as cremation is forbidden by Islam. ‘It is as if the Turks are entirely absorbed in buying goods, selling goods and dying,’ noted French writer Francois Rene de Chateaubrian in 1806. American satirist Mark Twain (1835-1910) found even Haghia Sophia dark and dirty and the dance of the Mevlevi dervishes ‘the most barbaric manifestation I have seen to this day’. During the same period, naval officer and romantic writer Pierre Loti was among many Orientalist Europeans disgusted by the fashion for Art Nouveau in Istanbul at the turn of the century, while Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (1934) was written when she stayed at the Pera Palas Hotel. The work of exiled Communist poet Nazim Hikmet (d 1963) is still widely read and admired, as are the novels of Yasar Kemal (b 1922).

Istanbul’s most famous contemporary writer is Orhan Pamuk, whose books, White Castle (1985), Black Book (1990), The New Life (1994), My Name is Red (2001), and Snow (2003) have been translated worldwide. Pamuk is being followed by younger writers, such as Latife Tekin, known for her magic realism in novels such as Tales from the Garbage Hills (1984), Swords of Ice (1989) and Signs of Love (1995).