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 an increasing number of festivals, galleries,
new music venues and film centres and, within the last decade, Turkish
artists have started to make an international impact. There are
now several 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 Kültür
ve Sanat Merkezi or IKSV (tel: (0212) 334 0700), puts on an exciting
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 tough 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, Açik Hava Tiyatrosu, Takisla Caddesi, Congress
Valley, in Harbiye (tel: (0212) 296 6006), and the Ataturk
Cultural Centre or Atatürk 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 famous.
Akbank Culture
and Arts Centre, 14-19 Istiklal Caddesi (tel: (0212) 252 3500/01).
The private sector has helped take the load off Istanbul’s
government-supported sites, 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), 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, plus painting
and sculpture exhibitions and drama.
Tickets for most cultural events are available at Biletix
outlets, located at Ada bookshop on Istiklal Caddesi, Vakkorama,
MMMigros supermarkets and Raksotek record stores.
The
Guide Istanbul 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.
Literary Notes
Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British Ambassador
to Turkey in 1716-18, was a recognized socialite at Pera and openly
admired the sensuality of Ottoman daily life. She was an enthusiastic
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.
A lot of 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 definitely 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 well-known 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). |
