In this case, the festival adopts a particularly timely theme (not only in Turkey but globally) through studying the increasingly blurred space of confinement between perception and truth. At the heart of the core is a question as old as philosophy, even more urgent than ever: “What is real?” In a world increasingly mediated and digitalized, performing social rituals and changing patterns of perception provide artists, philosophers, intellectuals, and creatives with a platform to explore how reality is shaped, broken and reimagined.
After all, reality has never been fixed – it is molded, manipulated, and continually meets the needs of the people who built it. Art becomes a tool to reshape and reimagine reality, providing alternative visions, subverting the dominant narrative and revealing the perceived seams. In this way, it highlights our vulnerability at sensory, cognitive and emotional levels.
IST’s 15th edition. Titled “Really Real?”, the festival will unfold through a series of thought-provoking panels, conversations and debates. It bridges critical thinking, guessing and communicating in disciplines and open spaces, and it invites artists, thinkers and audiences to ask about the fault lines between real and artificial man-made. This year’s lineup features famous figures from various creative industries, including renowned artist José Parlá, Judd Foundation artistic director Flavin Judd, Collector Désiré Freule, actor Waris Ahluwalia, director Pawełpawlikowski and culture editor Julia Halperin.
Over the past fifteen years, IST. The festival was performed on various venues (Mus, cultural institutions, historical buildings), and dinners were held in group halls such as Topkapı Palace and Modern Istanbul. The festival is deeply embedded in the cultural structure of the city and has always been supported by the government and the Ministry of Culture. The festival also works with Istanbul Globetrotter, which will launch new city guides during the event and provide a curated perspective on Istanbul’s creative and cultural landscape.
In addition to its nomadic program, the organization maintains permanent homes in the Restored ’74 gallery in Arnavutköy, Bosphorus side community in Beşiktaş district. Located in the Historic Waterside Mansion on three to four floors, the space hosts contemporary exhibitions in a contemporary exhibition, while commemorating the connection to the tradition and history embedded in the building itself. The gallery displays a wide variety of exhibitions and interdisciplinary events and has become a creative and connector for local and international artists. For this version of the festival, however, the goal is to move beyond the walls of the gallery, activate the neighborhood and transform the city into a living laboratory where installations, performances and brief interventions destroy and reconstitute the rhythm of everyday life.
Ultimately, one of the core purposes of the festival is to regain its role as an international platform, to attract people from abroad, connect them with local creativity, and show how the wider cultural scenes in Istanbul and Turkey are energetic.
When the conversation turns to how the arts and cultural ecosystems develop (not only in Turkey but also globally), and both Demet Müftüou Eşeli and Alphan Eşeli agree that we are witnessing a full-scale transformation in various creative industries. Technology shifts, pandemics and the rise of AI have accelerated changes. “I’m a film producer and if you’re just watching a movie, the landscape has completely changed,” Alphan Eşeli noted. “I believe we live in a historic, profound moment of change, like an earthquake like an industrial revolution, which not only reshapes production, but also changes the way people think and how they interact with the world.”
Today, we are on the cusp of an equally radical transformation driven by computers and digital technologies. “I don’t think it’s possible to stay the same, especially in art. The way we create, think and communicate is changing,” he said. “The rise of content driven by movie theaters, streaming platforms, social media and algorithms is a complete shift. I see Turkish artists and creativity at the forefront – many people actively explore and embrace new technologies in their works.”
After bypassing the global rise of Turkish soap operas – currently and unexpectedly clouding a one-person popularity, even surpassing the K-type movies – Demet Müftüoğoğlu Eşeli and Alphan Eşeli and Alphan Eşeli return to the core: Turkey’s young people have many young young artists, but their young artists are growing. “There is definitely still an underground scene that is constantly evolving, especially in cities like Istanbul,” they noted. The younger generation is also connected to global trends, thanks in large part to social media. “This kind of access and awareness is developing much faster than it was 20 years ago, when the internet was still restricted,” Demet added. “Now, communication between international communities happens almost immediately, and I think art is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result.”
Through Istanbul 74, eşelis is working to expand and promote these exchanges, building bridges through new formats and channels, including Instagram, where they are particularly active. Their extended ecosystem ’74Group creates culturally relevant stories across multiple departments, from the festival itself to the ’74Podcast’, which is ongoing negotiations with creatives around the world, and a store dedicated to planning collaborations with artists, galleries and designers and artists, galleries and designers. Also under its umbrella is ’74Studio, a creative agent specializing in brand orientation, strategy, design and communication in art, fashion, food and hotels.
It seems not enough, they also co-founded Bebek, an art and social club club in Istanbul and opened a seasonal creative space in Bodrum: 74escape, a community-based platform with store champion crafts and designs, as well as an online diary that attracts travel and culture around the world.
Even the permanent gallery, Istanbul’s 74, has evolved into a year-round location for activation and creative connections, not just through the international talent of artists’ living programs, but also a gathering place for the younger generations in Istanbul. “It’s really the spirit of what we’re doing, the art is combined with book clubs and records and vinyl listening rooms,” Demet concluded. “It’s about creating spaces where people can come together, share ideas and build something meaningful.”
The Istanbul International Arts and Culture Festival (Ist. Festival) will be held from October 10 to 12, 2025.
More art interviews
