Anatolian Inspirations
If in Washington DC, don’t miss a special performance event this Thursday (March 6) at the Freer Art Gallery. The New York-based new-music ensemble ModernWorks will perform fascinating works by...
View ArticleTwo hot wheels
Using bicycles instead of buses or cars to get around the mad metropolis that is Istanbul seems like a wonderful idea for many reasons. If you have ever lived in or visited the city, you will know...
View ArticleCrimea’s plight
Our hearts go out to the Crimean Tatars. This photograph of a rally in Simferopol comes from a Crimean fashion journalist Adilebkk's blog. The Crimean Tatars nurse painful memories of 1944, the year...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gallery walkabout: Beşiktaş
We are back in busy Beşiktaş for our gallery walk this week where some of our favourite galleries begin their spring season with a mix of interesting group and solo shows. Cornucopia subscribers also...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Opera in Ankara
One has to admire Yekta Kara’s staging of The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Ankara State Opera House. I was frankly sceptical about her previous productions, which I found unusual, not to say...
View ArticleCrimea in peril
A friend in Crimea – happier in the role of 'makeup and fashion blogger, Crimean Tatar, brow-freak, tan-lover and coffee-addict' – writes: 'The situation here is getting even more serious. All the...
View ArticleGoodbye Berkin
Our hearts go out to Berkin Elvan’s family. Since Tuesday, the streets of Istanbul have been filled with people mourning his death: whether peacefully protesting or putting a carnation in water....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Eastern memories
One of the most important events in Istanbul to commemorate the anniversary of 600 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Poland is the Distant Neighbours, Close Memories exhibition, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gallery walkabout: Taksim to Cihangir
This week we are in Taksim/Cihangir for our gallery walk, where three of our favourite galleries – each pioneering in its own right – are hosting powerful solo/duo shows. Burhan Kum, ‘The Justice of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gifts from the Shah
A fascinating exhibition is on display at the Chamber of the Scrutinio in Doge’s Palace in Venice which traces the history of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Venice and the Safavid...
View ArticleWhat’s next for Turkey?
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) held an interesting discussion meeting in London last month which is particularly pertinent to the impending local elections in Turkey (to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tweet-twoo
... for caricaturists! Unthinkable, of course, but eventually someone will have to go. Sooner or later. Will it happen in time to save the Belgrade Forest, the Bosphorus, any last precious corner of...
View ArticleRigoletto in Naples 1924 (Ankara Opera)
Money doesn’t buy everything, but it can buy you an opera ticket, and when Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto was staged six times as part of Ankara State Opera’s 2013–14 season, I was there to see all six...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gallery walkabout: Beyoğlu
We are back in the beating heart of Istanbul’s centre – Beyoğlu – where some exemplary galleries and museums are hosting intriguing group and solo shows spanning the mediums of painting, photography...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A really good spring clean
Some municipalities simply don't care a damn about the coming local elections. Much over-rated things apparently, especially if you know that everything is nicely stitched up. So just as the house...
View ArticleDancing in protest
This little dance film, produced by the Gezi Park Arts Collective, says it all, with the wit and feeling the Gezi movement does so well. Everywhere they go has one thing in common. It is ‘earmarked’....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Digging up history
The current exhibition at the Research Centre for Anatolian Civilisations (RCAC) – as is often the case with the Centre’s exhibitions – offers a fascinating glimpse into a unique part of Turkey’s...
View ArticleApologies
We apologise to readers if YouTube links in the Cornucopia blog and events pages lead nowhere. This is due to the widely publicised nationwide blocking of YouTube in Turkey ahead of the March 30 local...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gallery walkabout: Beyoğlu
We continue our walk in Beyoğlu this week, concentrating on the area around Galatasaray, where some of our favourite galleries are showcasing solo exhibitions of Turkish and international artists. We...
View ArticleThe Crimean Memorial Lectures
Meanwhile, over at the British Consulate in Istanbul, the Crimean Memorial Lectures, a four-part lecture cycle to commemorate the First World War with local British and American historians, are...
View Article