Chelsea is one of the few Manhattan neighborhoods that feels deliberately built for the long game. Its borders are technical (Sixth Avenue to the Hudson, 14th to 34th), but its cultural footprint sprawls far beyond the map. What began as a Lenape village became a shipping stronghold, then a haven for immigrant labor, then a no-rules frontier for artists priced out of SoHo. Today, Chelsea folds all of it in: dockside grit, industrial bones, progressive politics and a post-gallery globalism that somehow still feels local.
The neighborhood’s transformation wasn’t just about rising rent. It was infrastructure-led. The High Line reengineered the city’s relationship to public space. Piers became parks. Warehouses became megawatt galleries. Rail yards became real estate—some of the most ambitious on the continent. The Hudson Yards development may grab headlines, but Chelsea’s character lives in the contrast between a Dia installation and a 24-hour diner, a sidewalk flower stand and a Jean Nouvel façade.
Chelsea didn’t get interesting by chasing what its other neighborhoods had to offer. It drew energy from what already existed, whether that was freight tunnels, factory space, counterculture or queerness, and built around it. The result is a neighborhood that knows how to absorb change without losing plot. It’s where Zaha Hadid landed her only New York project. Where a community board can still kill a billionaire’s plans. Where you can see work by the next big artist, and then see them at the bodega. Chelsea knows its value isn’t hype. It’s infrastructure, intent and staying power. You don’t need to understand art to get Chelsea. But give it 10 blocks, and you might start pretending you do.
In this context, the festival takes on an especially timely theme—not only relevant in Turkey but globally—by examining the increasingly blurred, liminal space between perception and truth. At its core lies a question as old as philosophy yet more urgent than ever: “What is real?” In a world increasingly mediated and digitalized, with performative social rituals and shifting modes of perception, the festival provides a platform for artists, philosophers, intellectuals and creatives to explore how reality is shaped, fractured and reimagined.
Reality, after all, has never been fixed—it is molded, manipulated and continually bent to the needs of those who construct it. Art becomes a tool for reshaping and reimagining reality, offering alternative visions, subverting dominant narratives and exposing the fragile seams of perception. In doing so, it underscores our vulnerability at sensorial, cognitive and emotional levels.
The 15th edition of the IST. Festival, titled “What is Really Real?”, will unfold through a series of thought-provoking panels, conversations and debates. Bridging disciplines and opening space for critical thinking, speculation and exchange, it invites artists, thinkers and audiences alike to interrogate the fault lines between the authentic and the artificial today. This year’s lineup features notable figures from across creative industries, including celebrated artist José Parlá, Judd Foundation artistic director Flavin Judd, collector Désiré Freule, actor Waris Ahluwalia, director Paweł Pawlikowski and Cultured editor Julia Halperin, among others.
IST. FESTIVAL is a multidisciplinary festival with panels and talks, screenings, workshops and exhibitions in a free-admission program covering art, design, architecture, film, fashion, photography, music and literature. Will Ragozzino/BFA.com
Over the past fifteen years, the IST. Festival has staged events across a wide range of venues—museums, cultural institutions, historic buildings—hosting gala dinners at sites like Topkapı Palace and panels at Istanbul Modern. Deeply embedded in the city’s cultural fabric, the festival has consistently received support from the government and the Ministry of Culture. For the first time, the festival is also partnering with Istanbul Globetrotter, which will launch a new city guide during the event, offering a curated perspective on Istanbul’s creative and cultural landscapes.
Alongside its nomadic programming, the organization maintains a permanent home at the restored ’74 Gallery in Arnavutköy, a Bosphorus-side neighborhood in the Beşiktaş district. Housed in a three- to four-story historical yalı (waterside mansion), the space hosts contemporary exhibitions while honoring the ties to tradition and history embedded in the building itself. Presenting a diverse range of exhibitions and interdisciplinary events, the gallery has become a creative hub and connector for both local and international artists. For this edition of the festival, however, the goal is to move beyond the gallery’s walls—activating the neighborhood and transforming the city into a living laboratory, where installations, performances and ephemeral interventions disrupt and reframe the rhythms of everyday life.
Ultimately, one of the festival’s core aims is to reclaim its role as an international platform—inviting people from abroad, connecting them with local creatives, and demonstrating just how vibrant and alive the cultural scene in Istanbul, and in Turkey more broadly, still is.
“WE BELONG” was the first exhibition at ISTANBUL’74’s new space in Clubhouse Bebek, with works by Bosco Sodi, Jorinde Voigt, Anselm Reyle and Ahmet Doğu İpek, among others. KAMiL ONEMCi
As the conversation turns to how the art and cultural ecosystem is evolving—not only in Turkey but globally—Demet Müftüoğlu Eşeli and Alphan Eşeli agree that we are witnessing a sweeping transformation across creative industries. Technological shifts, the pandemic and the rise of A.I. have accelerated changes already underway. “I’m a filmmaker, and if you just look at cinema, the landscape has completely changed,” Alphan Eşeli noted. “I believe we’re living through a historic moment of profound change—something as seismic as the Industrial Revolution, which didn’t just reshape production but altered how people thought and how they engaged with the world.”
Today, we stand on the cusp of a similarly radical transformation, this time driven by computers and digital technology. “I don’t think it’s possible to remain untouched by it—especially in the arts. The way we create, think and communicate is already changing,” he said. “In cinema alone, the rise of streaming platforms, social media and algorithm-driven content has been a total shift. And I see Turkish artists and creatives at the forefront—many actively explore and embrace new technologies in their work.”
Since 2024, ISTANBUL’74 has had a permanent space in a renovated five-story traditional wooden building in Arnavutköy. Courtesy ISTANBUL’74
After a surprising detour into the global rise of Turkish soap operas—currently and somewhat unexpectedly, outpacing even K-movies in popularity—Demet Müftüoğlu Eşeli and Alphan Eşeli return to a core point: Turkey has a huge youth population, and with it a growing wave of young artists who are deeply attuned to what’s new. “There’s definitely still an underground scene evolving, especially in a city like Istanbul,” they noted. The younger generation is also far more connected to global currents, largely thanks to social media. “That kind of access and awareness is moving so much faster than it did 20 years ago, back when the internet was still limited,” Demet added. “Now, communication between international communities happens almost instantly, and I think the arts are becoming increasingly interconnected because of it.”
Through ISTANBUL’74, the Eşelis are working to amplify and facilitate these exchanges, building bridges through new formats and channels—including Instagram, where they are notably active. Their extended ecosystem, ’74GROUP, produces culturally relevant stories across multiple divisions, spanning everything from the festival itself to ’74PODCAST, which hosts ongoing talks with creatives from around the world, and ’74ONLINE, a shop dedicated to curated collaborations with artists, galleries and designers. Also under its umbrella is ’74STUDIO, a creative agency that specializes in brand direction, strategy, design and communications across art, fashion, gastronomy and hospitality.
Located in ISTANBUL’74’s Arnavutköy space, Listening Room bridges generations of music, offering era-defining classics alongside pioneering compositions. ILAY.ARTWORKS
As if that weren’t enough, they also co-founded the arts and social club CLUBHOUSE BEBEK in Istanbul and launched a seasonal creative space in Bodrum: 74ESCAPE, a community-based platform that features a store championing craft and design alongside an online diary spotlighting travel and culture from around the world.
Even the permanent gallery, ISTANBUL’74, has evolved into a year-round site for activations and creative connections—not only through an artist residency program for international talents but also as a gathering place for Istanbul’s younger generation. “That’s really the spirit behind what we’re doing, with the art combining with book clubs and the record and vinyl listening room,” Demet concluded. “It’s about creating spaces where people can come together, share ideas and build something meaningful.”
