Currents: 15 Years of Tarabya Cultural Academy

Currents: 15 Years of Tarabya Cultural Academy is a group exhibition of video works at Depo, the arts centre in a former tobacco warehouse in Tophane, Istanbul. It runs from 5 to 22 November 2026 and opens on 5 November at 7pm, after a performance by Jasmin İhraç at 6.30pm. Nine former fellows of the Academy take part. They are Anahita Razmi, Isabella Gerstner, Jasmin İhraç, Julia von Leliwa, Özlem Günyol and Mustafa Kunt, Sarah Szczesny, Sven Johne and Theo Eshetu.

The show belongs to Water Finds Its Way, the first of three acts marking fifteen years of the Academy, which opened in October 2011. Since September 2012 its residency on the Bosphorus has welcomed more than 220 artists in many disciplines. Between October and December 2026, over fifteen of them return to Istanbul and other Turkish cities for readings, concerts, opera, performance and exhibitions. They appear alongside partners of many years, among them Istanbul Modern, ARTER, Depo and Sinopale, and a second act will follow in Germany.

The selection spans several generations and practices, from fine art to choreography. Its works share an interest in movement, perception and change, following a route that starts inside the body and opens onto city streets and the countryside. Water, the anniversary's central motif, appears in the exhibition image, Sarah Szczesny's Eye Writing Blue, where a black and white photograph of waves is painted over in blue and purple. Özlem Günyol and Mustafa Kunt, born in Ankara in 1977 and 1978 and based in Frankfurt, were residents of the Academy in 2022 and 2023. Their joint work asks how language, symbols of power and media headlines shape a sense of belonging.

Depo is an initiative of Anadolu Kültür and programmes exhibitions, screenings and debates on social and historical questions. Entry is free, as it is for all of its activities. Support comes from Stiftung Mercator and the Consulate General of Germany in Istanbul. It is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 7pm.