PASAJ

PASAJ is an independent art initiative in Istanbul, set up in 2010 by artists, curators and cultural workers. Its founding members were Elif Bursalı, Seçil Yaylalı, Suna Tüfekçibaşı and Zeynep Okyay. Since April 2022 it has occupied the third floor of Barın Han in Çemberlitaş, on the historic peninsula.

The space hosts exhibitions, performances, workshops and talks in contemporary art. It invites artists to make site-specific work in response to the neighbourhood around it. The Small Things studio residency gives artists three weeks in the space, closing with an open studio, and five residencies are listed for 2026. AIR Bayrampaşa, run with the Ramada Encore Bayrampaşa hotel, is a research residency in that district.

Before Barın Han, PASAJ worked from spaces off Istiklal, in Galata, in Tarlabaşı and in Nimet Han in Karaköy. It has belonged to the international AIM network of independent art spaces since 2019.