""Art is the front lines of resistance," said Turkish psychpop musician Gaye Su Akyol onstage at Istanbul's exuberant annual cultural gathering IST.FESTIVAL. "Being an artist is my way of surviving in this surreal world. Because you can do anything; you are as free as a ghost." There might be no better city - a centuries-old melting pot that has seen four empires rise and fall - to grapple with the question posed by this year's festival: "What is really real?""
"An eclectic mix of voices from the worlds of art, music, fashion, photography and literature travelled to the city, among them pop artist Jeff Koons, Dutch photographer duo Inez & Vinoodh, musician, actor and artist Scott Mescudi (aka King Cudi), artist Lou Doillon, model and actor Malgosia Bela (showcasing her playful black-and-white short, Muse, directed by husband Pawel Pawlikowski) and performance artist Ekin Bernay"
IST.FESTIVAL marked its 15th anniversary with three immersive days of talks, screenings, live music, exhibitions and performances beside and sometimes on the Bosphorus. The festival asked "What is really real?" and invited creatives to probe how realities are shaped, fractured and reimagined. An international lineup included Jeff Koons, Inez & Vinoodh, Scott Mescudi, Lou Doillon, Malgosia Bela and performance artist Ekin Bernay. Performers and speakers framed art as a means of resistance and survival in a surreal world, and events spilled from onstage conversations into late-night communal exchanges. Istanbul's layered history and neighbourhood intimacy provided a vivid context for experiments in movement, identity and perception.
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