2026(e)ko azaroa
Istanbul Modern opens Manuel Çıtak's photographs on the 5th and closes its Semiha Berksoy retrospective on the 22nd. Frank Bowling makes his Turkish debut at Pera, and Yoko Ono's show spills into the Sakıp Sabancı garden in Emirgan, a ferry ride up a greyer November Bosphorus. Six picks.

Istanbul Modern
Solo show in the Photography Gallery covering Manuel Çıtak's whole career from the 1980s to 2023, from coastal black-and-white work to cityscapes.

Istanbul Modern
Art and water in Istanbul: historical paintings and photographs alongside new works from the museum's artist residency programme.

Istanbul Modern
Retrospective of the opera singer, actor and painter Semiha Berksoy (1910-2004), with more than 200 works.
Elgiz Museum of Contemporary ArtDoan
New and long-held works from the Elgiz Collection side by side, from Rebecca Horn and Gilbert & George to Cevdet Erek, in sculpture, painting, video and textile.
Yapı Kredi Kültür SanatDoan
A timeline from the 1920s to today of the Koç Group's role in Turkish culture, told through artworks and archives from its institutional collections.

SALT BeyoğluDoan
A ground-floor installation of posters made for Salt's exhibitions over 15 years, showing shifts in graphic design and individual designers' approaches.
Sakıp Sabancı Museum
A retrospective of 67 works over seventy years, from instruction pieces to film and participatory installations, across the galleries, garden and Atlı Köşk.

Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture
Solo show of Neş'e Erdok's recent figurative works from more than fifty years of practice, her first personal exhibition at the museum.
Arter
First institutional solo show in Turkey of Tayfun Erdoğmuş, whose work uses plants, minerals and handmade papers. Curated by Eda Berkmen.

Pera Museum
Frank Bowling's paintings alongside works by Francis Bacon and Victor Willing, including the Map series and a 2026 work, shown partly for the first time in Istanbul.
Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Koç Group's production history from 1926 to 2026 alongside Turkey's industrialisation, told with archives, photographs and a diorama.

SALT GalataDoan
Factories by 20th-century Turkish architects, from 1930s state textile mills to private plants, drawn from the Salt Research archives.

SALT GalataDoan
Works by belit sağ, Dilşad Aladağ, Merve Bedir and others examine workplaces and production, from the worker's body to the factory and global networks.

SALT BeyoğluDoan
Paintings, prints, jewellery, film and archive material tracing artist and educator Özer Kabaş (1934-1998) and his place in Turkey's cultural history.
Arter
Group show of 24 artists from the Arter Collection on home and homeland, migration, borders and belonging.

Pera Museum
Flawed and overlooked press photographs of early Republican Istanbul, 1920s to early 1950s, from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation archive.

MeşherDoan
Travel accounts, paintings and objects tracing journeys to Ottoman lands from the late 15th to early 20th century and the motives behind them.

Borusan Contemporary
Olivo Barbieri's solo show of five photo series using optical interventions and aerial views, from Anatolian sites to Istanbul, waterfalls and the Alps.

Borusan Contemporary
Collection show on being human in a posthuman world, framed by the Sphinx's riddle, with kinetic, data-driven and AI works by teamLab, Memo Akten and others.
Mezu labur bat noizean behin, merezi duen zerbait irekitzen denean.