EXHIBITIONS

Panorama: Dreams and Places 

February 19–October 18, 2026 

Aiming to present a thematic narrative on contemporary photography and lens-based art in Türkiye, “Panorama: Dreams and Places” brings together a comprehensive selection of works produced since the 2010s by 18 artists from different generations. The exhibition is on view in the galleries on the first floor of Istanbul Modern. The participating artists respond to the pressures and upheavals of today’s world through dreamlike landscapes, alternative visual geographies, and imagined realms shaped by their artistic practices. 

Through abstract topographies, fictional portraits, and inner spaces, these works do not offer an escape but rather create spaces where breathing – and pausing – become possible again. Reflecting the artists’ inquiries and explorations into the possibilities of photography, the exhibition spans a wide range of practices, from installations and moving images to artificial intelligence applications and archival materials. In doing so, it reminds us that photography not only reflects the world but also constructs new emotional and spatial imaginaries, inviting moments of stillness, contemplation, and renewal. 

Artists: Larissa Araz, İlgen Arzık, Emre Baykal, Silva Bingaz, Hasan Deniz, Umut Erbaş, Cem Ersavcı, Ece Gökalp, Cemre Yeşil Gönenli, Ege Kanar, Zeynep Kayan, Metehan Özcan, Yusuf Sevinçli, İrem Sözen, Selim Süme, Kerem Uzel, Begüm Yamanlar, Cansu Yıldıran 

Exhibition Curators: Çelenk Bafra, Demet Yıldız Dinçer Curatorial Team: Selen Erkal, Şevval Yürüten 

Semiha Berksoy: Aria of All Colors 

January 22–September 6, 2026 

“Aria of All Colors,” a major exhibition devoted to Semiha Berksoy (1910–2004), celebrates a pioneering artist whose versatility and resolve enabled her to break new ground in both Türkiye and Europe. The exhibition brings together her expansive body of work – spanning the performing arts, visual arts, cinema, and literature – and offers a comprehensive look at the creative universe she built over the course of her extraordinary career. With more than 200 works on view, the exhibition makes visible the many layers of Berksoy’s world while highlighting the singular connections she forged between opera, theater, painting, and writing. 

From her early drawings to her opera-themed paintings inspired by the stage, from her self-portraits and portraits to her large-scale sheet paintings, the exhibition presents Berksoy’s personal mythology and her profound relationship with performance through a thematic structure. The operas she starred in, the plays she performed, her published short story, and her role in Istanbul Streets, Türkiye’s first sound film, collectively reveal the full scope of her contributions to the world of art. Drawing on the dynamism of Berksoy’s life, these works both broaden our understanding of the universality of art and illuminate the creative force of the human spirit. 

Curators: Öykü Özsoy Sağnak, Deniz Pehlivaner 

Assistant Curator: Yazın Öztürk 

Floating Islands

Floating Islands,” Istanbul Modern’s 9th collection exhibition, besides the permanent exhibition gallery, encompasses other spaces throughout the building. The exhibition presents a chronological selection from the museum collection that traces the development and transformation of art scene in Türkiye after 1945. Touching on different subjects and approaches, from figurative paintings to installations and videos, the selection reveals interactions between artists. While shedding light on the popular tendencies of the time, each work also informs viewers about the specific style of the artist. “Floating Islands” pays homage to artists’ extraordinary imagination and spheres of influence. It indicates their attachment to a specific place while also emphasizing the impact of their thought and production beyond borders and geographies. 

Artists: Kuzgun Acar, Murat Akagündüz, Erol Akyavaş, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Halil Altındere, Refik Anadol, Avni Arbaş, Yüksel Arslan, Tomur Atagök, Kutluğ Ataman, Fikret Atay, Bedri Baykam, Aliye Berger, Nurullah Berk, Sabri Berkel, Albert Bitran, Cihat Burak, Anthony Cragg, Adnan Çoker, Richard Deacon, Nejad Melih Devrim, Şükriye Dikmen, Burhan Doğançay, İpek Duben, Nezaket Ekici, Abidin Elderoğlu, Olafur Eliasson, Devrim Erbil, Neş'e Erdok, İnci Eviner, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Ara Güler, Mehmet Güleryüz, Neşet Günal, Nedim Günsür, Selma Gürbüz, Altan Gürman, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Ferit İşcan, Nuri İyem, Zeki Faik İzer, İhsan Cemal Karaburçak, Gülsün Karamustafa, Şahin Kaygun, Zeynep Kayan, Ali Kazma, Nur Koçak, Komet, Azade Köker, Yıldız Moran, Aydan Murtezaoğlu, Julian Opie, Mübin Orhon, Kemal Önsoy, İrfan Önürmen, Ferhat Özgür, Serkan Özkaya, Şener Özmen - Erkan Özgen, Ardan Özmenoğlu, Orhan Peker, Bettina Pousttchi, Anselm Reyle, Adrián Villar Rojas, Sarkis, Jennifer Steinkamp, Hale Tenger, Canan Tolon, Seyhun Topuz, TUNCA, Selim Turan, F. Tülin, Ömer Uluç, Burhan Uygur, Richard Wentworth, Nil Yalter, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Yılmaz Zenger 

Curators: Levent Çalıkoğlu, Deniz Pehlivaner 

Renzo Piano: Genius Loci 

“Renzo Piano: Genius Loci” focuses on the architecture of Istanbul Modern’s new museum building and its design and construction process, which spanned six years. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the new building greets art lovers at the same location where Istanbul Modern opened its doors in 2004 as Türkiye's first museum of modern and contemporary art. The title of the exhibition refers to the architectural understanding of Renzo Piano, whose vision is to integrate tangible elements and non-physical qualities of the building site. 

“Renzo Piano: Genius Loci” examines in detail the design process and structural components of the new museum building, which Piano designed taking inspiration from the light and atmosphere unique to the Bosphorus and Istanbul. The exhibition also surveys the various artistic and cultural projects that Renzo Piano has realized throughout his career in different parts of the world as well as the transformation Istanbul Modern has undergone since its foundation. “Renzo Piano: Genius Loci” is located at the entrance of the library on the museum’s ground floor, which is open to the public free of charge. A Turkish-English monograph on Istanbul Modern’s new building, prepared by the Renzo Piano Foundation as part of the book series on RPBW buildings, presents the reader with a record of the new building’s journey. 

Curator: Ümit Mesci 

Cinema 

Silent Film Days 

April 2–5, 2026 

Istanbul Modern Cinema presents Silent Film Days, co-curated with Eye Filmmuseum and Elif Rongen Kaynakçı. Bringing together 13 films dating from 1910 onward, the program explores diverse aesthetic and thematic tendencies of early cinema. Spanning from images of labor and production to avant-garde works abstracting nature, and from early 20th century fashion to films noted for their underwater scenes, the selection offers a wide-ranging perspective. Highlights include Robert Wiene’s Raskolnikov (1923), which combines the visual language of German Expressionism with a naturalistic acting style; Mário Peixoto’s Limite (1931), made at the age of 22 and considered one of the most striking avant-garde works in film history; In Spring (Vesnoi, 1929), described as “a Kiev symphony” and directed by Dziga Vertov’s brother Mikhail Kaufman; and Muhsin Ertuğrul’s Tamilla (1924), rediscovered 92 years after its production. Seven silent films in the program are accompanied by live music performances and presentations. 

This year’s theme focuses on the use of stencil color in early cinema. Presented by Elif Rongen Kaynakçı, projects such as Fantastic Flowers, Catwalk Cinema, and Cyrano de Bergerac, which highlight the restoration of these colors, will be showcased. The program also includes the Türkiye premiere of The Postman (Postchi, Dariush Mehrjui, 1972), a recently restored key work of the Iranian New Wave, establishing a bridge between early and modern cinema. 

Events 

Exhibition Event: In Conversation With Prof. Dr. Esra Aliçavuşoğlu 

Subject and Self on Canvas: A Talk with Esra Aliçavuşoğlu on Self-Representation and the Construction of Identity in Semiha Berksoy’s Paintings 

Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026 

Time: 18.00 Venue: Istanbul Modern Auditorium 

Speakers: Esra Aliçavuşoğlu 

Moderators: Öykü Özsoy Sağnak, Deniz Pehlivaner 

Istanbul Modern hosts Prof. Dr. Esra Aliçavuşoğlu for a public event held within the scope of “Semiha Berksoy: Aria of All Colors,” an exhibition bringing together more than seventy years of Berksoy’sproduction. Moderated by Istanbul Modern’s Chief Curator Öykü Özsoy Sağnak and Curator Deniz Pehlivaner, the talk approaches Berksoy’s paintings from an art-historical perspective, examining the figures that emerge on the artist’s canvases through the relationships between subject, self, and representation. Known for her dramatic presence on the opera stage, Berksoy’s paintings point to a multilayered construction of subjectivity established between self-portraits and performance, and between public identity and personal memory. Focusing on this duality between representation and construction in Berksoy’s paintings, the event aims to offer a new perspective on the artist’s practice.  

Design Dialogues: Digital Approaches 

MasterClass: Ebru Kurbak 14 April 2026, 17.00-19.00 

Through Ebru Kurbak’s design-oriented art practices – working with traditional materials such as yarn, weaving, and knitting, and production methods based on craftsmanship, repetition, rhythm, and pattern-making – the seminar explores how knowledge is recorded in objects and how material culture functions as a carrier of memory. Focusing on “object historiography” and evolving modes of production shaped by technology, the seminar invites participants to rethink design through technology, memory, materiality, and cultural contexts, while critically addressing the non-neutral structures of digital systems and the representation of knowledge and history. 

Panorama Talks III 

Speakers: İlgen Arzık, Umut Erbaş, Ege Kanar 

Moderator: Serdar Darendeliler 

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026 

Time: 18.00 Venue: Istanbul Modern Event Room 1 

“Panorama Talks” is a new talk series bringing together photography and contemporary art. Accompanying “Panorama: Dreams and Places” exhibition held in Istanbul Modern’s first-floor exhibition galleries, the program aims to create a platform for dialogue on contemporary photography and lens-based art in Türkiye by opening space for artists and curators to share and discuss their thinking, production processes, and exhibition practices with audiences. The 2026 program focuses on the works of artists featured in “Panorama: Dreams and Places,” centering on practices that engage with the present through imagined landscapes, alternative visual geographies, and the realm of dreams. 

Design Dialogues: Digital Approaches 

WorkShop: Ahmet Rüstem Ekici & Hakan Sorar 

29–30 April 2026, 13.00-15.00 

This WorkShop with Ahmet Rüstem Ekici and Hakan Sorar explores how digital technologies shape art and design practices. Approaching digital tools not merely as technical necessities but as a “mode of thinking,” the duo invites participants to reconfigure the relationship between form and data. Over two days, participants will work hands-on with AI-assisted modeling tools, learning how virtual objects are created and prepared for 3D printing. Technology is experienced not just as a visualization tool, but as a production station that enables the transformation of virtual ideas into physical objects. 

Workshops 

Weekend Art Workshops for Children 

7–14 years old 

Children take part in programs which are designed for specific age groups and focus on exhibitions held at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, works of art featured in the exhibitions, and the careers of artists whose works are exhibited. Participants thus gain experience in different fields of art ranging from painting, sculpture, and video to performance, design, and architecture. 

Family Art Workshops 

2–10 years old 

On weekends, Istanbul Modern carries out education programs that children can participate with their families. Designed in parallel with exhibitions and led by a museum educator, the programs are organized for families of children of different ages.