Nazlan Ertan

4 weeks ago | al-monitor.com | Nazlan Ertan

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul. As June 5, World Environment Day, approaches, we turn our gaze toward the “Anthropocene,” a term that reached its artistic crescendo in Istanbul during the 16th Istanbul Biennial’s 2019 edition, “The Seventh Continent.” Its aftershocks still ripple through this city of over 16 million — on the frontline of global warming — and across Turkey, as artists, curators, chefs and writers give form to botanical nostalgia and ecological anxieties.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Nazlan Ertan

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul. This week, we follow the steam. From Anousha Payne’s spectral works at Zeyrek Cinili Hamam to the goose dumpling plates of Lokanta 1741, the Turkish bathhouse returns not just as a ritual but as a stage. Hammams, once spaces of cleansing and gossip, now carry stories in brass, sound and algorithmic echoes. If you want to receive this newsletter or our other new weekly City Pulse newsletters — for Doha, Dubai and Riyadh — sign up here.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Nazlan Ertan

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul. As the weather warms and the city simmers, Buyukada — the largest of the Princes' Islands — offers a breezy escape before summer tourism descends in full. Known in Greek as Prinkipo, meaning “Prince,” the island once exiled disgraced Byzantine royals and later political dissidents.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Nazlan Ertan

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul. From bronze grids to bartered memories, this week’s Istanbul wanderings trace the lines between structure and displacement. In a city where emigres bring their culture into nightclubs and restaurants, statues whisper mythology and even the borscht has a backstory, reinvention is the house specialty. If you want to receive this newsletter or our other new weekly City Pulse newsletters — for Doha, Dubai and Riyadh — sign up here. Thanks for reading,Nazlan1.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Nazlan Ertan

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul. In a city that never truly chooses between chaos and charm, May brings exhibitions that revel in the tension, celebrating artists who refuse easy labels, terraces that keep reinventing glamour and books that remind us that Istanbul has always been a little bit wild after dark. If you want to receive this newsletter or our other new weekly City Pulse newsletters — for Doha, Dubai and Riyadh — sign up here. Thanks for reading,Nazlan1.