{"id":31299,"date":"2013-05-21T10:37:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T09:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/istanbul-pont-des-arts-sur-le-bosphore-20130521.html"},"modified":"2016-02-10T10:09:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T09:09:59","slug":"istanbul-arts-bridge-on-the-bosphorus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/istanbul-arts-bridge-on-the-bosphorus","title":{"rendered":"Istanbul, art bridge over the Bosphorus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar: these emblematic monuments are of course the must-sees of a stay in Istanbul. But they are no longer the only attraction, far from it. The rehabilitated suburbs of the old city have taken over. Once described as a maze of muddy streets populated by frustrated characters and stray dogs, they represent the new heart of the city.<\/p>\n

This image of a city with two faces is now obsolete, \"incomparable in its decrepitude\". <\/em>as it was long presented under the influence of the stories of Th\u00e9ophile Gautier, Pierre Loti and others... The splendour of the domes and minarets, combined with the light and the Sea of Marmara, form delicate tableaux\".worthy of fairy tales <\/em>The Thousand and One Nights<\/em>As G\u00e9rard de Nerval would have put it, there is no longer any contrast with the darkness of the leprous wooden houses.<\/p>\n

\"\"For some time now, Turkey has been one of the world's most dynamic economies. And its economic and cultural capital is teeming with mega-projects: a 50km-long canal linking the Black Sea and the Mar- mara Sea in a straight line, a third airport, a new bridge over the Strait, a port, another ring road, a giant mosque, two new towns, an artificial island with a capacity of 300,000 inhabitants... Not to mention the gigantic malls springing up here and there with their processions of residential towers and office buildings...<\/p>\n

Crossroads of contemporary art<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"Image<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
These pharaonic developments, packed with gleaming towers and shopping centres modelled on those in Dubai, are mobilising local residents, who are keen to play their part in the planning choices for their neighbourhoods. Against this backdrop, the flagship event of the International Design Biennial, held last December, sounded the alarm. Titled Musibet <\/em>- ?\u00e9au in Turkish - the exhibition at Istanbul Modern, the museum of contemporary art, was reached through... a prison door. It opened onto a dark, cramped corridor serving 40 rooms, laid out in such a way that getting around meant negotiating with other visitors. A critical reflection on urban planning as it is developing in Istanbul and other metropolises, the exhibition questioned the choice of these far-reaching urban changes and warned of the need to study the consequences for the population. We need to stop and think for a moment,\" says Emre Arolat, architect and curator of Musibet. Things are changing very quickly, and at this speed it's impossible to manage change properly.\"<\/em>\n<\/div>\n

<\/em><\/div>\n
\n\"\"Housed in a vast warehouse in the former goods port of Karak\u00f6y, Istanbul Modern - whose beautiful terraced restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus is open to the public - symbolises the city's artistic renaissance. What's more, with its high-quality programme of events, the museum is fully committed to becoming part of the world's cultural circuits. Its opening in 2004 stimulated a whole movement to convert the city's disused industrial heritage into chic, trendy venues. Santralistanbul, for example, an electricity factory disused since 1983, has been transformed into a space for contemporary art and an energy museum. Today, these rehabilitated wastelands are being snapped up by incentive groups, just as much privatised as the Ottoman palaces, which are obviously sublime but more conventional. \"For an event, luxury brands tend to favour disused factories and other offbeat locations\".<\/em>says Anthony Doucet, Marketing and Communications Director at The House Hotel.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

Dialogue between ancient and modern<\/h2>\n

\"\"The Esman Sultan, the former residence of the ?lle of the monarch Abd\u00fclaziz, once a tobacco warehouse and then a carpenter's workshop destroyed by fire, is representative of these reinvented spaces. The four walls of the ruined building have been preserved, with their regular arrangement of wide windows. But they also conceal a protective glass case for events throughout the year. The dialogue between the old bricks and the glass walls is matched by the magic of the site, which is adjacent to the Ortakoy mosque and on the front line of the Bosphorus, overlooked by its famous bridge, one of the longest suspension structures in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\"\"Booking this type of place is guaranteed to surprise guests, as the most widespread image of Istanbul is that of a city still in the past. \"All you have to do is see <\/em>Skyfall, the latest James Bond film,\" smiles Anthony Doucet. \"The sequence shot in the bazaar shows stalls the like of which have not existed for ages. You can see donkeys and even a camel: it's like being in Cairo at the beginning of the 20th century! The city offers an explosive East-West cocktail,\" says this Frenchman who has lived here for five years. The ambiences telescope: the hammam with its old-fashioned atmosphere, the rooftop restaurant with its very New York style, the club where you can dance the night away...\".<\/em>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

A thousand and one feverish nights<\/h2>\n
\n\"\"In fact, Istanbul, a megalopolis where more than half the population is under 30, lives to the rhythm of its youth, with no shortage of restaurants and private party venues. On the Bosphorus, near Ortakoy, the Suada occupies a small island in the strait and is home to several restaurants and an Olympic-size swimming pool... Techno music, wild jetsetters and champagne baths: from June to September, while it's tea time on the Asian shore, it's like Nikki Beach in Saint-Tropez. The area around the Bosphorus Bridge is also home to some of the city's most famous clubs, such as Reina, a glamorous institution celebrating its tenth anniversary: five restaurants, bars and a dance ?oor welcome visiting celebrities from Gisele B\u00fcndchen to Uma Thurman. Equally attractive are the ?nless nights at Sortie - 3,500 m2, seven restaurants and three bars - or at Nomads, which revisits the atmosphere of the \"A Thousand and One Nights<\/em> with Oriental dancers and deep sofas.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

Popular and creative neighbourhoods<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"Image<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"\"Istanbul's economic prosperity can be gauged in the streets of Nisantasi, a residential district that is home to the boutiques of the big names in luxury and the cream of Turkish fashion designers such as Atil Kutoglu and Asli G\u00fcler. But it is in the south-eastern part of Beyoglu, on the bank of the Golden Horn opposite the tourist district, that its cultural dynamism is felt. Facing the old town, these working-class districts, which were once little frequented, are now the lungs of the city. Contemporary art spaces are flourishing here, particularly around the Genoese tower of Galata.<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Image<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Funded by patrons from industry and the ?nance sector, the largest of these, such as Salt and Arter, have very large private areas in carefully restored buildings. Their exhibitions of national and international artists, which are renewed at a steady pace, create a real dynamic, supported by a host of independent and creative gallery owners in Cukurcuma and Tophane. Steep alleyways where cats roam, modest buildings with Virginia creeper, antique dealers displaying their finds on the pavement: this part of Istanbul is transforming itself into a trendy epicentre, where architectural agencies and local designer boutiques rub shoulders with the local grocery shop or caf\u00e9.<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Image<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"The public of art lovers here shows a real curiosity, an open-mindedness and a desire to exchange ideas that is no longer to be found in Paris, where collectors seem to have become jaded\",<\/em> notes Steven Riff. This Frenchman chose to close his galleries in Strasbourg and Paris to set up in this district. He recently exhibited works by the American Frank Stella and the Frenchman Bernar Venet, and is now showing images by Ahmet Ertug from Istanbul. Internationally renowned for his work on Europe's libraries and opera houses, Ertug has applied his art to the changes that are sweeping the city.<\/div>\n

There are views of the Tarlabarsi district being demolished, and large-format photographs showing the excesses of urban renewal, in particular the exclusion of the working classes from the city centre and the disappearance of entire blocks of vernacular housing in favour of soulless neo-Ottoman buildings... All of which has fuelled debate, with intellectuals and artists joining forces to denounce the sacrifice of whole swathes of Istanbul's history in the name of its ambitions as a global city.<\/div>\n