SUMMER 2023 – Literature, Culture, Art Program

BOOKS

• Jose Saramago, Death with Interruptions: This novel of Saramago, which we consider as a trilogy together with Saramago’s other novels “Blindness” and “Seeing”, reflects the author’s bewilderment, contradictory reactions and moral collapse in the face of death and immortality. It is one of the works that has an important place in world literature with its deep literary, social and philosophical sense.

• Gündüz Vassaf, Prisoners of Ourselves, Totalitarianism in Everyday Life: Vassaf’s work reveals the small ‘totalitarian worlds’ that people grow and live in. The author examines our perceptions of life through Totalitarianism and of the concepts some of which we accept voluntarily. Prisoners of Ourselves is a book that invites people to come to terms with it.

• Erich Scheurmann, The Papalagi: This book is considered to be one of the classics of world literature. It’s a must-read classic work that opens the reader’s horizons to lesser-known worlds by basing its criticism on the right justifications, and allows us to see the West through the eyes of a true Samoan.

• Jack London, The Star Rover: This novel of Jack London is inspired by his friend Ed Morrell, who spent five years in San Quentin. It is also recognized as London’s most original work. Contemplating astral travel and rebirth, London draws attention to the ruthless and rotten prison system of the USA through the concept of humanity.

• Jorge Luis Borges, The Universal History of Infamy: In this work, Borges brings together the articles he wrote for the Sunday supplement of the newspaper “Critica” in Argentina in the 1930s. In these writings, where fact and fiction are combined, the author also reveals that fiction is actually more believable than facts.

• Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night Traveler: The book begins with a chapter on the art and nature of reading and it is among the most significant works of Calvino and of Italian literature. The book is about the reader trying to read If on a Winter’s Night Traveler. The main character in the first part of each chapter is the reader; and here we come across a postmodernist narrative in the form of a story.

CONCERTS

• One of the successful representatives of alternative music, the band Birileri, will take the stage at The Wall Kadıköy on July 9th!

• The Jazz Ferry, which takes a cruise on the Bosphorus, will sail along the entire Bosphorus line from Kabataş Pier to Anadolu Kavağı on July 16th at 11:00 am with musicians such as Norwegian Swing’it, Flapper Swing and Brassist!

• Kenan Doğulu will be at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater on July 27th!

• Jazz in the Forest with Jehan Barbur will be at YBY Woods Life and Event Area on August 2nd!

• The concert of the band, Yüzyüzeyken Konuşuruz, which will be held as part of Turkcell Starry Nights concerts, will be at Turkcell Vadi on August 3rd!

• Ajda Pekkan will take the stage at Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater on August 9th!

• Ghostly Kisses will meet with their fans to have a melancholy night at Maximum UNIQ Open Air on August 10th!

• The first concert of Two Feet in Turkey, will be at KüçükÇiftlik Park on August 13th!

• Nova Norda will meet her fans at IF Beşiktaş on Friday, August 18th!

FESTIVALS

• What A Fest, will take place in Selçuk, Ephesus, Pamucak Beach, from July 19th to July 23rd!

• Soundscape Festival will be at Lifepark this year! The festival, which will be accompanied by all the sounds of nature integrated with electronic music, will meet its audience between August 5th and 7th!

• Uludağ Music Festival is held for the first time this year on August 4th, 5th and 6th! The festival will be filled with many activities such as game activities, amusement park, workshops, nature walks, yoga, fitness, dance, with combined or daily tickets,

• Electronica Festival Istanbul will take place at Zorlu PSM Istanbul on September 1st and 2nd with unforgettable DJ performances!

CINEMA

• The first part of Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, will be in theaters on July 14th!

• Oppenheimer, a war movie directed and scripted by Christopher Nolan, will be in theaters on July 2st1!

• Carmen, the musical movie directed by Benjamin Millepied, will be in theaters on August 4th!

THEATRE

• İmparator, a play directed by Genco Erkal, will be at Istanbul Trump Stage on July 13th!

• Turned into a theater play by Anton Chekhov, Vişne Bahçesi will be at Istanbul Trump Stage on July 18th, and Kadıköy Municipality Selamiçeşme Freedom Park Amphitheater on July 19th!

• Directed by Hakan Altıner, Ölü Ozanlar Derneği will be on the Istanbul Trump Stage on July 23rd and August 18th!

• Şen Makas will be at Kadıköy Municipality Selamiçeşme Freedom Park Amphitheater on August 5th!

EXHIBITIONS

• The exhibition Günün En Güzel Saati by Jacqueline Roditi, -titled after the artist’s book that has not been published yet-, can be visited at Vision Art Platform until July 22nd!

• OCULUS II: The World Inside, Istanbul Outside, prepared by Kadir Has University Faculty of Communication Visual Communication Design Department in cooperation with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, is at Haliç Sanat Fener Ev 1 until July 31st!

• Uzun Yürüyüş 68, at Yedikule Gazhanesi Hangar, can be visited until July 31st!

• The group exhibition Aynı Ufka Bakmak, featuring works by Gökçen Dilek Acay, Murat Akagündüz, Sevinç Altan, Mike Berg, Nermin Er, Tayfun Erdoğmuş, Ahmet Doğu İpek, Murat Morova, Aras Seddigh and Hale Tenger, will be exhibited at Gallery Nev Istanbul until September 2nd!

• Isabel Munoz’s exhibition Yeni Bir Hikaye Göbeklitepe ve Çevresinden Fotoğraflar can be seen at Pera Museum until September 17th!

PODCAST

• Dünyaya Fırlatıldık: In this podcast channel, many topics that come to our minds, but that we haven’t thought about before -from philosophy to religion, history to daily life-, are discussed from different perspectives.

• Organik Beyinler: Zeki Eser and Emel Caba discuss the seemingly ordinary issues of life occasionally in English and Turkish. This channel can be followed by those who want to get away from life and who want to get informed and become more aware about the everyday issues.

Hazırlayan: Nazperi YILMAZ