Istanbul Reimagined
Design, Travel
By SHONQUIS MORENO
| September 14, 2011, 10:00 am
“Design is not about objects anymore; it’s more pervasive,” says Vasif Kortun, a director of Istanbul’s new arts center Salt (Istiklal Caddesi 136; saltonline.org). “Turkey is picking it up belatedly.” And quickly. Since the opening of Adnan Kazmaoglu’s austerely geometric Yesil Vadi Mosque in Istanbul last year, a design and architecture movement is sweeping through the city. Salt’s Beyoglu building, a columned space by the local architect Han Tumertekin on the boulevard Istiklal, features the work of a different Turkish designer in each room — there’s a cinema by Hakan Demirel, a bookstore by Omer Unal and a cafe by Ali Selcuk and the chef Murat Bozok. Regular symposiums cover everything from urban planning to electronic music, and later this fall a second outpost will open nearby in Galata.
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