Rhythms of Summer and Shades of Ink
With June’s arrival, Istanbul eases into its summer rhythm. The light sharpens, the city’s tempo quickens, and the sidewalks seem to shimmer by midday. I found cool spaces to hide in—galleries, courtyards filled with breeze, and an island walk that felt like a brief escape. This week reminded me to stay curious and hydrated.
“Samih Rifat: Much Work to Be Done” at Pera Museum
March 20 – August 17, 2025
Some exhibitions feel like portraits; others feel like entire biographies unfolding across the walls. Much Work to Be Done at Pera Museum is very much the latter—a thoughtful, interdisciplinary tribute to Samih Rifat, the prolific cultural figure whose influence shaped poetry, photography, translation, and more. It’s also part of Pera Museum’s 20th anniversary, and it feels like a fitting way to mark that milestone: looking both inward and outward, backward and forward.
The exhibition unfolds like a conversation with Rifat’s mind. Notebooks, manuscripts, letters, and translations share space with photographs he took—quiet, observational images that feel poetic in their own right. Some of the material is deeply personal, some highly intellectual, but what connects it all is a restless curiosity. Rifat wasn’t just a writer or a thinker—he was a hezârfen, a master of many crafts.
I was especially drawn to the way the exhibition embraced his contradictions: rigorous yet playful, grounded in language yet visual in expression. There’s music too—another dimension of his legacy that you feel rather than analyze. It all made me think about the shape of a life that overflows categories.
This isn’t a flashy show, and you won’t breeze through it in ten minutes. But if you take your time, you leave with more than just knowledge—you leave with a feeling of having been in the presence of someone who really lived in ideas.
Pera Museum is located at Meşrutiyet Caddesi No:65, Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul.
Open Air DJ Night – Hope Alkazar Roof
June 1, 2025
No lyrics, just sound. I wandered up to the rooftop of Hope Alkazar after seeing a poster for a free set by an experimental ambient DJ. The view of the rooftops at sunset was the real headliner. People danced in loose circles, drank lemonade, and watched seagulls loop above the Golden Horn. It felt low-key and friendly—my kind of crowd.
Address: Hope Alkazar, Beyoğlu
Island Afternoon – Burgazada
I caught an early ferry to Burgazada, one of the smaller Princes’ Islands. No agenda, just walking. I wandered past wooden villas and blooming bougainvillea, then followed a dirt path to Kalpazankaya for a quiet tea with a sea view. I even dipped my feet into the cold water from a shady cove. Sometimes getting out of the city doesn’t mean going far—it just means crossing water.
Address: Burgazada, Adalar
June is just beginning, but already it feels like a season of sensation—cool ink, hot sidewalks, bitter tea, and soft sounds drifting through warm air. Istanbul in summer is both balm and spark.
Why Turkiye? 
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