Cultural Road Festivals to start in Cappadocia

ISTANBUL

The Cultural Road Festivals, which started with the Beyoğlu Cultural Road Festival two years ago to contribute to Türkiye's international brand value, will be organized this year in 11 cities, namely Nevşehir, Trabzon, Erzurum, Çanakkale, Gaziantep, Ankara, Konya, Diyarbakır, Istanbul, İzmir and Antalya.

The first stop for the festivals will start in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir’s Cappadocia on Aug. 5 as the Cappadocia Balloon and Culture Road Festival. The festival will bring together more than 300 events consisting of exhibitions, concerts, talks and workshops with art lovers free of charge.

More than 1,000 artists will take part in the events to be held in more than 30 venues for nine days with a visual feast with unique fairy chimneys and colorful balloons.

The festival will start with the Fotomarathon, which will be held with the participation of hundreds of amateur and professional photographers. The photographs taken during the festival will be evaluated by a jury and the selected works will be awarded a prize of 156,000 Turkish Liras.

The gala concert of the festival will be performed by the Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Eray İnal in Paşabağları Valley. Ferman Akgül, the soloist of the concert, will perform works by poets like Aşık Veysel and Neşet Ertaş, as well as the popular songs of Manga.

The festival will also present concerts by famous names in Göreme Festival Area, Paşabağları Valley and Avanos Amphitheater Open Air Stage.

In addition, the Sound of the Street concerts will be held at the festival stages to be set up in Avanos Square, Kayaşehir, Uçhisar Castle, Virgin Mary Church, Göreme Open Air Museum, Zelve Ruins, Ürgüp Square, Üç Güzeller, Ortahisar Castle Square and Güray Museum. During the festival, all museums in the city can be visited until 9 p.m.

Within the scope of the Cappadocia Balloon and Culture Road Festival, best known theater plays and musicals will also be staged.

Plays by Türkü Theater with Kürşat Taner, Süheyl-Behzat Uygur, Nazan Kesal, İzmir State Theater, Van State Theater and Bursa State Theater will meet with art lovers all over the city.

The festival will also present exhibitions. The exhibition "To Cappadocia, With Love" will display works by Devrim Erbil, produced using techniques consisting of mosaic, mother-of-pearl, stained glass, batik, carpet, original printing, marquetry and painting. It will be exhibited at Güray Museum during the festival.

The digital installation "Renaissance Dreams," created by world-famous artist Refik Anadol by training artificial intelligence with the visuals of all sculptures from the Renaissance period, and featuring data sculptures in dynamic form, can be seen in the Church of the Virgin Mary.

The exhibition “Digital Art from Sketch to Pixels,” displaying a selection of works by new media artists who successfully represent Türkiye nationally and internationally in different disciplines such as digital art, bio design and sound design, will meet with the audience at Cappadocia University Mahzen as part of the Cappadocia Balloon and Culture Road Festival events.

The “Construction of a Dream” digital installation exhibition of more than 1,000 Atatürk photographs, prepared using artificial intelligence technology, can be seen on the edge of the Kızılırmak in Avanos as part of the festival.

Also, “Turkish Coffee Exhibition” will open at the Coffee Museum, “Regional Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition” will open at the Avanos Living Heritage Museum and Koç University Vehbi Koç Ankara Research Application and Research Center (VEKAM) Exhibition will open at the Courtyard of the Kapadokya University Mustafakemalpaşa Campus.

As part of the festival, history, drama and creative writing workshops will be held in Göreme and Paşakonağı public libraries. The Cappadocia University Uçhisar Gastronomy Street will host workshops on traditional handicrafts and gastronomy.

Art lovers will also have the opportunity to watch popular Turkish films such as “Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım” and “Nadide Hayat” at Avanos Amphitheater Open Air Stage.

Unlike the Turkish Culture Road Festivals previously held in Istanbul, Ankara, Çanakkale, Konya and Diyarbakır, the Cappadocia Balloon and Cultural Road Festival will host international balloon events. On the last three days of the festival, colorful images will be created in the skies of Cappadocia with hot air balloon activities as dozens of specially designed hot air balloons will come to the region as part of the festival.