With names like Lewis and Keitel, IST Festival is ready to start

ISTANBUL

The annual Istanbul International Arts & Culture (IST) Festival, curated by the arts and culture platform “Istanbul ’74,” is back in town from May 22 to 24, attracting some of creative industries’ most famous international and national names to the city. 

In association with W Magazine, the free-admission festival invites Istanbulites to attend open panels, talks, screenings, workshops and exhibitions. The festival will give them a chance to experience artistic collaborations and performances based on topics of art, culture and history.

The 2015 theme, “Dialogues on Realism in Arts & Culture,” opens the question of reality’s influence in different perspectives of culture, literature, film, music, fashion and design, as well as its effects on visual aesthetics and content. 

Furthermore, the audiences’ perceptions will be discussed and shared in the context of the festival’s activities. The festival also explores the evolution of technology and its impacts on capturing realism in the arts and culture. 


This year, the IST festival is bringing famous names from different industries, such as actress and contemporary artist Juliette Lewis, photographer and director Alex Prager, Daniel Arsham, artist and producer Harvey Keitel, fashion designer Giambattista Valli, Italian photographer and director Francesco Carozzini, English director Mike Figgis, amongst others. 

With the participation of writers, directors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, designers and performers, the festival will unite creative minds who share similar passions and professional assets with a great deal of impressive talents and different visions of art.

Since its first edition in 2010, the IST Festival has used Turkey’s place as a cultural capital to unite leading well-known international cultural figures, thus improving its cultural and artistic relations around the globe.

Past years’ festivals have hosted guests such as Tilda Swinton, Gore Vidal, Zaha Hadid, Franca Sozzani, Reha Erdem, Terry Gilliam, Alphan Eşeli, Ryan McGinley, Kirsten Dunst, Marco Mueller, Sir V. S. Naipaul, Özalp Birol, Gareth Pugh, Courtney Love, Dan Colen, Haider Ackermann, Ayşe Kulin, Michael Nyman, Taner Ceylan, Jefferson Hack, Sam Taylor-Wood, Andrew Dominik, Mario Sorrenti, Ferzan Özpetek, Mark Romanek and many others.