Arter — Attraction in Beyoğlu

HORRENDOUS service and "museum". We're tourists we don't speak turkish (which is expected as tourists) the reception didnt tell us anything about what to expect, we bought two tickets each for 200TL for NOTHING. only 2 out 5 "exhibitions" had a couple of stuff in them but they were very boring and with nothing meaningful PLUS no EXPLANATION in a language other than turksih. There are barcodes which we scanned which only contained a sentence and the sentences made no sense. The museum is very EMPTY compared to the huge size, you can literally count whats 'exhibited'. This is not our first time in a museum/exhibition, the reception usually tells visitors what to expect. They didnt tell us that 3 levels are closed because theyre 'preparing for a new exhibition' and they didnt tell us what to expect, and plus NO EXPLANATION!!! Who usually visits museums? TOURISTS! So the BARE MINIMUM they can do is give explanations in a language other than turkish. This sucks honestly, such a bad experience, waste of money and waste of time (which was around 15 mins because the museum is almost empty). Work on your attitude and service and 'exhibitions'. DISAPPOINTMENT in...

A place with potential.

Pros: Building is well designed for modern art exhibitions, airy and bright. Current exhibitions were not for my taste, but they were temporary. Unlike many other museums of Istanbul, this one does not seem to discriminate against foreigners, for example, free entrance on Thursdays for all, including foreigners. The bookshop inside the gallery has the biggest selection of English language books I've seen in Istanbul so far.

Cons: Located in quite a rough neighborhood (on the edge of it, not in the middle). To walk to the gallery from Taksim metro station I had to cross some street blocks where there were some men staring, leering and smiling in creepy ways; as a solo woman (despite being dressed in baggy clothes and fully covered) I did not feel very comfortable even during the day. However, the appearance of this gallery (and some neighbouring hotels) probably means that the area is about to get gentrified in the coming years - not sure if that's a good thing for the locals or not.

Walk in groups or take a taxi and...

This museum is tone deaf on multiple levels. To explain, this is a contemporary art museum in the middle of one of the poorest and sketchiest neighborhoods of Istanbul. They have shuttles to/from Taksim, so you can "skip" walking this neighborhood. Instead, you can sip some drinks and get food from a fancy restaurant on the premises with "a view of the slums" to feel edgy and artsy at the same time! 🙄 It doesn't look like they do anything for the neighborhood in terms of their educational programming, and "at best" they will accelerate its gentrification. Hence, it is quite ironic that this place tries to showcase "brave" contemporary art while ignoring socio-economic realities around them. Maybe the placement of a contemporary art museum precisely here in Tarlabasi in itself is a commentary on the current gilded age we are living through, or a parody of the sad self-importance of the current contemporary...