Upcoming programs at Salt
Salt Beyoğlu
İstiklal Caddesi 136
Beyoğlu Istanbul
Türkiye
Salt Galata
Bankalar Caddesi 11
Karaköy Istanbul
Türkiye
Designer’s Note at Salt Beyoğlu
September 11, 2024–February 2, 2025
Designer’s Note explores the evolution of graphic design in Türkiye during the late 20th century through a selection of books. The exhibition looks into a transformative period in which cultural publishing gained momentum, foregrounding the graphic designer as a key player. It spans from the late 1970s, when the book cover was the primary design element, to the 1990s, when the book was conceived as an integrated design object.
Tracing the political, economic, and social transformations that occurred during this period, Designer’s Note explores the decision-making processes of designers in the creation of books, their interactions with various actors from publishers to printing houses, and their place in the cultural sphere. Spreading across Salt Beyoğlu, the exhibition aims to highlight the often-overlooked role of designers as key contributors to the creation of books. It offers insight into a pivotal period that set the stage for the design culture of the 2000s—when books were redefined as “printed” and “electronic”—through a collection of publications, interviews, and archival documents.
Programmed by Eda Sezgin, the exhibition is an outcome of research and archival projects initiated at Salt Research, focusing on the history of graphic design in Türkiye.
Translated into Socialism at Salt Galata
October 23, 2024–February 23, 2025
The outcome of a long-term research project, Translated into Socialism explores how the Turkish-speaking communities in Yugoslavia affirmed and transformed their identity under socialist ideology. The historical scope of the exhibition spans from 1945 to 1991, the period of Second Yugoslavia when Turkish was recognized as an official language in Macedonia (now North Macedonia) and Kosovo.
The exhibition foregrounds the interconnectedness of political and cultural initiatives operating in the Turkish language, which proliferated during the period in question as a result of progressive policies towards different nationalities in Yugoslavia. It reworks historical documents from private archives and public libraries, many of which are being unearthed for the first time. The juxtaposition of these materials with contemporary works points to the complex dynamics of the invention of a particular national identity and its translation into a multinational socialist context. It also traces the construction of a national consciousness rooted in internationalism and solidarity while revealing how the historical distinctiveness of Yugoslavia’s socialism, such as self-management and non-alignment, shaped the ways in which the Turkish-speaking community was imagined. Highlighting new and unfamiliar cultural forms arising from these complex dynamics, the exhibition weaves together a historical narrative that is not linear and homogeneous.
Translated into Socialism is programmed by Sezgin Boynik, Tevfik Rada, and Merve Elveren and realized in collaboration with the Lumbardhi Foundation (Kosovo).
Winter Garden Soundscapes at Salt Beyoğlu
June 2024–April 2025
Warm Earth Sounds for Plants and the People Who Love Them is a series of sound installations conceived for the Winter Garden at Salt Beyoğlu. The series draws inspiration from electronic music pioneer Mort Garson’s 1976 album Mother Earth’s Plantasia, recorded specifically “for plants to listen to.” The program currently features Passepartout Duo’s installation Of Soil and Water and will continue with site-specific works by Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, Ömer Sarıgedik, and Fulya Uçanok at various intervals until April 2025.
Founded in 2011 by Garanti BBVA, Salt is a not-for-profit cultural institution engaging in research, exhibitions, publications, web projects, and public programs at the intersections of visual practices, the built environment, social life, and economic history. With its library and archive, Salt Research provides public access to the institution’s print and digital resources and contributes to the development of local and regional memory through its expanding collections.
