Advisory boards and new works from the collection

As Istanbul Modern approaches its twenty-first anniversary in its award-winning building designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the museum’s advisory committees and collection policies are restructured by the museum’s Artistic Director Çelenk Bafra with the contribution of international art authorities. For the first time, the International Advisory Board—shaping the museum’s global programs and strategies—welcomes curators and museum directors from Asia. Joining the board are Hoor Al-Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation; Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director of M+ Hong Kong and President of CIMAM; and Laurent Le Bon, President of Centre Pompidou, alongside long-standing members Glenn D. Lowry, Director of MoMA, and Sheena Wagstaff, Creative Advisor of Frieze Masters. Istanbul Modern’s Photography Advisory Board, aiming to expand the museum’s lens-based programs, now includes curators and directors of international institutions. Esteemed photography professionals from Türkiye—Orhan Cem Çetin, Refik Akyüz & Serdar Darendeliler (GAPO) —are joined by Diane Dufour, Founder and Co-director of LE BAL in Paris; and Dr. Oluremi C. Onabanjo, The Peter Schub Curator of Photography at MoMA.

A Collection Advisory Board was recently established to strengthen Istanbul Modern’s collection strategy and acquisition committees. Art historian and academic Prof. Dr. Esra Aliçavuşoğlu and London-based curator and writer Fatoş Üstek have started to have regular meetings with Istanbul Modern curators to discuss acquisitions and collection strategies for a period of four years. The ongoing selection from the museum collection presents a chronological overview of the development and transformation of Türkiye’s art scene from 1945 to the present. The title “Floating Islands” of this permanent exhibition on the second floor underscores artists’ relationships with their places of origin while highlighting the cross-geography impact of their ideas and practices.

With free access for all, the museum’s ground floor and outdoor areas feature sculptures and installations from Istanbul Modern’s international collection since 2000’s. Outdoor sculptures include “Runner” on the side of the museum building as a long term loan by Tony Cragg, who wants to “show the inner life under a rigid surface, make that energy and motion perceivable”, “Movement and Equilibrium Series I & II” by Koray Ariş, Richard Deacon’s “House Version,” Selma Gürbüz’s “Red Shadow”, Anselm Reyle’s “Atop an Underworld” and “Dust Falling”, Adrián Villar Rojas’s “The Most Beautiful of All Mothers (I)” and Yılmaz Zenger’s “Ayça as I See Her.” The museum’s ground floor hosts Richard Wentworth’s site-specific installation “False Ceiling” and Zhan Wang’s “Jia Shan Shi 121# (Artificial Rock)” while a site-specific commission to Olafur Eliasson “Your unexpected encounter” extends across different floors through the central stairwell with its three distinct components. As of September 2025, Bettina Pousttchi’s “Vertical Highways V02” greets visitors in front of the museum building. Standing 5.9 meters high, the sculpture incorporates overlooked urban furniture and objects such as highway guardrails, barricades, street poles, and bollards, and captivates viewers with its dynamic forms reflecting the vitality of Istanbul.

Artists in the collection exhibition include Kuzgun Acar, Murat Akagündüz, Erol Akyavaş, Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin, Halil Altındere, Refik Anadol, Avni Arbaş, Yüksel Arslan, Tomur Atagök, Kutluğ Ataman, Fikret Atay, Bedri Baykam, Aliye Berger, Nurullah Berk, Sabri Berkel, Semiha Berksoy, Albert Bitran, Cihat Burak, Adnan Çoker, Nejad Melih Devrim, Burhan Doğançay, İpek Duben, Nezaket Ekici, Abidin Elderoğlu, Devrim Erbil, Neş'e Erdok, İnci Eviner, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Ara Güler, Mehmet Güleryüz, Neşet Günal, Nedim Günsür, Selma Gürbüz, Altan Gürman, Balkan Naci İslimyeli, Ferit İşcan, Nuri İyem, Zeki Faik İzer, İhsan Cemal Karaburçak, Gülsün Karamustafa, Şahin Kaygun, Zeynep Kayan, Ali Kazma, Nur Koçak, Komet, Azade Köker, Yıldız Moran, Aydan Murtezaoğlu, Julian Opie, Mübin Orhon, Kemal Önsoy, İrfan Önürmen, Ferhat Özgür, Serkan Özkaya, Şener Özmen - Erkan Özgen, Ardan Özmenoğlu, Orhan Peker, Sarkis, Jennifer Steinkamp, Hale Tenger, Canan Tolon, Seyhun Topuz, TUNCA, Selim Turan, F.Tülin, Ömer Uluç, Burhan Uygur, Nil Yalter, Fahrelnissa Zeid.