ISTANBUL.- Founded by Garanti BBVA, Salt offers its visitors and users a space for encounter, research, and expression through a range of programs.

Designer’s Note at Salt Beyoğlu, on view until February 2, explores the evolution of graphic design in Türkiye from the 1970s to the 1990s. Organized in collaboration with the Lumbardhi Foundation, Translated into Socialism at Salt Galata presents the little-known history of the Turkish-speaking community in Yugoslavia, namely in Kosovo and Macedonia, and is on view until February 23.

The 2025 exhibitions and accompanying programs at Salt Beyoğlu and Salt Galata will focus on various subjects, including ecology, critical animal studies, and social realism in cinema in Türkiye.

Salt Artistic Research and Production Grant Program
Merve Mepa, Ali Taptık, Aslı Uludağ

The projects selected for the first edition of the Salt Artistic Research and Production Grant Program, realized in collaboration with the BBVA Foundation, will be presented at Salt Galata between March-June 2025. The exhibition will feature Aslı Uludağ’s research project Geothermalisms, Ali Taptık’s Looking at Osmanbey: Social and Spatial Entanglements of Fashion Trade, and Merve Mepa’s An Interwoven Network: Threads and Trace. Geared towards artists from Türkiye who investigate contemporary social questions through interdisciplinary methodologies, applications for the 2025 edition of this grant program will be announced soon.

The Lives of Animals

First presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp (M HKA) in 2024, Lives of Animals will be on view at Salt Beyoğlu from April to August. Programmed by Joanna Zielińska in collaboration with Salt, the exhibition will also include a selection of works by researchers and artists based in Türkiye. Realized as part of L’Internationale’s Museum of the Commons project, the exhibition will focus on critical animal studies and explore various representations and cultural imaginaries related to this subject.

Anatolian Plant Legacy

Salt will host the exhibition Anatolian Plant Legacy, organized by the Flora Research Association of Türkiye in collaboration with the American Society of Botanical Artists. The exhibition will center around contemporary botanical art and the efforts to research and preserve the plant diversity in Anatolia and will take place in Salt Beyoğlu’s Kitchen between May-August.

Dark World
Mike Bode & Caner Yalçın

Artist Mike Bode and screenplay writer Caner Yalçın’s research and exhibition project centers on the film Dark World (1953), one of the earliest examples of social realist cinema in Türkiye. Directed by Metin Erksan and written by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, the film portrays the life of folk poet Âşık Veysel. Set against the social and economic backdrop of 1950s Anatolia, the film faced heavy censorship, and as a consequence, large parts of the film had to be cut out and supplemented with arbitrary and new material in order to comply with the censorship board. Rather than attempting to reconstruct the original film, the exhibition—on view at Salt Galata from July to November 2025—will explore the fate of the film itself.

Public Programs

This year, Salt is launching a public program that embraces the diversity of practice-based research methods. Focusing on the theme of “water,” the project will begin with a series of public programs in Salt Beyoğlu’s Forum, and culminate in an e-publication, planned for release at the end of 2025. The program will comprise mapping workshops, reading groups, and film screenings, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration. Bringing together perspectives from various disciplines, including architecture, design, social studies, activism, and literature, the program aims to create a multi-layered narrative on the political and ecological dimensions of water.

Other public programs will include the screening program Is this our last chance?, events for Library Week, World Architecture Day, and Winter Garden, along with workshops, screenings, and lecture performances.