“Dancing with the Moon” — and dictators

Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.

As Istanbul continues to pulse with protests over its jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, Marcel Dzama’s “Dancing with the Moon” lands at the Pera Museum like a dystopian wonderland. Elsewhere, a benefit concert blends activism and music for earthquake-hit Hatay, a restaurant serves fine dining with a side of prison history, and a novelist and a cineaste revisit the ghosts of the 2013 Gezi protests.

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Nazlan

1. Leading the week: “Dancing with the Moon” — and dictators

Marcel Dzama’s “All the youth came out to play/ain’t no one in our way.” (Courtesy of Pera Museum)

Marcel Dzama’s wild, witty and sometimes terrifying imagination lands at the Pera Museum just as the city finds itself in protest mode — a fitting stage for an artist who never shies away from political spectacle. In “Dancing with the Moon,” his first solo show in Turkey, the Canada-born, New York-based artist brings his full bag of satirical tricks: masked ballerinas, chess pieces, leering beasts, clowns and dictators.

In the section “Lords of Misrule,” one of the drawings shows Stalin in a warm embrace with a burly blond man while demons chuckle. The title? “It wasn’t his favorite director that met him at the gates of hell, but Stalin was in his top five.” In another, a figure uncannily resembling Elon Musk throws a Nazi-style salute from a podium stamped with the US presidential seal. The title is part of the painting, written in bold black letters, “Ban the bigots, not the books.”

“It wasn’t his favorite director that met him at the gates of hell, but Stalin was in his top five,” by Marcel Dzama, at the Pera Museum. (Courtesy of Nazlan Ertan)

Curated by Alistair Hicks, the exhibition sprawls across two top floors of the Pera Museum, which is marking its 20th anniversary. Dzama borrows liberally from pop culture, and it digs deep into unease — about war, authoritarianism and the strange numbness that sets in when disaster becomes routine.

Still, this is not an exhibition of despair, but of playful revolt. In the Dzama world, enameled chess pieces resemble ballerinas, and it is Delilah — not David — who slays Goliath. A collage shows a berobed Putin striding through mountains. The scrawled caption beneath it reads, “Don’t worry, this is not the prophet.”

Pera Museum Mesrutiyet Caddesi No:65 

Tepebasi - Beyoglu 

Dates: Until Aug. 17

2. Word on the street: Avlu

No more prison portions – Avlu at the Four Seasons Hotel at Sultanahmet combines good food with a historical setting. (Courtesy of Avlu)

Fine dining meets fierce history at Avlu, the chic, expensive courtyard restaurant inside the Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet — once Sultanahmet Jail, Istanbul’s first modern prison. Built in 1918, this somber stone building held some of Turkey’s most iconic dissidents: poet Nazim Hikmet and actor-director Yilmaz Guney — and even Billy Hayes of “Midnight Express,” who spent a night here before being transferred to another prison. Today, its seasonal, sustainable Anatolian fare, which includes lamb shank with smoked yogurt or sea bass brightened by citrus and herbs, is recognized by the Michelin Guide.

3. Istanbul diary

“Cat and its Fiancee” by Omer Uluc. (Courtesy of Pera Museum)

• “Beyond the Horizon” at Istanbul Modern invites viewers into Omer Uluc's cosmic universe, showcasing more than 300 works from the 1960s to 2010. Until Dec. 12.
• At the Pera Museum, “Much Is to Be Done” honors the late poet, photographer, translator and cultural provocateur Semih Rifat. The exhibition unfolds as a multisensory journey through his notebooks, drawings, music and films. Until August 17.
• On April 9, “Music for Generations” brings music and purpose to Babylon, with all proceeds supporting preschool education in Hatay’s earthquake-hit region. Organized by Kanto Records and Gitmesek de Gorsek — a grassroots initiative that empowers students in under-resourced schools through art — the evening pairs live sets with a student exhibition. Find tickets here.