AL-Monitor Istanbul: Bees and artists share the stage at Offgrid Art Project
This week, bees and artists share the stage, Ottoman flavors get a golden drizzle and we explore the many ways Istanbul is buzzing.
Leading the week: Sweet art
The Shape of Geography, 2022, by Beyza Durhan (courtesy of the artist)
What happens when bees co-author an art exhibition? “Effective Encounters,” running at Offgrid Art Project, explores just that — melding human creativity with the relentless ingenuity of nature’s most efficient architects.
At its core is KovanProject (BeehiveProject), founded by artists Aslihan Mumcu and Beyza Durhan. Raised on opposite ends of Turkey, they crossed paths at the Nesin Arts Village in Turkey’s Aegean coastal town of Sirince, where their shared love for art and ecology took shape.
Durhan, from a family of beekeepers, and Mumcu, a ceramicist, have created “Iki Yuzlu Almanak” (Two-Faced Almanac), an ongoing visual dialogue that fuses plant life and found objects into textured installations.
Joining them is interdisciplinary artist Can Memisogullari, whose work blends digital media, sound and volcanic imagery to probe the power struggle between humans and the natural world. The exhibition itself is a living organism — constructed from repurposed materials, bioplastics and sculptures entwined with plants and hive remnants. Can humans and bees collaborate? If this show is any indication, the answer is yes.
Date: Until March 28
Location: Istiklal Cad. Imam Adnan sok. No. 6 Beyoglu/Istanbul
Word on the street: Matbah’s honey-infused delights
Sailor’s roll with honey, a recipe from the 15th century. (Matbah website)
Deep in the labyrinth of Istanbul’s historic peninsula, Matbah serves up flavors straight from the Ottoman palace archives. The restaurant’s menu is rooted in Matbah-i Beray-i (Sultan’s Kitchen) and preserves traditional techniques with contemporary finesse.
Among its gems is the sailor’s roll with honey (balli gemici boregi), a 15th-century crispy filo pastry stuffed with seven Turkish cheeses and peas and then drizzled with juniper honey. For a heartier option, there’s mahmudiye, a 19th-century dish of slow-cooked chicken with almonds, apricots, honey and cinnamon.
Location: Caferiye Sokak, Cankurtaran, No. 6/1, Istanbul
Find more information here.
Istanbul diary
Zoe Paul’s “When You Are Sad, When You Are Alone, When No One Else Comes You Can Summon Spirits to Keep You Company” at Galerist. (Courtesy of the artist)
- Curated by Anlam de Coster, “The Volcano Lover” at Galerist draws inspiration from Susan Sontag’s novel, exploring transformation and artistic expression through works by Hera Buyuktasciyan, Zoe Paul, Robert Wilson and 35 international artists. The exhibition runs until April 26.
- At Goba Art & Design, former basketball captain Handan Ozbek showcases her striking photography in “The Naked Continent,” an exhibition capturing Africa’s landscapes, rhythms and untold stories, with all proceeds supporting BIDEV’s basketball education programs. The exhibition runs until April 15.
- Testament’s founding guitarist Alex Skolnick will bring his trio to Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall on March 28 at 8:30 p.m. for the Prove You’re Not A Robot tour. This fusion of jazz, rock and heavy metal will explore AI’s impact on creativity. Tickets are available at the CRR box office and Biletix.
Films of the week: Queen bees
We have all read Christy Lefteri’s “The Beekeeper of Aleppo,” the haunting tale of a mother blinded by loss and a husband determined to survive as they journey through Istanbul toward Europe. So let’s talk about two films instead. The first one is “Honeyland,” the award-winning documentary about Hatidze Muratova, one of Europe’s last keepers of wild bees, who lives in a remote Macedonian village with her ailing mother. Living in harmony with nature, Hatidze’s delicate balance is shattered when new neighbors arrive, greedily overharvesting honey and disrupting the fragile ecosystem. The film made history as the first to be nominated for both Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature at the Academy Awards in 2020.
For a more personal drama, “Keeping the Bees” (“Kovan,” 2019) follows Ayse, played by Meryem Uzerli (known to audiences as the calculating Hurrem in “The Magnificent Century”). Returning from Germany to her Turkish village to honor her dying mother’s wish, Ayse finds herself torn between her old fears and new responsibilities. There’s just one problem: She’s terrified of bees.
Istanbul gaze
Man and Stork (Courtesy of Alper Tuydes)
For 14 years, a fisherman named Adem Yilmaz has awaited the annual return of his unlikely springtime companion, Yaren the stork. This year, Yaren landed in Bursa’s Eskikaraagac village on March 15, drawing crowds and photographers alike. Nature photographer Alper Tuydes captured the moment, turning the annual reunion into a symbol of loyalty and tradition.
By the numbers
- Turkey, one of the world’s top honey producers, boasts 97,984 registered beekeepers tending to 8.96 million hives across the country, according to official data.
- In 2024 alone, Turkey produced 95,492 tons of honey, with an average yield of 10.7 kilograms (23.5 pounds) per hive. The country’s most-prized honey? The coveted Anzer honey from Rize, where a single kilogram can fetch over $1,000.
