A historic building in Istanbul is set to be restored to its former glory as a new cultural and artistic centre, with Karakoy Palace to open on April 25 after a major overhaul by the Culture and Civilisation Foundation (KUME).
The building, in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul – home to a cluster of galleries and alternative art spaces – is set to provide a venue where artists and visitors can interact and create new works together.
Restored a historic building to focus on culture
The foundation’s statement reveals that the building had been in use for a range of activities for many years, and has now been refurbished in a process that sought to reclaim it for cultural purposes. This process has now seen the building reopened as a space for art, in line with the local art ecology of Karakoy.
The opening ceremony will be attended by KUME’s Board of Trustees Chairman Selcuk Bayraktar and Chairman Abdullah Eren, with the building once again opening to Istanbul.
Opening exhibitions to host new and interdisciplinary works
The launch will also feature presentations of two projects. One is the selection of ArtiKUME 2025, called the first outcome of the ArtiKUME Art Support Program. The project presents works by 25 artists and multi-disciplinary students, and seeks to connect traditional and contemporary art.
The program, which began in March 2025, aims to reinterpret traditional culture through contemporary art, offering a platform for the intersection of different types of art.
Data-based project gives shape to cultural activity
In addition to this selection, the program will also showcase the ODAK exhibition. The project is centred around gathering data on the cultural and artistic activity in Türkiye, with the aim of bringing this fragmented data together.
In this way, ODAK aims to visualise the data on cultural activity from a scattered and dispersed system to a more integrated system. In this context, visitors will also be able to experience the physical product of this project, the ODAK 2025 book.
After the official opening on April 25, the exhibitions at Karakoy Palace will be open on April 26, signalling the start of the building’s transformation into a site of artistic production, exhibition and exchange in Istanbul.
