{"id":250476,"date":"2026-01-25T02:32:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250476\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T02:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:32:25","slug":"your-next-stop-isnt-gate-its-things-by-beyazit-ozturk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250476\/","title":{"rendered":"Your next stop isn\u2019t gate, it\u2019s ‘Things’ by Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some call Istanbul Airport<\/a> \u201cthe world\u2019s meeting point,\u201d and honestly, for me, it feels like home. So whenever something new happens inside that space, I get genuinely excited. On my way to Zurich, I had the chance to walk into a beautiful exhibition at the airport. The idea alone stopped me in my tracks: forgotten items. Lost things. Abandoned stories. It hit close to home. I\u2019ve lost so many hats, books, little personal treasures over the years. Who knows where they are now. Maybe some of them are quietly starring in this exhibition.<\/p>\n


\n \"An
\n <\/a>
\n An artwork by Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk from the \u201cThings\u201d exhibition at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Funda Karayel) <\/p>\n

Under its mission to make art accessible, Istanbul Airport is hosting this new project through the IGA ART platform. The exhibition, titled \u201cThings – Forgotten Items at the Airport,\u201d brings the artistic side of Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk to travelers in transit.<\/p>\n

The opening was attended by IGA CEO Selahattin Bilgen, members of the IGA ART executive board, airport executives and staff and plenty of curious passengers. The goal is clear: to turn the airport into more than a transit zone, into a cultural meeting place where art speaks a universal language.<\/p>\n


\n \"\u201cFree
\n <\/a>
\n \u201cFree Conveyor,\u201d an artwork by Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk from the \u201cThings\u201d exhibition at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Funda Karayel) <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk shows up with a project like this. Long before television made him a household name, he was trained at Anadolu University\u2019s Faculty of Fine Arts in the Ceramics and Sculpture Department. While we watched him for years on screen, he was quietly continuing his \u201csilent side\u201d in the studio.<\/p>\n

Curated by Marcus Graf from the IGA ART executive board, the project reminds us that travel isn\u2019t only physical. It\u2019s also mental and emotional. This time, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk meets the audience not with jokes, but with forms, textures and memory. \u00d6zt\u00fcrk favors a human scale, a quiet “heartbeat” of sincerity and conscience, inviting to pause and notice what we keep, what we misplace and what returns as memory.<\/p>\n


\n \"Beyaz\u0131t
\n <\/a>
\n Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk poses with his artwork \u201cFree Conveyor\u201d from the \u201cThings\u201d exhibition at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Funda Karayel) <\/p>\n

At the heart of the exhibition stands a sculpture called \u201cThing.\u201d It takes inspiration from one of the most unnoticed elements of an airport: the baggage conveyor belt. The walking routes of the terminal are transformed into one continuous line that twists and knots in space, almost like a giant reminder string tied around a finger. It\u2019s about movement, but also about what gets left behind.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on what passes through, \u00d6zt\u00fcrk follows what stays. The forgotten. The stuck. The overlooked. As he puts it, he couldn\u2019t accept memory as waste. So he turned these lost things into leading characters.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite pieces is the sculpture made of stacked suitcases. Another detail I loved is seeing a version of Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u2019s iconic TV format staged inside the airport like a studio set. It\u2019s familiar and surreal at the same time. A showman\u2019s world meeting a traveler\u2019s world.<\/p>\n


\n \"\u201cDeparture
\n <\/a>
\n \u201cDeparture Suitcase \u2013 Return Suitcase,\u201d an artwork by Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk from the \u201cThings\u201d exhibition at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Funda Karayel) <\/p>\n

Before a flight, this feels like a gift. A pause. A breath. And honestly, Beyaz\u0131t \u00d6zt\u00fcrk has been away from the spotlight for a long time. People missed seeing him. This exhibition doesn\u2019t shout, but it connects. I think it\u2019s going to be good for everyone who walks past it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings\u201d can be visited at the IGA Art Gallery located between the A-B Gates in the International Departures area of Istanbul Airport. The exhibition is free and open to all passengers and visitors. If you have time before boarding, let art travel with you too.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n <\/p>\n

\n Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,
\n it\u2019s region and the world.\n <\/p>\n

SIGN ME UP\n <\/p>\n

\n You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some call Istanbul Airport \u201cthe world\u2019s meeting point,\u201d and honestly, for me, it feels like home. So whenever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,145621,145619,501,156,4296,145618,145620,74867,111,139,69,6035],"class_list":{"0":"post-250476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-beyaz-show","13":"tag-beyazit-ozturk","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-exhibition","17":"tag-iga-art","18":"tag-iga-art-gallery","19":"tag-istanbul-airport","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-things"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}