IST. ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL FIRST GLOBAL EDITION KICKS OFF IN ROME, ITALY ON MAY 31 ISTANBUL ’74 C o - Founders Demet Muftuoglu Eseli & Alphan Esel i to Co - curate IST.FEST.ROME With Delfina Delettrez Fendi and Nico Vascellari
Demet Muftuoglu Eseli & Alphan Eseli , Co - Founders of ISTANBUL’74 launch the first global edition of IST. Arts & Culture Festival i n the city of Rome , the artistic an d cultural center of the world that has played host to some of the most impressive art and architecture achieved by human civilization , on May 31 st - June 2 nd 2019.
Co - c urated by Demet Muftuoglu Eseli, Alphan Eseli, with Delfina Delettrez Fendi and Nico Vascellari , the IST.FEST. ROME will bring together some of the world’s most talented and creative minds , and leading cultural figures around an inspiring program of panels, talks, exhibitions, performances, screenings and workshops while maintaining its admission - free format.
IST. FEST. ROME will focus on the theme: “Self - Expression in the Post - Truth World.” This edition of IST. F estival sets out to explore the ways in which constant changes in our surrounding habitats affect crea tive minds and artistic output. The core mission of the theme is to invoke lively debate around the struggle between reality and make - believe while acknow ledging digital technology and its undeniable power and vast reach as the ultimate tool for self - expression.
IST.FEST.ROME will be presented in collaboration with MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts , the first Italian national institution dev oted to contemporary creativity designed by the acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid , and Galleria Borghese , one the most respected museums over the world with masterpieces by Bernini and Caravaggio in its collection. The Turkish Embassy in Rome will host a Cock tail Reception to welcome IST. Festival into Rome.
Some of t his year’s participants include Oscar - winning German film director Volker Schl ö ndorff , wife, muse, creative collaborator and business partner to Rick Owens, Michele Lamy , celebrated Italian artist and filmmaker Francesco Vezzoli, French actress Clémence Poésy , a key figure for the Italian artistic scene Enzo Cucchi, one of the world’s most well - known piano duos Güher and Süher Pekinel , a substantial contributor to the foundation of No Wave , artist and musician Arto Lindsay , Spanish multidisciplinary artist Ignasi Monreal , artist, musician, and composer Charlemagne Palestine, British multimedia artist Katerina Jebb , , actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia, Turkish actress Belc im Bilgin , Paris - based performer Carlos Casas , and independent cinema star Stella Schnabel. Since its inception , IST. Festival has grown into a highly anticipated cultural event, seeking creatives from different cultures and artistic disciplines to in fluence one another in unexpected ways, resulting in eclectic conversations and further colla borations between participants. Past participants of IST. Festival include: Zaha Hadid, Tilda Swinton, Mario Sorrenti, Haider Ackermann, Franca Sozzani , Courtney Love, Ryan McGinley, Peter Beard, David Adjaye, Peter Beard, Abel Ferrara, Stephen Frears, Gore Vidal, Harvey Keitel, Sir V.S. Naipaul, Michael Stipe, Terry Gilliam, Kirsten Dunst, Abel Ferrara, Ferzan Ozpetek, Michael Nyman, Alex Prager, Craig McDean, Juliette Lewis, Sam Taylor - Johnson, Mark Romanek , among others.
IST.FEST.ROME COLLABORATORS :
MAXXI, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF 21 ST CENTURY ARTS
GALLERIA BORGHESE
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IST.FEST.ROME PARTNERS : IST.FEST.ROME Supporter: FENDI
IST.FEST.ROME Gala Partner: MAÇAKIZI
Home of the IST.FEST.ROME: HOTEL CHAPTER ROMA
IST.FEST.ROME Transportation Partner: PALAZZI AGENCY
IST.FEST.ROME Legal Partner: POSTACIOGLU LAW OFFICE
WITH THE VALUED SUPPORT OF :
I CASALI DEL PINO
ST. REGIS ROME
SOHO HOUSE
ABOUT MAXXI MUSEUM MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts , is the first Italian national institution devo ted to contemporary creativity. Conceived as a broad cultural campus, MAXXI is managed by a Foundation constit uted in the July of 2009 by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and headed by Giovanna Melandri. Since December 2013 Hou Hanru has been the Artistic Director of the museum, which includes MAXXI Architettura, directed by Margherita Guccione, and MAXXI Arte, direc ted by Barto lomeo Pietromarchi. The programming of the activities – exhibitions, workshops, conferences, shows, projections, educational projects – reflects MAXXI’s vocation as a place for the conservation and exhibition of its collecti ons but also, and above all, a l aboratory for cultural experimentation and innovation, for the study, research and production of the aesthetic contents of our time. The MAXXI building is a major architectural work designed by Zaha Hadid, located in Rome ’s Flaminio quarter and featuring i nnovative and spectacular forms.
ABOUT VILLA BORGHESE Villa Borghese is a landscape garden in the naturalistic English manner in Rome, containing a number of buildings, museums (Galleria Borghese) and attractions. The villa was built by the architect Flam inio Ponzio and its gardens feature the third largest public park in Rome. The Galleria B orghese is an art gallery, and houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities. The collection contains paintings from art i sts such as Raphael, Titian, Bernini and Caravaggio. LUCIO FONTANA: EARTH AND GOLD is an exhibition curated by Galleria Borghese director Anna Coliva and comprising around 50 works divided into two sections: spatial concepts and ceramic crucifixes. Fontan a ’s gold - painted canvases and ceramics - executed mainly in the decade between 1958 and 1968 – explores gold as a spatial component that, in classical antiquity, early Christian, me dieval and Renaissance, is the synthesis of light and space. The exhibition is part of the research project on key concepts of the Galleria Borghese collection and the place. Fontana is invited to a relationship with the Galleria as a subject in itself, a distinctive and specific artistic figure. For the IST.FEST.ROME, there will be a private viewing of the Lucio Fontana exhibition.
ABOUT IST. INTERNATIONAL ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL (IST. FESTIVAL) IST. International Arts and Culture Festival (IST. Festival) is a three - day admission - free annual festival that started in Istanbul. Since its beginning in 2009, IST. Festival has forged cultural and artistic relations by gathering leading cultural figures from around the globe using the historically diverse city of Istanbul as a stage and meeting point. Starting in 2019, IST. Festival will broaden its reach to a wider global audience with biannual editions in several international cities in Turkey, Europe and the U.S. Attended by writers, directors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, artists, designers and performers, the festival brings together creative minds to discuss their work and how it
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contributes to the global cultural vocabulary. Past participants hav e included: Zaha Hadid, Tilda Swinton, Mario Sorrenti, Haider Ackermann, Franca Sozzani, Courtney Love, Ryan McGinley, Peter Beard, David Adjaye, Peter Beard, Abel Ferrara, Stephen Frears, Gore Vidal, Harvey Keitel, Sir V.S. Naipaul, Michael Stipe, Terry G illiam, Kirsten Dunst, Abel Ferrara, Ferzan Ozpetek, Michael Nyman, Alex Prager, Craig McDean, Juliette Lewis, Sam Taylor - Johnson, Mark Romanek, among others.
ABOUT ISTANBUL’74 Turkey’s leading arts and culture platform ISTANBUL’74 was brought to life in 2009 by Creative Director Demet Muftuoglu Eseli and Filmmaker Alphan Eseli. Taking its name and inspiration from the city that culturally and geographically bridges two continents, ISTANBUL’74 organizes cultural events, festivals, workshops, exhibitions an d artistic collaborations with creative thought leaders. Under its umbrella, ISTANBUL ’ 74 has a full - service creative agency ‘ 74STUDIO and ‘ 74ESCAPE, an online travel diary. In 2018, ISTANBUL’74 opened a second office in New York under the name of ‘74NEWYORK and continues its operations in both cities. http://istanbul74.com | INSTAGRAM : @istanbul74_ | Twitter : @74ISTANBUL
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Leyla Karakas | [email protected] | +90 533 220 2117
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