Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

Once more, the City Pulse Istanbul is back in the capital as late April and early May turn it into a circuit of receptions, national days and carefully worded speeches, most of them orbiting around Europe Day on May 9.

Yet beyond the formalities, something more textured takes shape. This week, we follow that shift: from a dual digital exhibition that opens the EU’s program with questions of nature and technology to a gallery opening by Turkish Danish artist Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye, followed by a reception at the brilliantly renovated Danish Ambassador’s Residence. Then we’ll explore a small restaurant redefining Esat’s culinary map, and a photograph that links Europe and Asia.

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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: Going with the flow

Ecem Dilan Kose’s “Becoming Matter” (Courtesy of the artist 2026)

On May 5, at the height of Ankara’s Europe Day calendar, the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey opens a dual digital exhibition at CerModern’s Flow. The evening, led by the head of the delegation, brings together Ecem Dilan Kose’s “Becoming Matter” and “Residue” by Bilkent University’s “COMD Iz Studio” under Andreas Treske.

The works run consecutively on a continuous loop, each taking over the space in turn. Kose’s 20-minute “Becoming Matter” is structured as a controlled progression: image, sound and code move in tandem, in brilliant color and form. Trained in interior architecture, she treats digital media as something to be built and tested. She writes her own code, composes her own sound and keeps the process visible in the work. Her position is clear: “What we call artificial is also part of nature, because it has emerged from it.”

When “Residue” takes over, the focus shifts from transformation to what remains. Iz, named after the Turkish word for “trace,” works with fragments: salt formations, data, glitches and recorded........

© Al Monitor