Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.

This week's theme is airports, errors and escapes, from a princess’ abstract rebellion at Istanbul Airport to a shepherd’s flying leap in an 850-year-old race. We’ve got misguided flights, beautiful errors, offbeat cafes and one damning data point on work-life balance.

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Thanks for reading,

Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

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1. Leading the week: A princess and a painting

“Abstract Composition,” by Fahrelnissa Zeid. (Courtesy of IGA)

Airports are temples of transit — designed for departures, delays and duty-free booze and perfume. But at Istanbul Airport’s new cultural wing, something unusual awaits: “Encountering Fahrelnissa Zeid: SOLO,” which is centered around Zeid’s enigmatic work “Abstract Composition” (1960). A kaleidoscopic work from her late abstract period, the canvas pulses with rhythm, color and something between divine geometry and chaos theory. Curated by Marcus Graf, the show is less “gallery” and more “capsule time-travel.”

Archival photos, video interviews, posters and diary fragments unfold around the canvas, charting the rollercoaster of Zeid’s life, from Ottoman aristocrat and Jordanian princess to avant-garde artist.

Born in Istanbul in 1901, Zeid studied at the Academy of Fine Arts as one of Turkey’s first female students, sipped absinthe with colleagues at the École de Paris, and later fused Islamic........

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