Welcome to Al-Monitor Istanbul.

November is when Istanbul drops its Indian-summer disguise and slips into its favorite mood: brooding, dark and a little damp around the edges. Perfect weather to wander through the mossy decay of Abdulmecid Efendi Mansion’s garden on the Asian side, then warm up with Turkish comfort food. Or cross the Bosphorus for a stroll through a repurposed tobacco depot and hammams. Better yet, stay in, pour a drink and lose yourself in the adventures of Gertrude Bell, archaeologist, linguist and, depending on whom you ask, spy extraordinaire.

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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

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1. Leading the week: Abdulmecid’s Folly

Rebecca Louise Law’s “Suspended Fern,” site-specific installation made of natural materials wrapped in copper wire mesh (Hadiye Cangokce /courtesy of artist)

Step into Abdulmecid Efendi Mansion, where “Folia,” curated by the amazing duo, Selen Ansen and Eda Berkman, under the patronage of enigmatic collector Omer Koc, explores the concept of an enchanted garden. The title plays on the double meanings of "folia" (both "leaf" and "madness") and the show leans into both: a layered outdoors-and-indoors garden where the 19th-century elegance of the mansion turns quietly haunting.

The exhibition’s scale is immense: nearly 100 artists and more than 300 works gathered from Japan to South Africa, across media and centuries. The enchanted garden thrives on unlikely neighbors: Rebecca Louise Law’s “Suspended fern,” a field of copper-wired botanicals, turns the main salon into a hovering understory; Camila Rocha’s giant metal fern greets you like a staged garden from a dystopian future; Mehtap Baydu’s porcelain powder-and-brass “Rose Garden” looks surprisingly peaceful until the petals reveal skin impressions.

The show’s “curiosity cabinets” in both the Night Room and the Day Room carry the Ansen-Koc signature: oddities, juxtapositions and an eerie sense that a cruel death lurks beneath delicate aesthetics.

Curators Eda Berkman and Selen........

© Al Monitor