At our 531st Art Meeting, we're visiting the Historic Cone Factory as part of the 18th Istanbul Biennial.
As we enter the Historic Cone Factory, one of the impressive venues of the Istanbul Biennial, its graffiti-adorned raw brick facade and heavy iron gates stand out. Located in the backstreets of Karaköy, in an area experiencing rapid gentrification, this two-story, high-ceilinged building was once an ice cream cone manufacturing workshop. Over time, it hosted artisan markets and exhibitions, and even served as a music band's studio and concert venue. Today, it continues to serve as a space for culture and interaction. The Biennial showcases the work of two artists who have forged a deep connection with the industrial fabric of this historic factory.
Doruntina Kastrati's installation "A Horn That Swallows Songs" (2025) offers a close look at the invisible labor, particularly that of women, in Istanbul's Turkish delight factories. The work, spread across two rooms, creates an immersive environment evoking the conditions of a factory floor, the endless workload, and repetitive rhythms. Ultrasonic speakers and transducers placed on the floor emit low-frequency vibrations that convey a jarring physical sensation to the viewer.
Claudia Pagès Rabal's "Five Towers of Defense" (2025) explores fractured perceptions of time, militarization, and precariousness on physical and social scales. The installation is centered around a 34-minute film titled "Night of the Five Towers of Defense." Projected from the ceiling and shot in 360 degrees, we see four performance artists performing a slow-paced choreography imbued with both emotional and military precision. The film's narrative, delivered in Catalan, Spanish, and English, allows us to hear the languages representing the conquests of Andalusian history together.
Wednesday, November 12
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Address: Historical Cone Factory, Kemankeş Karamustafapaşa Neighborhood, Murakıp Sokak No: 12, Karaköy, Beyoğlu
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zXPjh2EXuNGdijVg7?g_st=ipc
