İzmir CRF: Tekel Kültür Sanat Fabrikası

“The vibrant tapestry of Türkiye's rich culture will captivate audiences at the upcoming Türkiye Culture Route Festival [the CRF in the title of this footprint] throughout the rest of 2024.”

These were the words with which the Daily Sabah newspaper announced the 8-month long festival that has been taking place in 16 cities in Türkiye … from Diyarbakır in the east, to İzmir in the west, to Samsun in the north, to Antalya in the south. Initiated by Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, it is the country’s most comprehensive festival to date. As far as I can tell, this is the first year of the event — which spotlights all forms of art and culture.

Whether this festival will be repeated in the years to come, I don’t know. But I am glad we had a chance to see some of the exhibits before the ones in İzmir end tomorrow. (The İzmir festival started on 26 October, while we were out of the country.)

After our breakfast at Zeynel, we first walked to the Alsancak Gar [train terminal] to check out the exhibit there. We were too early and there was no one to let us in. So we moved onto the Kültür Sanat Fabrikası [Culture & Arts Factory].

No, they don’t fabricate culture and arts here. Rather, the factory is in reference to the location of the museum … housed in the former Tekel cigarette factory. The permanent exhibits — archaeological finds, ethnographical pieces, paintings, and sculptures — are amazing … as we saw when we visited the museum last year. (Footprint here if you would like to check out photos from that occasion … https://findpenguins.com/8pccjefaitoru/footprin…).

This time, we focused our attention strictly on the small temporary exhibit installed under the auspices of the CRF. Admittedly, we were unfamiliar with the featured artists … but that did not stop us from enjoying the colorful paintings and the black & white drawings.Read more