Hera Büyüktaşcıyan’s “Ghost Quartet” at Arter and a Timeless Walk Accompanied by the Curator

When walking through the streets of Istanbul, we carry with us not only the buildings that are there today, but also the ghosts of spaces that have long been demolished, replaced by other structures, or quietly erased from our memory. In her solo exhibition titled “Ghost Quartet” at Arter, artist Hera Büyüktaşcıyan continues to bring together those invisible gaps left in the city by urban transformation and the relentless gears of time, almost like stitch marks. Centering on the urban memory of the Kurtuluş and Tarlabaşı neighborhoods, where the artist’s own past is rooted, this dreamlike landscape is gearing up to host a very special encounter in the coming days. A special tour, to be held on Thursday evening, July 23, 2026, at 19:00 in the company of Büyüktaşcıyan herself and the exhibition’s curator Nilüfer Şaşmazer, offers an insightful path for those wishing to unlock the doors of this multi-layered narrative from the inside.

Urban Memory as a Phantom Limb

The concept of the ghost, which forms the backbone of the exhibition, draws inspiration from the term phantom limb in medical literature, which describes the sensation of an amputated limb still being felt despite its physical absence. Büyüktaşcıyan re-reads this physical and psychological sensation through the body of the city; she brings those aching voids left behind by demolished houses, lost streets, and changing demographics into the gallery space. Infiltrating the uncanniness and lived experiences of the outdoors into the gallery, the exhibition consists of four main sections: Necropolis, Courtyard, Street, and Gaze. This fourfold architectural division whispers not just spaces, but also the sensory echoes of the elements of fire, air, water, and earth into the texture of the works.

Interdisciplinary Intersections and Shifting Time

The artist’s interdisciplinary practice, fed by archaeology, architecture, and iconography, clashes the dusty remnants of the past with the materials of today in this exhibition. Thanks to Nilüfer Şaşmazer’s curatorial layout that fluidifies the boundaries of space, the objects, forms, and sounds in the exhibition cease to be mere objects of visual observation.

In this space of perception where four different time periods—past, present, future, and limbo—are basted together, each corner makes visible the silent whispers and ghosts hidden within itself. The invisible dialogue between Büyüktaşcıyan’s early works selected from the Arter Collection and her new pieces produced specifically for this exhibition reveals the wavy, continuously shape-shifting structure of memory rather than a rigid one.

Event Registration and Details

This tour, organized on the evening of July 23 to step away from the city’s noise and daily hustle and to share the material memory accumulated in the depths of Tarlabaşı and Kurtuluş, provides an opportunity to hear the philosophy of the exhibition directly from the voices of its creators.

• Participation: Free of charge with a limited number of participants.

• Registration: To join this special gathering and feel that ghost melody that will remain hanging in your mind long after the exhibition ends, registration is required by sending an email to ogrenme@arter.org.tr.

Stretching the boundaries of time and space, this poetic walk awaits those who want to establish an honest connection with Istanbul’s lost layers in the dim and mysterious atmosphere of Arter.