Guide
İstanbul Modern, the İstanbul Museum of Modern Art, was founded in the Karaköy quarter in 2004 and is, according to Turkish Wikipedia, the first museum of modern and contemporary art in Türkiye. It stands near the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and the Tophane-i Amire culture and arts centre.
The museum was set up by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts with the Eczacıbaşı family leading the effort, and opened on 11 December 2004 in Warehouse No. 4. Its collection covers modern art in painting, sculpture, photography, design, architecture and new media.
Warehouse No. 4 had been built on the Karaköy waterfront as a dry cargo store for Turkish Maritime Lines, and covered eight thousand square metres. It housed the eighth International İstanbul Biennial in 2003, and after the biennial the prime ministry allotted the building for use as a museum, asking that the work be finished before 17 December, the date on which Türkiye was to be given a date for European Union membership talks. The conversion was carried out by Tabanlıoğlu Architects.
Between 2018 and 2022 the building was rebuilt as part of the Galataport project, and during that time the museum carried on in the former Union Française building on Meşrutiyet Avenue in Beyoğlu. That location closed in 2022, and the new museum on the original site opened to visitors on 4 May 2023.
The new building was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and is the Italian architect's first project in Türkiye. It has five floors, three above ground and two below, with 10,500 square metres of usable space holding large exhibition halls, multi-purpose rooms, offices, and spaces for education and cultural events. The front is clad in three-dimensional aluminium panels, drawing on the way light is thrown back off the Bosphorus, so that the play of light and shadow shifts through the day.
