212 PHOTOGRAPHY ISTANBUL IS BACK
Your guide to
212 Photography Istanbul 2025 starts here
Exhibitions
One of contemporary photography’s most compelling figures, Steve McCurry brings the world premiere of his exhibition The Haunted Eye to Istanbul. The show gathers nearly 200 works spanning McCurry’s prolific 50-year career. Featuring both iconic images and never-before-seen photographs, this comprehensive selection is one of the artist’s largest exhibitions to date.
Steve McCurry, Young Tibetan Nomad, Tibet, 2001
BOOK SIGNINGS
Belgian Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert’s exhibition at Akaretler No: 49 features Held by the City, a series of previously unpublished images taken during his visit to Istanbul. With a delicate interplay of light, shadow, and urban texture, Gruyaert reimagines the city as a layered site of memory. Join us for a signing session with the artist and hear firsthand about the stories and decisions behind his carefully composed, vibrant scenes.
Talks
From funding models to artist engagement, from public outreach to structural and political questions—this session offers a rare panoramic insight into the current state of photography festivals worldwide.
Supported by the International Photography Festivals Association (IPFA)
WORKSHOPS
Step into the roots of photography with this immersive workshop dedicated to one of the most essential and poetic forms of image-making: box camera photography. Entirely analogue and completely independent of electricity, the box camera is both a camera and a darkroom in one. It embodies the simplicity, immediacy, and magic that defined the earliest days of photography, and still holds creative potential today.
Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum Istanbul.
FILM SCREENINGS
Based on the remarkable archive of photographer Christopher Herwig, Soviet Bus Stops, directed by Kristoffer Hegnsvad, explores the eccentric and symbolic architecture of bus stops across 13 former Soviet countries. Part monument, part manifesto, these structures blend local creativity with the visual language of state control. The one-time screening at Soho House includes a Q&A with Herwig, offering a rare window into the photographic journey that inspired the film.
