Weekly events guide: What are the cultural and artistic events taking place between March 7-12?

LE PRESBYTERE: BALLET FOR LIFE

Le Presbytère: Ballet for Life, which has been staged for 30 years with Maurice Béjart’s ingenious choreography combining the music of Queen and Mozart, will be performed at Volkswagen Arena on March 7-8.

Sales for the additional session, opened after the first performances of the Béjart Ballet in Istanbul sold out, are ongoing.

BURAK DAK/ MEN WALKING WITH HANDS IN POCKETS

Burak Dak’s new exhibition, Men Walking with Hands in Pockets, invites the audience to reflect on the concepts of masculinity and toxic masculinity.

According to the artist, masculinity has been constructed throughout history as an identity based on power and control, defined by certain norms and patterns. Toxic masculinity, on the other hand, reveals a harmful and destructive concept of “masculinity” that emerges as a result of these pressures.

The exhibition will be open to art lovers from March 7 to April 5.

ALMOST EQUAL

The play Almost Equal, staged by Cihangir Atölye Sahnesi (CAS) and directed by Serpil Göral, invites the audience to understand—or come close to understanding—the cunning nature of the system.

The play will be on stage on March 7-8.

RADIO FILMS WEEK WITH APAÇIK RADYO

Apaçık Radyo, which began broadcasting in 1995, continues its 30th-anniversary celebration events. Curated by Sinefil program producers and hosts Melis Behlil and Yeşim Burul, the program will host films that have crossed paths with the radio, as well as two talks that look at the journey of Apaçık Radyo from different perspectives.

The celebration events will continue at IBB Beyoğlu Cinema throughout March 7-14.

THE AXE IN THE TRUNK

Written and directed by Yiğit Sertdemir, The Axe in the Trunk premiered at the Istanbul Theater Film Festival. Our characters meet one night in front of a parked car; they are the subjects of a love that never came to be, dating back 20 years.

The text, which touches on how the ways in which experiences, words, and people are preserved in memory can vary, also addresses the present and the future.

The event will be on stage at kumbaracı50 on March 12.

NETIZENS: CITIZENS OF THE WEB

Created by artists Elçin Arpaçay and Dilara Başköylü and addressing the transformation of the internet through a layered journey from the past to the present, this experience takes place as part of the Xtopia Immersive Journey.

Visitors will have the opportunity to re-evaluate how they position themselves within a standardized user experience driven by algorithms today, while recalling the individual spaces of expression in the early days of the internet and the free, handmade digital aesthetics offered by platforms like Geocities.

The show, which will recount the existence of the internet, will continue to be open to visitors at Hope Alkazar until March 15.

DEGREES OF FREEDOM

Curated by Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, the exhibition focuses on how we perceive, construct, and represent space through artistic forms of expression.

The concept of “degrees of freedom,” which explains how a system can move, transform, and reshape itself according to environmental conditions, proposes an understanding that includes different densities and movement possibilities instead of fixed spatial models.

The exhibition can be visited at YUNT until April 11.