It was Paradise, Unfortunately (No such thing as theatre)

Performance

March 2, 2024 / 18:00

Pera Museum presents a performance titled It was Paradise, Unfortunately (No such thing as theatre) as part of the public programming of the exhibition Souvenirs of the Future, explores the connections between memory and future imaginings through contemporary works, based on the Suna and Inan Kirac Foundation's Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics Collection.

This research performance looks at the exciting and futuristic potential of the "past" to heal the world today. It reframes our concept of theater, focusing on why and how we originally practised it and asks if it can change the world.As we enter the Anthropocene, it reimagines a queer intersectional utopia that might give us answers for what is to come. 

The work in progress performance written by the Jordanian trans playwright and theater maker Raphael Amahl Khouri and performed with the artist Myrto Stampoulou, was commissioned for the Outburst Festival held in Belfast November 2023 is being staged in Istanbul for the first time.

The free performance will take place at Pera Museum Auditorium and the language is English. No reservations are taken. Suitable for audiences aged 18+.

Temporary Exhibition

Souvenirs of the Future

The exhibition focuses on the memories recalled through objects whilst exploring the connections between memory and future imaginings through a contemporary lens. The cultural and symbolic value and significance of objects taken as souvenirs, those that remind us of a certain place and time, or those that are collected, weave together personal journeys and the memory of the region. Instead of a nostalgic attachment to the past, it proposes contemplating how the future will be remembered and focuses on memory's future-oriented functions.

Souvenirs of the Future

Girl in a Blue Dress

Girl in a Blue Dress

This life-size portrait of a girl is a fine example of the British art of portrait painting in the early 18th century. The child is shown posing on a terrace, which is enclosed at the right foreground by the plinth of a pillar; the background is mainly filled with trees and shrubs. 

Journey to the East

Journey to the East

Pera Museum presents an exhibition of French artist Félix Ziem, one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. This week we are sharing Ziem’s work inspired by Istanbul and “the East”! 

Geography

Geography

Pera Museum’s Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition curated by Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič brings together contemporary artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.