The Bat

  • February 1, 2014 / 18:00
  • February 2, 2014 / 14:00

Director: Ayaz Salayev
Cast: Mariya Lipkina, Rasim Balayev, Tolib Khamidov
Azerbaijan; 78’, 1995, color
Azerbaijani with Turkish subtitles

Dedicated to the centenary of cinema, Ayaz Salayev’s striking, offbeat and intriguing film takes a classical triangular love story and fills it with references to the literature, music and cinema of the West. Set in the late 1920s in a dusty city (presumably Baku), an elliptical narrative is used to tell the romantic story of a young actress, her older, erudite husband and her raffish lover. The husband is steeped in the arts, and lectures on ‘The World of Fantasy.’ Much of the action unfolds in and around a cinema where, in the early scenes, silent classics (ie. The Golem and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) are screened to piano accompaniment while the woman, Turan, and her husband watch in rapt attention. Yarasa is unquestionably an unusual, at times startling film, shot with a rigorous eye to detail. For example, director Salajev uses repeated images of the same streets, at different times of the day and year, but always shot from precisely the same position to aid the narrative progression.

The Cloth Peddler

The Cloth Peddler

The Bat

The Bat

Buta

Buta

Fortress

Fortress

Holy Animal

Holy Animal

40th Door

40th Door

Chovkan

Chovkan

Steppe Man

Steppe Man

Is he sping on us?  <br>Vajiko Chachkhiani

Is he sping on us?
Vajiko Chachkhiani

Pera Museum, in collaboration with Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), is one of the main venues for this year’s 15th Istanbul Biennial from 16 September to 12 November 2017.

Portrait of a Bullfighter (1797)

Portrait of a Bullfighter (1797)

The man is depicted in three-quarters view, turning straight to the viewers with a penetrating glance. The background is grey, while the clothes, the hair, and cap are black. 

Artist Nicola Lorini in Conversation

Artist Nicola Lorini in Conversation

Inspired by its Anatolian Weights and Measures Collection, Pera Museum presents a contemporary video installation titled For All the Time, for All the Sad Stones at the gallery that hosts the Collection. The installation by the artist Nicola Lorini takes its starting point from recent events, in particular the calculation of the hypothetical mass of the Internet and the weight lost by the model of the kilogram and its consequent redefinition, and traces a non-linear voyage through the Collection.