The creators and artists of the exhibition withdrew from the exhibition when the cultural center wanted to censor a work to be included in the exhibition titled “Collision” within the scope of “Le Mur Istanbul”, an exhibition project designed by Institut Français Istanbul to draw attention to street arts, which will host four street artists, two of them French, every year.
Görkem Kızılkayak, who curated the project, announced the censorship on his social media account. Kızılkayak’s statement is: “We received an email that the street art exhibition Collision and the opening cocktail at the Institut français Istanbul between May 18 and September 7 have been canceled. Before the opening, we were informed that some elements in a work were deemed political and could not be accepted. During the almost day-long meeting with Institut Français officials, the open, constructive, and solution-oriented approach of the cultural center officials and us was not enough to solve the problem. In this situation, we, as the creators of the exhibition, withdrew from the exhibition.”
Conceived as a wall gallery consisting of two walls dedicated to street art on the interior and exterior of the Institut français building, the first exhibition of “Le Mur Istanbul” opened on April 17.