Exhibition
Antakya from Yesterday to Today: On the Edge of Destruction – In the Footsteps of Antakya
The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews presents a new exhibition, “Antakya from Yesterday to Today: On the Edge of Destruction – In the Footsteps of Antakya,” opening as a parallel event to the 18th Istanbul Biennial, whose theme this year is “Three-Legged Cat.”
The exhibition seeks to remember and commemorate Antakya, a city shaken by a devastating earthquake three years ago, while inviting visitors to rediscover its layered cultural and historical identity.
Three years after the displacement of stones, the silencing of voices, and the loss of lives, this exhibition calls on visitors to rethink Antakya. Bearing witness to the city’s memory, resilience, and potential for transformation, it attempts to create a “now” on the fragile bridge between past and future.
Hosted in the mikveh section of the museum—once an active ritual space—the exhibition sheds light on Jewish life in Antakya, featuring contemporary photographs of the Antakya Synagogue alongside historical images documenting the region’s rich Jewish heritage.
Curated and coordinated by Rubi Asa and Nisya İşman Allovi, the exhibition brings together powerful visual and auditory elements:
- Architect Rubi Asa and Liza Cemel contribute evocative photographs that preserve the city’s visual memory.
- Pianist and composer Renan Koen deepens the experience through installation works centered on “sound memory,” giving voice to loss and remembrance.
Like a city, a memory, a body—Antakya’s texture was woven layer upon layer through time. One morning, that fabric cracked. Stones shifted from their places, sounds fell silent, stories were left unfinished.
The exhibition unfolds through four thematic axes:
- Remembering — Life before the earthquake: sounds, smells, beliefs
- Shaking — The moment of destruction, loss, and silence
- Feeling — Lost senses, echoes of the past
- Healing — Resistance, solidarity, and the effort to rebuild
“Antakya from Yesterday to Today” can be visited from October 17, 2025 to June 30, 2026 during regular museum hours at the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews.
