Sinopale, the International Sinop Biennial, has brought together artists, communities, and audiences from different geographies through invisible connections over the past twenty years, creating a collective space for encounters and exchange. This network has fostered not only solidarity but also continuity, transformation, and the nuances of living together.

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Held on 28 November 2025 at Palais Yeniköy, the Austrian Cultural Forum Istanbul, the Sinopale Friends 20th Anniversary Gathering brought reflections of Sinop’s natural environment and cultural ecology to Istanbul.

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The event featured talks highlighting Sinopale’s twenty-year history; an excerpt from a documentary film about Sinopale, which is still in the editing process; and a participatory gastronomic art performance featuring endemic plants and mushrooms brought from Sinop. Bringing the city’s distinctive microclimate and multilayered ways of life to Istanbul, this experience at the intersection of nature and culture was accompanied by electronic music, piano, and cello. Together, these elements conveyed Sinopale’s spirit of solidarity and collective creation, rooted in the tradition of imece (communal cooperation), to the audience.

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Artists: Ahmet Aksu & Elke Falat, Çiğdem Borucu, Erkan Akliman, Ece Denizci, Hakan Yalçın (Chef), Jülide Canca, Zeynep Burçoğlu, Yeşim Uzunöz

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Team: Çağatay Şimşek, Çağın Kaya, Çiğdem Girgiç, Çiğdem İkiışık, Elif Kuli, İpek Hamzaoğlu, Mahir Namur, Melih Görgün, Mercan Uludağ, Mirhan Kıvanç Özdemir, Nimet Bekar, Sultan Üçtepe, Yağmur Güzle, Yiğit Bahadır Kaya