Mahalla Festival: The Wondering Tower Visits İstanbul!

The 2020 Mahalla Festival, which consists of music, literature, contemporary art and various events, also invites to share ideas, was organized in Istanbul by the Istanbul-based organization DİYALOG with the support of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Istanbul, Beşiktaş Municipality, Beşiktaş Municipality’s affiliate Beltaş A.Ş. and the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Education and Sports of the Federal State of Austria.

The festival travels all around the world as a chain of events without the requirement of travelling and uses places and areas suitable in consideration of the pandemic. Due to the global pandemic crisis, it produces new methods to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak by organizing events with the help of digital tools. The main venues for the festival are located in Istanbul but the events are accompanied by international affiliates and participants. The general vision of the festival questions a dystopian reality that excludes the "other" in the form of immigrants, the poor, the opposite sex, animals, the environment and the unknown. The inspiration for the concept of the festival this year is the Russian composer, conductor and musician SergejProkofiev with his miraculous stories.

The Wondering Tower: Lucian Plessner and Sergej Prokofiev Concert and Lecture event held as part of the Mahalla Festival was broadcast live on Tuesday, December 22 at 6 p.m. at the Historical Hüsrev Kethüda Hammam in Ortaköy, Beşiktaş. Short stories were narrated and a music program accompanied by classical guitar was performed as part of the event.