Istanbul Digital Art Festival to return for 6th edition in June

The sixth edition of the Istanbul Digital Art Festival will be held June 3-7 at the Atatürk Cultural Center, with Anadolu serving as the event's global communications partner. Organized by Mezo Digital with support from Türkiye's Culture and Tourism Ministry, the festival will take place this year under the theme "Retell."

AI and art

This year's festival will focus on the relationship between art and artificial intelligence, aiming to encourage audiences to rethink individual creativity and collective memory through a more inclusive perspective. Organizers said artificial intelligence will be approached not simply as a technology, but as a tool reshaping how artists reinterpret, think and produce.

Program and participants

The event will feature children's and youth workshops, theater productions, digital shows, robot performances, panels, and audiovisual performances. A total of 70 artists from Türkiye and abroad working in digital arts are expected to participate. The festival will also explore the role of art in questioning and transforming social values.

Curatorial team

The event will be directed by Nabat Garakhanova, while Esra Özkan will serve as artistic director. The curatorial team includes Evgeniya Romanidi, Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Burcu Öztürkler, Ozan Türkkan, İsmail Erim Gülaçtı, and Avind, described as Türkiye's first artificial intelligence curator.

Free admission

As in previous years, the festival will be free and open to the public. Garakhanova said reaching a sixth edition reflected the growing influence of digital art both in Türkiye and internationally. "As the Istanbul Digital Art Festival, we value being not only a platform that showcases technology, but also one that thinks with it, questions it and builds new narratives through it," she said.