"Beneath the Same Blue" Exhibition Event

Vertical Highways: In Conversation with Bettina Pousttchi

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Time: 13.00

Venue: Istanbul Modern, Event Room 2

Moderator: Çelenk Bafra

Istanbul Modern's 10th collection exhibition, “Beneath the Same Blue,” traces the transformation of modern and contemporary art in Türkiye from the 1940s to the present, offering new ways of reading the collection through encounters and dialogues with international artists. For the first public event accompanying the exhibition, which extends throughout the museum, Istanbul Modern welcomes Bettina Pousttchi, whose 5.9-metre-high sculpture “Vertical Highways V02” is installed on the museum’s entrance façade.

Pousttchi incorporates overlooked elements of urban furniture – such as highway guardrails, barricades, street poles, and bollards – into her work. In this talk, she will discuss her artistic practice, her approach to public space, and the ways in which she transforms everyday urban objects.

About Bettina Pousttchi

Bettina Pousttchi studied fine arts, philosophy, art history, and film theory in Paris and Cologne. Between 1995 and 1999, she studied under Prof. Rosemarie Trockel and Prof. Gerhard Merz at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and in 2000 completed the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Based in Berlin, since the 2010s she has produced site-specific monumental installations for building façades and large-scale sculptures that respond to the architectural, social, and cultural contexts of those sites.

The event is free of charge.
Attendance is limited due to seating capacity.
The talk is held in English.

Photo: Norman Konrad