A Mammoth in Istanbul: Mamut Art Project 2017

Tucked away at the bottom of the Maçka hill in Küçük Çiftlik Park, Mamut Art Project (MAP)—an annual juried showcase of 50 emerging artists—is a joy to walk to in good weather. Its fifth edition debuted on a gorgeous Istanbul spring afternoon, just a week and a half after the much-disputed constitutional referendum that secured Turkey’s transition to a presidential system and granted extraordinary powers to the president. Spirits of the predominantly secular youth, many of whom voted “No,” did not seem to be as low as one might have expected: a tangential interest in art and love of the sun kept a great deal of them smoking and happily chatting away at the back of the Mamut tent for the better part of the evening.

• Turkey