SALT (institution)
Founded by Garanti BBVA in 2011, SALT is a cultural institution in public service producing research-based exhibitions, publications, web and digitization projects, as well as developing programs including screenings, conferences and workshops. Aiming to offer an environment for debate and co-learning with its users and collaborators, SALT does not engage in formal arguments or favor one period, discipline or object-based practice over another.
 Interior of SALT Galata | |
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| Established | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Location | SALT Beyoğlu Istiklal Cd. No:136 Beyoğlu, Istanbul Turkey SALT Galata Bankalar Cd. No:11 Karaköy, Istanbul Turkey |
| Founder | Garanti BBVA |
| Website | saltonline |
SALT focuses on art, architecture and design, and social and economic histories. The research projects, visual presentations, international publications and local archival collections at SALT expand beyond linear chronologies, medium-based questions, and the traditional separation of fields of study.
SALT's multi-layered programs are distributed at SALT Beyoğlu and SALT Galata in Istanbul. Located on the pedestrian İstiklal Caddesi, SALT Beyoğlu comprises spaces for exhibitions, public programs, and research. SALT Galata resides in the former headquarters of the Imperial Ottoman Bank (1892-1999) on Bankalar Caddesi. Designed by Alexandre Vallauri, the building houses spaces dedicated to exhibitions, public programs, special events as well as SALT Research. A library, an archive, an online entity, and a range of research and support programs, SALT Research provides public access to the institution's print and digital resources while contributing to the development of local and regional memory through its expanding collections. The digital presentations of the Ottoman Bank Museum, which is the first private bank museum in Turkey, are distributed across SALT Galata visualizing the bank's 145-year history.
SALT is the only member of the European museums confederation L’Internationale from Turkey. Encouraging its users to participate, interact and critique, SALT offers its spaces, exhibitions, programs, web projects, print and digital collections for public use free of charge.[1]
Gallery spaces
SALT Galata
SALT Galata on Bankalar Caddesi was designed by French Levantine architect Alexandre Vallauri to house the headquarters of the Imperial Ottoman Bank (1892-1999). A monumental building with a contrast of architectural styles of its two façades—neoclassical on one side and orientalist on the other—it is a landmark unique to Istanbul.
Having undergone a series of structural interventions since its opening, the building's refunctioning project was undertaken by Mimarlar Tasarım, the office of Aga Khan Award for Architecture winner Han Tümertekin. Their approach was to clear the building of its later surface additions to reveal its original character, while providing a new configuration to accommodate the institution's multi-layered programs.
A specialized library, SALT Research is the hub of the building, which fills the 650 m2 (7,000 sq ft) central atrium. Digital presentations of the Ottoman Bank Museum Collection spreading across the building begin from floor -1, where the main exhibition space is positioned next to the SALT Research Ferit F. Şahenk Hall for registered users. SALT Galata also features an Auditorium with a 218-seat capacity, Workshops, spaces for public programs and special events, offices, and study areas available for all users. The Neolokal restaurant and the Shop run by the Robinson Crusoe 389 bookstore are located on the ground floor.
SALT Beyoğlu
SALT Beyoğlu is a six-story building on İstiklal Caddesi. Constructed in the second half of the 19th century under the name Siniossoglou Apartment, it functioned as a retail space on street level and residences on its upper floors. Starting from the 1950s, Siniossoglou lost its residential function due to decline in the population in Beyoğlu district yet began to host commercial, political and artistic activities while still in use for retail purposes. A stone structure with steel beams and vaulted ceilings, the refunctioning project of the building was undertaken by Mimarlar Tasarım, the office of Aga Khan Award for Architecture winner Han Tümertekin.
Acting as an interface between the pedestrian İstiklal Caddesi and the institution is the Forum, where selected artworks and small-scale exhibitions are periodically on display along with regularly updated public program announcements. An extension of this entry space, Walk-in Cinema is a platform for screenings, talks, workshops, and performances. Extensive projects on visual and material culture are presented on the second and third floors across 750 square meters of exhibition space. SALT Beyoğlu's Kitchen on the mezzanine floor and Winter Garden on the fourth floor host food and environment related collaborative programs, and offer study spaces during the exhibition hours. Located on the first floor, the Robinson Crusoe 389 bookstore is accessible during the building's visiting hours.
SALT Research
SALT Research comprises a specialized library and an archive of physical and digital sources and documents on visual practices, the built environment, social life and economic history.
Collections at SALT Research focus on the period from the late 19th century to the present day with an emphasis on Turkey -primarily Istanbul- and the geographies of the Southeast Mediterranean and Southeast Europe. The collections include visual and textual sources and documents on the art history of Turkey post 1950, the development of architecture and design in Turkey since the beginning of the 20th century, and the transformations in society and the region from the last century of the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic up until the 1990s. These are all accessible from saltresearch.org. Publications, including books and periodicals, are available for research at SALT Research.
Physical documents held by SALT Research are preserved in professional archival storage with light, temperature and humidity controlled conditions.