Mapping The Neighbourhood

Around the world, galleries operate from intentionally chosen locations that play an important role in supporting the artists and creative communities exhibiting within their spaces. Whether tucked away amongst a vibrant network of working studios, or grounded in cultural areas continuing legacies for the future, we highlight a selection of galleries across the world, and take a deeper look into the cities and districts where they locate themselves.

 

Like most, if not all, art spaces, galleries are products of their social and geographic contexts, and their immediate surroundings offer important perspectives in the powerful work they conduct, and the artworks they exhibit. Focusing on Öktem Aykut, Art Formes, Bode Gallery and AYN Gallery, explore these contemporary art galleries, and the neighbourhoods which inform the work they do.

 

 

 

Located in Türkiye’s capital city, Öktem Aykut exhibits a roster of both established and emerging Turkish artists, in addition to a selection of international artists. Founded eleven years ago in November 2014, the Istanbul gallery was started by Tankut Aykut and Doğa Öktem, who both continue to be involved in the gallery’s running today.

 

During its time of operation, the contemporary art gallery has not always stuck to the same location, and in its organisation of over 150 exhibitions, these shows have been hosted over a total of three gallery locations, in addition to a diverse range of external, off-site locations. In its present space, Öktem Aykut sits in Istanbul’s historic Beyoğlu district, and the gallery is located amongst a significant collection of cultural spaces and heritage sights, including the Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar.

 

 

The gallery also sits within a rich network of existing galleries and project spaces who operate in a similar area. Nearby, visitors can visit notable art museums, such as Arter, İstanbul Modern Museum, Mesher and Pera Museum. This year the Istanbul Biennial is taking place, and its locations will be spread across the district.

 

Istanbul is divided across the continental borderline separating Asia and Europe. As a result, the city stands rooted in metaphorically and physically spanning across two continents. Reflecting this global character, the gallery participates in a variety of both local and international art fairs. In a similar vein, Öktem Aykut’s Lara Özdoğan Kalari shared the gallery’s open outlook on the artists that they choose to work with, “The gallery aims to work with artists from diverse backgrounds, with artistic approaches that strengthen one another through a common critical approach towards contemporary societal conditions.”

 

 

Representing twenty artists from Türkiye and abroad, the gallery’s most recent exhibition, ‘Kipple’, was a solo show by Irish artist, Samuel Laurence Cunnane in May 2025, which featured his photographic interrogation of what exists beyond memory’s peripheries. Operating in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, Öktem Aykut’s upcoming exhibition, ‘Official Balance’ will show the work of Turkish artist Selim Birsel, and it opens on 15 September 2025.

 

 

 

Originally launched in 2021 as a publishing house, 2025 marked the year that Art Formes opened as a permanent gallery space in Woodstock, Cape Town. It is the first African gallery with a focus entirely upon contemporary African sculpture, and as its founder Olivia Barrell noted, its location reflects the rich presence of ceramic artistry within the Cape Town suburb. In its continued effort to showcase previously marginalised mediums that make up a significant portion of undocumented artistic expression in Africa, the gallery is located in an area with a strong community of working ceramic artists, and where their studios are well-integrated into the fabric of the neighbourhood.

 

 

Art Formes’ gallery manager, David Adams, spoke more on the significance of where the gallery is housed, “The historical location within The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock was an intentional decision. Woodstock has long been an artistic hub of Cape Town, and many of the artists that Art Formes represent have their studios here, including Siyabonga Fani, Martine Jackson, and Ledelle Moe. In the broader context, South Africa’s history is ripe with the unrecorded narratives of great ceramic artists, and the oversimplified account of indigenous ceramic legacies. It is in these murky waters of art history that Art Formes finds its purpose, believing not only in the beauty of sculptural form but, more importantly, in the power of South African Sculpture to reveal the nation’s forgotten or undocumented histories.”

 

 

Strongly arguing for the recognition of ceramic art as a thriving high art form, Art Formes functions as an archive as much as a gallery. In doing so, the gallery highlights the importance of ceramics within South Africa’s art history canon, while exhibiting master ceramic artists who combine “conceptual significance with exceptional artistic technique”.

 

As David went on to note, “The art of ceramics has been highly perfected in South Africa… Art Formes advocates for these ceramics to be recognised as a true, high art form in this country, and for the medium to exist in the fine art world when it is conceptually and historically relevant. South Africa’s master ceramic artist should not automatically fall into the realm of craft. They are deserving of space on the stage amongst our leading contemporary artists - innovating medium, pioneering technique, and speaking narratives into the deep well of art history in this country."

 

Nestled in Woodstock’s Old Biscuit Mill, Art Formes’ gallery locates both its space and its philosophies within a historically significant Cape Town suburb with a living, breathing ceramic community.

 

 

 

Last month, Bode Gallery moved its gallery space to the historically significant area of Friedrichshain-Mitte, in Berlin, Germany. Marking the occasion, the gallery inaugurated its new space with the opening of its exhibition, ‘Drawn from Memory’. As the gallery moved forward towards a new chapter in the heart of this city district, the show’s focus upon collective and individual histories, memory and identity, echoed the sentiments prevalent to the experience of moving into a new area.

 

The new area in question, Friedrichshain-Mitte, offers an ample environment to consider memory within the present. In the heart of the neighbourhood, the gallery bridges the contemporary world with the past. Bode’s Marie Asmus spoke on the significance of the gallery’s new location, sharing “Friedrichshain-Mitte is an ideal location for a contemporary art gallery due to its powerful blend of historical context and modern artistic energy. This historical backdrop provides a dynamic stage for a gallery, allowing it to feel both connected to the city's past while pushing the boundaries of contemporary art.” In a similar vein, the new gallery space sits upon a continuing legacy of art spaces, with its new location previously housing Peres Projects.

 

 

Bode’s new location’s debut exhibition, ‘Drawn from Memory’, showcased the works of Matthew Eguavoen, Jerrell Gibbs, Jammie Holmes, and Shaina McCoy. Works belonging to Gibbs featured prominently in Bode’s booth at the 2025 edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair. ‘Drawn from Memory’ interrogated memory’s depictions, both as records and imagined, through processes of painted portraiture. As the gallery aptly reflected that the four artists, “united by their continuous reference to memory”, created “a ground on which new memories can be made, take root, and flourish.”

 

 

As urban landscapes tend to promise, Berlin’s complex history and politics are conducive to sparking important conversations which range across a wide variety of identities, experiences, perspectives, and people. Bode’s latest exhibition meditates within this realm of thought. ‘Still Moving’, opens on 5 September 2025 during the time of Berlin Art Week, and reflects on the political and poetic forces of movement contextualised through the lens of notable artists from Southern Africa. The group show features artists like William Kentridge, Sam Nhlengethwa, Boemo Diale, Nthabiseng Kekana, Misheck Masamvu, Frances Goodman, and Rosie Mudge. It is curated by acclaimed choreographer and interdisciplinary director Jessica Nupen, from South Africa.

 

As Bode begins to build its next chapter as a Berlin art space, the gallery’s new location contextualises an ongoing process of listening to a global network of contemporary artistic voices amongst the living history and creative energy present in Friedrichshain-Mitte. Indeed both in memory and in movement.

 

 

 

After operating solely from its Paris location for the last seven years, AYN Gallery opened an additional location in Oran, Algeria, in April of 2025. In this exciting move expanding AYN’s scope and geography, an important relationship between Africa and Europe is cemented.

 

The gallery’s expansion into Oran was celebrated by the opening of a solo exhibition titled, ‘ALIF – A journey into Salim Le Kouaghet’s world’. This was the first time Franco-Algerian artist Salim Le Kouaghet has exhibited in Algeria. Noting the historic colonial relationship between France and Algeria, the show’s significance was highlighted by the gallery’s spatial bridging across Algeria and France.

 

 

Founder and curator, Yasmine Azzi-Kohlhepp, commented on the inaugural show as “a symbolic return, a moment where diasporic narratives reconnect with their land of origin through art, memory, and form.” Prior to its second space’s opening, AYN Gallery has operated in France since 2018."

 

The new gallery space is in the heart of Oran, which is Algeria’s coastal cultural capital. Its geography places the gallery at the critical intersection of the Maghreb region and the Mediterranean. As a result, AYN is able to continue its aim to foster dialogue across Africa and Europe through its platform.

 

 

Yasmine went on to explain the mission behind opening this additional space, “AYN Gallery Oran is committed to a critical program, transnational collaborations, and the visibility of underrepresented voices. It positions itself as a space of circulation, for works, ideas, and practices at a time when reimagining the geographies of art has become more urgent than ever.”

 

AYN Gallery’s expansion across the Mediterranean informs an important conversation between Europe and Africa; France and Algeria. Set within the bustling port city of Oran, the gallery has broadened its scope, and confirmed the significance of global dialogue networks within contemporary art.