Istanbul exists as more than just a destination; it’s a living testament to millennia of layered history, craftsmanship, and ambition.

In the first live episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, recorded at Contemporary Istanbul, I sat down with Ali Güreli, the fair’s founder and Chairman, ...to discuss all things Istanbul, culture and art, starting with what the city still needs to prove, and to whom.

Full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLam #ThePearlLamPodcast #Istanbul #ContemporaryIstanbul #ArtWorld

A dinner party can fall apart before anyone sits down.

The best protection is the guest list itself. Invite people from different industries, so they have something new to say to one another. For me, conversation is the most important part of any dinner. The food matters very much as well,... but it is the conversation people remember.

The rest of my hosting advice is on YouTube.

#PearlLam #DinnerParty #Hosting #TheArtOfHosting

My advice to new collectors is not what I practice.

The logical advice, the one everyone will give you, is to do your research before you buy any art. It is sensible, and I would never tell you to ignore it.

I buy what I like. I follow my heart and my passion, and I don’t care ...whether a work has any value or not.

More on how I collect in the full video, only on The Pearl Lam YouTube Channel.

#PearlLam #ArtCollecting #ArtCollector #ContemporaryArt

The first ever live recording of The Pearl Lam Podcast took place two weeks at Contemporary Istanbul (Contemporary Istanbul)

I asked CEO Ali Gürelii what Istanbul still needs to prove, and to whom. We discussed why artists are so often validated abroad before they are taken seriously at ...home, and whether money alone can create cultural power.

Thank you to Ali Güreli (Ali Güreli)for sharing the stage with me, and the team working diligently behind the scenes and of course, the incredible artists showcasing their work.

The full episode is live now, onyl on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #IstanbulArt #ContemporaryArt #ArtWorld

Passion comes before courage.

I was asked how to find the courage to follow a dream, and my answer is that without passion, it’s hard to follow anything. You have to feel it first.

After that, you need determination and belief in yourself. Without those, the road is tough, and ...it becomes very easy to give up before you discover what you are capable of.

Waiting to feel brave is a mistake. Find what you truly care about, and the courage tends to follow.

Watch the full video on YouTube, link in bio.

#PearlLam #Advice #Passion #Courage #Motivation

Can changing the architecture of a museum change the way we look at art?

I was curious to find out when I visited LACMA’s newly opened David Geffen Galleries in Los Angeles, designed by Peter Zumthor.

Rather than presenting art through a straightforward chronology, the galleries... encourage connections between different cultures, periods and forms of making.

I moved from Mughal decorative arts and an 18th-century Chinese court robe to Californian art and contemporary sculpture. Seeing such different objects in proximity makes you notice relationships that might otherwise be missed.

Museums inevitably influence how we understand the objects they contain. The decision to place one work beside another, or to separate cultures and periods entirely, is never completely neutral.

I enjoyed seeing LACMA challenge some of those conventions. A new museum should perhaps give us new ways of looking, not simply new walls in which to display familiar things.

#PearlLam #LACMA #DavidGeffenGalleries #PeterZumthor #LosAngeles

On this week’s episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo challenges the assumption that African aesthetics have always been defined by vivid colour, elaborate pattern and maximalism.

Instead, she points to traditions of restraint, simple forms and materials used honestly, while ...some of the visual codes now associated with the continent arrived through much more complicated histories of trade and exchange.

It’s a fascinating example of how repetition can turn an interpretation into an apparent truth.

Discover the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanDesign #Architecture #DesignHistory

What if constraint creates better ideas than abundance?

Tosin Oshinowo sees Lagos as a city where constant adaptation has produced extraordinary creativity across architecture, fashion, music and design.

When people cannot rely on perfect systems or unlimited resources, they are ...forced to invent.

And perhaps that is precisely what makes Lagos so creatively interesting.

Discover the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #Lagos #Creativity #AfricanDesign

Yesterday marked the first live recording of The Pearl Lam Podcast at Contemporary Istanbul.

I couldn’t have asked for a better guest for the first live show than Ali Güreli, founder and Chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, or a more fitting setting than the fair he created.

...Thank you to Ali for joining me and to the Contemporary Istanbul team for making it possible.

I can’t wait to share the full conversation with you!

#ThePearlLamPodcast #ContemporaryIstanbul #PearlLam #AliGüreli

Architecture is more than just structure; it is the physical manifestation of identity and history.

Joining The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo speaks about a generation of African architects reclaiming that identity on their own terms. Not by reproducing the past, but by allowing ...history, climate, materials and culture to shape something contemporary.
The full episode is out now on YouTube & Spotify.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanArchitecture #CulturalIdentity #Architecture

I caught up with Kulapat Yantrasast at Contemporary Istanbul and heard about the incredible projects he’s got going on.

From two wings at the Louvre to the National Museum of India, Kulapat has extraordinary work underway. There’s a distinct similarity in our thinking, the importance ...of cultural dialogue. Bringing different cultural histories into conversation and giving people a chance to understand one another better. 

And it’s exactly that empathy that we need more of.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #KulapatYantrasat #IstanbulArt #ContemporaryArt

What does it mean to build a museum for the art of the future?

That was part of Andrew Carnegie’s thinking when he founded the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1895, with the ambition of creating a collection of the “Old Masters of tomorrow”.

More than a century later, I ...found that idea particularly interesting while visiting the Carnegie Museum of Art. Its collection moves across painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design and architecture, reflecting how dramatically our understanding of what belongs inside a museum has expanded since Carnegie’s time.

I visited while exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Pennsylvania, and it offered another perspective on the cultural legacy of this part of America. The wealth generated by Pittsburgh’s industrial age did not only transform business and the city itself. It also created institutions intended to shape its cultural life for generations.

Whatever one thinks of the great industrialists of that period, the scale of their cultural ambition is difficult to ignore.

#PearlLam #CarnegieMuseumOfArt #Pittsburgh #Art #ArtsAndCulture

At Contemporary Istanbul, I wanted to show the extraordinary relationship Su Xiaobai has with lacquer, texture and the traditions behind Chinese material culture.

Look closely at the cracked finishes and you can see echoes of celadon and old roof tiles. Even the smaller works use original ...roof tiles, bringing an existing material into the language of his painting.

For me, this is what makes his work so powerful.

#SuXiaobai #ContemporaryIstanbul #ChineseArt #PearlLam #ContemporaryArt

With his instantly recognisable style, evolution is essential. As such, we created an entire room around the work of Mr Doodle. Now, Mr Doodle is increasingly looking at existing paintings and images and reinterpreting them through his own vocabulary.

After all, repeating yourself is ...easy. Finding new things to say with that language is much more interesting.

#MrDoodle #ContemporaryIstanbul #ContemporaryArt #ArtHistory #PearlLam

I want people to encounter Chinese aesthetics on their own terms, which is why Qiu Anxiong has always interested me. He takes the language of traditional Chinese painting and moves it into completely different forms, including animation.

For me, presenting work like this internationally is... important. Cultural dialogue only becomes interesting when different cultures arrive with their own language, rather than trying to become the same.

#QiuAnxiong #ContemporaryIstanbul #ChineseArt #ChineseAesthetics #PearlLam