DAF’25 (Digital Art Festival Istanbul 2025), Turkey’s international stage for digital art, aims to transform the city into an art and technology platform this year with the theme “Connecting.” Held at the Atatürk Cultural Center, the festival explores the intersection of architecture and digital art, inviting audiences to rediscover their surroundings through new technological approaches and spatial experiences.
Source: digitalartfestistanbul
The Theme of “Connecting”: A Bridge Between Architecture and Digital Art
The central theme of IDAF’25, “Connecting,” seeks to build bridges between the physical and virtual worlds. Under the subheading “Architecture / Mimicry,” the festival delves into key questions such as how buildings can be reinterpreted through digital tools, and how architectural memory and digital traces can converge.
The works that establish thematic relationships with their spaces reinterpret the city’s texture and structural forms by bringing them into the digital realm. This approach fosters collaborative environments between architects and digital artists.
Digital Integration in Spatial Design
a) Digital Twin and Urban Experience
The theme of “Digital Twin / Digital Natives,” explored within the scope of the festival, embraces the idea of creating new experiences through the digital replica of physical structures. This approach enables the reanimation of historical buildings, modern structures, and urban spaces within digital environments.
b) Performative Architecture and AV Performances
AV (audio-visual) performances become embedded within architectural forms, transforming spaces with dynamic digital visuals that merge with walls and ceilings. In this way, not only the audience but also the space itself becomes a “stage.”
Universal Everything’s digital experience titled “Transfiguration (Forwards)” expands throughout the space via an AV performance, reflecting the ever-evolving nature of architecture.
“Memory Anatolia”, created by Samed Karagöz using millions of images from the Anadolu Agency archive, seeks to establish a dialogue between architectural memory and digital memory.
The interactive installation “Mind Nest, Silent Meditation Cabins” questions the concepts of both physical and mental space, with meditation cabins positioned as architectural elements within the environment.
Source: digitalartfestistanbul
Education and Interdisciplinary Workshops
IDAF’25 provides a platform for enriching dialogue between architects and artists through a variety of programs such as workshops for children, youth, and adults, as well as initiatives like Diji Theatre and TGS Masterclass.
IDAF’25 approaches architectural structures not only as physical carriers but also as vessels of memory and culture. As noted in the panels held during the festival: “Architecture is not just a structure; it is a carrier of memory. The city connects not through the body, but through consciousness.”
The digital internalization and reinterpretation of architectural forms are described as a bridge that carries local memory into the future.
Source: digitalartfestistanbul
Under the direction of Festival Director Nabat Garakhonova, the city integrates with international platforms such as Ars Electronica. By bringing over 80 artists and collectives from around the world to Istanbul, the festival establishes a global dialogue between digital art and architecture.
The Hybrid of Architecture and Digital Art: Space evolves beyond being merely structural, transforming into a digital performance surface.
Digitization of Memory: Architectural memory is reconstructed through data, gaining a timeless vitality.
Opportunities for Education and Collaboration: Workshops offer new skillsets that bridge the worlds of architecture and art.
Global Participation: Turkey is emerging as a central hub open to international collaborations in the field of digital art and architecture.
