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    The art of Istanbul dances to life in a tribute to the city’s timeless beauty

    Built from images gathered around Istanbul, the short video Takrar – from the Arabic for ‘repetition’ – is a mesmerising celebration of the city’s multicultural, centuries-long legacy of art, design and architecture. Intricately pieced together by the Syrian German filmmaker Waref Abu Quba from some 2,900 photographs taken over two years, the stop-motion short contains images spanning Islamic, Ottoman, Greek and Byzantine designs. Set to a lively, percussive soundtrack, Abu Quba’s labour of love makes for a riveting tribute to the city’s timeless beauty and rich history.

    Director: Waref Abu Quba

    Music: Alex Story, Robbe Kieckens

    6 July 2023
    Blurred photo of a large crowd of people on motorbikes and scooters, creating a sense of motion and activity.

    videoCities

    Time dilates and people flow in and out of each other in a hallucinatory urban commute

    3 minutes

    Rows of brown high-rise apartment buildings with balconies and numerous windows, closely packed together.

    videoArchitecture

    A whirlwind tour of Hong Kong’s high-rises is an awesome meditation on urbanity

    9 minutes

    Blurred night photo of an urban road with bright lights, underpasses, and buildings, conveying a sense of speed and motion.

    videoCities

    A night-time drive through Tokyo transforms into a dizzying sensory experience

    2 minutes

    Abstract painting with a dark background featuring scattered red, white and grey fragments. The texture appears rough.

    videoCities

    A brisk, tactile jaunt across an urban landscape’s many surfaces

    1 minute

    Black and white photograph of a cloudy sky with swirling lines resembling bird flight patterns.

    videoBiology

    Starlings swoosh like brushstrokes across the sky in this dazzling short

    3 minutes

    Abstract image with a vibrant pink and purple swirling pattern, featuring a glowing orb in the lower right corner and organic, fluid shapes around it.

    videoChemistry

    A square inch in a Petri dish becomes a grand stage for chemical transformations

    4 minutes

    Photo of a person with a blurred double exposure effect, wearing a dark top and green headscarf, set against a dark green background.

    videoRituals and celebrations

    Dissolve into the immersive, entrancing rhythms of a Sufi chant

    17 minutes

    Digital artwork of a cityscape at night depicting an infinite matrix of windows forming a tunnel towards a dark vanishing point in the centre.

    videoArt

    Is this what a city looks like in its dreams? A 360° dive into Tokyo

    5 minutes

    A person focusing intently while working on something small at a cluttered desk lit by a lamp, with a window in the background.

    videoBeauty and aesthetics

    Finding chaos and precision in all things – a philosophy of watchmaking

    9 minutes