If you're in Türkiye's northwestern industrial belt this November, there's a reason to linger in Kocaeli. The SEKA Art Specialization Center opens “Tek ve Çok” (“One and Many”) on Nov. 3, running to Nov. 15, with 41 artists showing 73 works spanning oil painting, acrylic, watercolour, pastel, mixed media and traditional crafts like miniature, marbling and gold embellishment.

The exhibition is the work of Birlikte Sanat Atölyesi, a workshop founded by painter Cemal Toy, and follows an earlier edition in Istanbul in 2025. Curator Ayşegül Ekin Odabaşı shaped the show for Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, and the title says it all: “one” stands for each artist's individual style, “many” for what emerges when those voices share a wall.

There's a neat local detail: the 41 participating artists match Kocaeli's vehicle registration code, 41.

What makes the show worth a detour is its sense of place. Istanbul's Galata, Süleymaniye and Balat sit alongside Kocaeli's gulf, bridges and historic clock tower, with the two cities' visual memories set in dialogue. The venue itself adds context — SEKA was once Türkiye's paper-making heart, and nearby Hereke has a long weaving tradition.

The centrepiece is Toy's “24 Hours in Kocaeli”, made for the show. Built from handmade paper as a nod to SEKA's legacy, it unfolds across 24 panels in the geometric patterns and colours of Hereke carpets: the clock tower, bridges, houses, big ships and weaving figures.

Works are grouped under five themes — “City and Memory”, “Nature and Seasons”, “Tradition and Surface”, “Abstract and Layers”, and “Figures and Everyday Life” — so you can wander thematically rather than by artist. QR codes next to pieces pull up images, details and artist bios, and there's a live painting performance in the programme so visitors can watch work take shape in real time.

There's a charitable edge too: proceeds from Toy's “Istanbul Red” and “Istanbul Red 2” go to the Alliance of International Doctors to fund prosthetic limbs for people in Gaza.

For travellers, it's a compact way to see how two Turkish cities — one imperial, one industrial — each hold onto and reimagine their past. Kocaeli rarely tops visitor lists, but the SEKA center, an hour-ish from Istanbul by road or suburban rail, makes an easy cultural side trip. The opening is at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Daily Sabah Travel