An exhibition at Istanbul Airport (IST) created by artist, TV personality, comedian and actor Beyazıt Öztürk is inspired by the imagined stories of the suitcases and other things left behind at the airport.

Titled, appropriately enough, “Thing(s),” the exhibition features the “Thing” sculpture, which incorporates elements of an actual bag claim conveyor belt into a work of art.

Inspired by an unclaimed suitcase spinning on a conveyor belt and the warehouse of forgotten items at the airport, Öztürk set out to give those those items new journeys and new stories.

“That quiet sadness is what drew me in,” he explains, “The conveyor doesn’t go anywhere. It leads to nothing. Like that tired old metaphor, the cycle of life.”

Öztürk tries to break that cycle.

“If I could change the direction of the conveyor, maybe the suitcase could escape too,” he said. “And I did. I redirected the conveyor upward and it transformed into a sculpture.”

The exhibition is on view in the Istanbul Airport International Departures, A–B Gates, and is open to all visitors free of charge.

The full exhbition runs through April 2026, but the ‘Thing’ sculpture will become a permanant art work at IST.

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