Demet Müftüoğlu

Demet Müftüoğlu Eşeli (born 1974) is a curator, creative director and the co-founder of ISTANBUL’74.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Since 2010, she has been the Creative Head of Istanbul International Arts & Culture Festival^[6] (IST. FESTIVAL) which she produced with Alphan Eşeli for the festival founder Liberatum and Pablo Ganguli. ^[7]

Background & Early Life

Demet Müftüoğlu-Eşeli studied Business Administration at Bilkent University, followed by a move to New York where she studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology.^[8]

ISTANBUL’74 and Career

In 2009, Müftüoğlu-Eşeli co-founded ISTANBUL'74 with her husband Alphan Eşeli, an independent platform that has been organizing cultural events^[9] festivals, exhibitions^[10] and artistic collaborations^[11] with creative thought leaders^[12] from around the world.^[13] ISTANBUL’74 has collaborated with leading international galleries such as Lehmann Maupin^[14] Gagosian^[15] , Hauser and Wirth^[16] as well as designers and artists including Sandro Kopp^[17] Tracy Emin, Alex Prager, Angel Otero, Robin Rhode, JR, Idris Khan, Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe, José Parlá, Inez & Vinoodh, Anton Corbijn, Defne Koz, Kezban Arca Batıbeki, Mehmet Ali Uysal, Diana Al-Hadid, Delfina Delettrez, André Saraiva, Robert Montgomery^[18] Stephen Jones, Sandro Kopp, Waris Ahluwalia amongst others.

In 2010, Müftüoğlu-Eşeli produced the Istanbul International Arts and Culture Festival, (IST. Festival) for Liberatum and festival creator Pablo Ganguli.^[19]