santralistanbul gathers a multiplicity of arts and cultural activities under one roof, with facilities for education and training, research, production and exhibition alike. Since day one, santralistanbul has consciously shunned established forms of expression and favoured multidisciplinary artistic practices in its exhibition programming. Equally, none of the exhibition spaces, whether the Main Gallery building, Gallery 1 or the Museum of Energy, are designed exclusively for a single art form. Consistent with this approach, exhibitions held at santralistanbul have embraced a broad range of disciplines from plastic arts and design, to photography, video and installation art.

Set on five floors, the santralistanbul Main Gallery building enjoys 3500 m²of exhibition space. Since opening, the gallery has played host to more than 10 national and international exhibitions, among them Modern and Beyond, Uncharted and a Yüksel Arslan Retrospective, together with miscellaneous other arts and cultural events. Inspired by architects Han Tümertekin, Emre Arolat and Nevzat Sayın, the Main Gallery building comprises a concrete core swathed in metal gauze, reflecting a modern design that draws on the interior and exterior surfaces of the existing production structures. As a winner in the 2010 International Architecture Awards, the building serves as proof of the aesthetic potential of reinforced concrete.

On its first floor, Main Gallery building hosts American National History Museum’s “Climate Change” exhibition, which was visited by 237.000 people in New York, with the main sponsorship of Türk Telekom between 4 October 2011-15 January 2012.  On its third floor the gallery also welcomes the architecture photographer Cemal Emden’s “Le Corbusier Visual Log: 1905-1965”exhibition which is organized by İstanbul Bilgi University Architecture Department and Fondation Le Corbusier withthe main sponsorship of Kalebodur between 8 October-13 November 2011.