A public inquiry heard on Friday that the team behind Pale Air, an outdoor dance production in Istanbul, used air-quality readings from the Aegean coast to support claims that its performances took place in safe conditions. The testimony has turned a celebrated, city-funded show into the focus of a widening arts-grant scandal.
The Istanbul Public Arts Review Panel was told that 29 of the production’s 34 nightly reports carried readings logged in Eceabat, a coastal town roughly 250 km (155 miles) from the venue. The project received 64 million lira (about €1.3 million) in public funding, including a grant tied to its clean-air theme.
Readings from another coast
Hosana Pacheco, a data consultant hired to review the production’s reporting, told the panel that the figures were not measurements taken at Kıyı Depot, the former ferry-service yard where the show was staged. Istanbul monitoring stations recorded readings between 146 and 218 on several of the same evenings, she said; the Eceabat reports showed values below 50.
“The audience was promised a performance shaped by the air around them, but the numbers came from somewhere else,” Pacheco said. She said she could not establish who selected the coastal readings, or whether the substitution was intended to secure funding.
They sold the city a clean-air show, but the air reports were travelling farther than the dancers.
Cem Çapanoğlu, former stage manager
The inquiry displayed time-stamped monitoring records alongside the production’s nightly reports. Cem Çapanoğlu, who worked backstage for the first 18 performances, said crews were asked to post a green air-status card at the entrance before doors opened. He told the panel he never saw anyone take a measurement at the venue.
Producer Irina Neto rejected any suggestion that the team had knowingly misled audiences or funders. “We used information supplied through the project’s reporting channel and believed it was valid,” she said. Neto added that the show’s artistic aim was to draw attention to air pollution, not to certify that the venue was free of it.
Grant and ticket money examined
The production sold 18,420 tickets over its run, according to figures presented at the hearing. The panel is also examining 9.6 million lira allocated for environmental monitoring and audience information; members said they had not yet received evidence showing how much of that sum went to measurements taken at the Istanbul site.
The fictional city arts office suspended new payments to the production’s operator, Mavi Kulis Arts, on Thursday. Its director told the hearing that officials had relied on the reports submitted by the company and had not independently checked their locations. The office has ordered a review of 47 other grants that included environmental promises.
Neto said Mavi Kulis Arts would provide its remaining accounts to the panel and would repay any sum found to have been improperly claimed. The inquiry is due to hear from the arts office’s grant assessors next week; its chair said a final report, including recommendations on recovery of funds, is expected in December.
