Event design & opening ceremony
Istanbul Congress Center · October 9–13, 2016
Event design & opening ceremony
Istanbul Congress Center · October 9–13, 2016
Some five thousand delegates from over 150 countries, fifty-six ministers, four heads of state — and an opening ceremony asked to introduce the host country to all of them at once. The 23rd World Energy Congress was held in Türkiye for the first time. We designed how the congress looked and felt, and we opened it.
The World Energy Congress is the energy sector’s longest-running global congress, held every three years since 1924. The 23rd edition came to Istanbul in October 2016 under the theme Embracing New Frontiers: 266 speakers across five days, and an opening day addressed by the presidents of Türkiye, Russia, Azerbaijan and Venezuela.
Working as BİŞEYLER, OKYU’s founding team conceived and delivered the congress’s complete event design — its visual and spatial identity across the venue — and the opening ceremony at its heart.
The ceremony was built as a narrative journey through Türkiye’s identity — its historical figures, its heritage, the names from these lands that shaped world history — told through storytelling, large-scale visuals, live performance and stagecraft as one continuous sequence. Not a host country introducing itself; a crossroads, remembering everything that has passed through it. It played to a room where four presidents were waiting to speak. The ceremony spoke first.
