Anyma’s upcoming Istanbul concert has been canceled following a wave of social media criticism surrounding the futuristic visuals used in his live performances.
Matteo Milleri, one of electronic music’s biggest stars who performs as Anyma, was scheduled to perform at Ataköy Marina Arena on September 12 as part of his newly announced world tour. According to reports, the Istanbul Governorate ultimately decided not to allow the event to proceed after online criticism intensified over imagery associated with Anyma’s stage production.
The controversy has placed one of electronic music’s most technologically ambitious live shows at the center of a broader debate about artistic expression, symbolism and public sensitivities.
Anyma’s Visual World Becomes the Controversy
Visual storytelling has become inseparable from the Anyma project.
His performances combine electronic music with large-scale digital animations, robotic figures and cinematic environments exploring ideas around technology, artificial intelligence, transhumanism and the relationship between humans and machines.
It was this visual world that became the focus of the controversy in Istanbul.
According to the reports, some social media users interpreted symbols and figures appearing in Anyma’s performances as references to Satanism, paganism and ritualistic imagery. As posts containing those accusations circulated online, calls for the September 12 concert to be canceled began to gain momentum.
The claims represented interpretations of the imagery circulating on social media, rather than an established description of the meaning behind Anyma’s work.
Istanbul Authorities Cancel the Show
As the online reaction intensified, the future of Anyma’s Ataköy performance became increasingly uncertain. The Istanbul Governorate subsequently intervened and decided that permission would not be granted for the event, bringing the planned September 12 concert to an end.
The cancellation is particularly notable because Anyma’s elaborate visual production has become a defining part of his live performances. Rather than functioning simply as background graphics, his digital characters, futuristic environments and large-scale animations form an integral part of the storytelling surrounding his music.
That visual language became particularly prominent during The End of Genesys, Anyma’s residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, where music and monumental digital environments were presented as a single immersive experience. The same futuristic aesthetic that has helped define Anyma’s performances internationally has now become the focus of controversy surrounding his planned Istanbul show.
A Wider Debate Around Live Music in Turkey
The decision also arrives against a wider backdrop of concert cancellations involving international artists in Turkey.
As noted in the reports, scheduled performances by Behemoth, Slaughter to Prevail and God Is An Astronaut have also faced cancellations this year, with concerns around public order and social values cited in connection with some of those decisions.
Anyma’s case, however, brings electronic music and digital stage design directly into that conversation.
The controversy demonstrates how increasingly sophisticated concert visuals can take on meanings far beyond their original artistic context once fragments of a production begin circulating independently across social media. Images designed for an immersive audiovisual performance can quickly become detached from the music, narrative and environment surrounding them.
For Anyma’s Istanbul audience, the immediate consequence is simpler: a major international electronic music show scheduled for September 12 will no longer take place.
But the debate surrounding its cancellation raises a larger question for contemporary live culture. As electronic music performances increasingly merge sound, cinema, artificial intelligence and digital art, where does provocative artistic imagery end and the limits imposed by local cultural sensitivities begin?
📷 : Cover Photo / Courtesy of Anyma
📷 : Additional Photo Credits / Courtesy of Anyma
