Anyma has responded publicly after his upcoming Istanbul show was canceled following accusations that imagery used in his live production contained alleged “satanic elements.”
The audiovisual show was scheduled to take place at Ataköy Marina Arena on September 12 as part of Anyma’s ÆDEN tour. Permission for the event was withdrawn after images connected to his performances circulated across social media alongside calls for the concert to be canceled.
While an official public statement from the Istanbul Governor’s Office has yet to be issued, Turkey-based independent fact-checking organization Teyit reported receiving confirmation from Provincial Press and Public Relations Director Emin Gökçegözoğlu that the cancellation was related to alleged “satanic elements.”
Now, Anyma has addressed both the accusations and the way his work was presented online.
Anyma Explains the Story Behind His Visuals
In a statement shared through his Instagram Stories, Anyma described his audiovisual production as a work of science fiction built around contrasting ideas rather than religious or political symbolism.
He characterized the show as “a science-fiction story about darkness and light, destruction and creation, fear and hope,” explaining that its narrative moves through darker moments before ultimately reaching resolution.
The distinction is significant because Anyma’s visual universe has become inseparable from his music. His performances frequently use monumental digital characters, futuristic environments and cinematic sequences to build narratives around technology, humanity, transformation and the relationship between physical and digital worlds.
According to Anyma, selected darker moments from that wider narrative were removed from their original context and presented online in a way that fundamentally changed their meaning.
Anyma Claims Images Were Manipulated With AI
Anyma also made a more striking allegation about the material circulating online. He claimed that images from his show had been manipulated using artificial intelligence, combined with different music and distributed on social media to construct what he described as a false narrative around his work.
“None of my visuals are AI-generated,” Anyma said, calling it ironic that AI had allegedly been used to alter work that critics were presenting as evidence against the show.
He went further, arguing that his art had effectively been transformed into “social media and political propaganda.”
The statement introduces another dimension to the controversy. The debate is no longer solely about how audiences interpret provocative imagery, but also about how easily digital artwork can potentially be altered, removed from its original context and redistributed across social platforms with an entirely different narrative attached to it.
“We Strongly Reject the False Religious and Political Meaning”
Anyma also criticized the process leading to the cancellation, claiming that neither he, the promoter nor his team received a meaningful opportunity to explain the production before permission for the event was withdrawn.
According to the artist, his team was not asked to provide context for the visuals, explain the narrative behind the show or discuss potential adaptations ahead of the planned performance.
We were and are ready to do so,
Anyma said.
He concluded his response by firmly rejecting the interpretations that had become associated with the production.
We strongly reject the false religious and political meaning being attributed to this work.
The statement reframes the dispute from Anyma’s perspective. Rather than defending intentionally religious or occult imagery, the artist argues that a fictional audiovisual narrative was stripped of its context and assigned meanings that were never part of the work itself.
The ÆDEN Era Continues
The canceled Istanbul date forms part of a wider period of activity surrounding Anyma’s ÆDEN project and follows his summer residency at [UNVRS] Ibiza.
The current chapter also follows the deluxe edition of The End of Genesys, released last December, which expanded the audiovisual universe Anyma has developed across his music and live performances.
The Istanbul controversy, however, highlights a very different consequence of building a project around powerful visual storytelling. Images capable of creating spectacle inside an arena can take on entirely different meanings once isolated, altered or redistributed online.
Anyma’s response makes his position clear: the darker imagery exists within a broader science-fiction narrative, not as an expression of the religious or political meanings attributed to it online.
What began as controversy around a concert has therefore developed into a wider conversation about artistic context, digital manipulation and how quickly the meaning of visual art can change once it enters the machinery of social media.
Another Cancellation in Turkey
The controversy also follows other cases in which international artists have faced last-minute concert cancellations in Turkey.
Earlier this year, Irish post-rock group God Is An Astronaut had a performance at the same Ataköy Marina Arena canceled only hours before it was scheduled to begin following accusations that the group promoted Satanism.
Anyma’s case brings that debate into the electronic music world at a moment when visual production is becoming an increasingly important part of large-scale electronic performances.
For artists operating at this level, screens, animation, lighting and digital environments are no longer simply decoration around a DJ set. They can function as narrative tools in their own right, making context increasingly important when individual images escape the environment in which they were originally designed to be experienced.
📷 : Cover Photo / Courtesy of Anyma
📷 : Additional Photo Credits / Courtesy of Anyma
