In Türkiye, when something matters, it shows up on the outside, visible across balconies, windows and streets, shared openly and impossible to ignore.
Think, flags draped from balconies, stretched across streets, pinned into daily life without ceremony. And for the launch of Türkiye’s new jersey, Nike tapped into that instinct, replacing the flag with the national team shirt and letting the city do the rest.
What followed didn’t need much explanation. The kit appeared where it made sense: in windows, on buildings, woven into the rhythm of Istanbul, alongside some of the national team’s most recognisable stars. People saw it before they were told about it – and that was the point.
Ces, the renowned AI Artist, came after. Not to define the campaign, but to sit inside it. Based in Istanbul, Ces works in a space that resists easy labels. Part image-maker, part observer and using AI as a tool rather than a statement. “My work sits somewhere between photography, design, and imagination,” he says. “I like blending real-life textures with unexpected elements.”
Contrary to what you might be used to of AI, Ces’s focus is less on invention and more on adjustment. For him, it’s about recontextualising familiar things and making people look at them twice.
For this project, that meant following the city rather than directing it. “It was never just about football,” he says “I wanted it to reflect the feeling of the streets; the rhythm, the chaos, the pride.”
The shirt remains present, but, in this instance, not dominant. It belongs to the environment, shaped by it. “I didn’t want the jersey to feel forced. I let the environment lead. When it works, it feels like it’s always been there.”
That approach avoids the usual traps. Turkish football culture is often reduced to a series of loud signals, intensity packaged into something easily understood. Ces moves away from that. “It’s everything being amplified. Colours, sounds, reactions. It’s not just support, it’s identity.”
He doesn’t try to explain it beyond that. “Cliché usually comes from trying too hard to define something instead of just showing it.”
The medium could have complicated things. AI imagery still carries a certain distance, particularly when applied to something as specific as place. Ces, though, closes that gap by keeping the imperfections in.
“I’m always looking for tension,” he says. “Something slightly off in a normal scene.” A gesture, a contrast, a moment that doesn’t quite settle. The result is controlled, but not clean.
His images hold onto the density of the city rather than smoothing it out. “Everyday life already has so much depth. People just overlook it.” His job, as he sees it, is to stop that from happening. “There’s an endless depth to Türkiye,” he adds. “Tradition and modernity, chaos and beauty, all at the same time.”
That balance runs through the work without needing to be spelled out. Nike found its idea in a behaviour people already understood. Ces then wasn’t invited to reshape it, but to extend it by giving it a second layer that feels closer to observation than interpretation.
