SALT is a Turkish contemporary art institution. It was started by Vasif Kortun and Garanti Bank in 2011, and has exhibition and workshop spaces in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey. It combines the previous activities of the Garanti Gallery, the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre and the Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center of the bank. It is one of the six members of L'Internationale, a confederation of European art institutions; the other member institutions are the Moderna galerija in Ljubljana, in Slovenia; the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, in Spain; the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona in Barcelona, also in Spain; the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen in Antwerp, in Belgium; and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands.

SALT has three exhibition spaces, all owned by Garanti BBVA: the former headquarters of the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Galata, Istanbul; a former apartment block, the Siniossoglou Apartments, in Beyoğlu, Istanbul; and a former guest-house of the Ottoman Bank in Ulus, Ankara.

In 2012, the artist and curator Didem Özbek staged her project He was working on a project in order to open a watermelon exhibition at Salt Galata, drawing on Sait Faik Abasıyanık's story Bir Karpuz Sergisi (English: A Watermelon Exhibition).

Design and Construction of the Building (1892) The Salt Galata building, located on Bankalar Street in Karaköy, Istanbul, was designed by French Levantine architect Alexandre Vallaury. It served as the headquarters of the Imperial Ottoman Bank (Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane) between 1892 and 1999.

Urban and Architectural Context of Bankalar Street (19th–20th Century) In the 19th century, as Westernization influences became apparent in the area known as Voyvoda Street, the establishment of banks such as the Central Bank, Ottoman Bank, İş Bank, Sümerbank, Tutum Bank, Deutsche Orient Bank, and Eti Bank led to the street being renamed Bankalar Street. The buildings are typically masonry brick structures featuring neoclassical façades. The Art Nouveau and Rococo styles of the period are also evident on the façades. Although the number of reinforced concrete buildings increased during the Republican era, the 19th-century streetscape still remains dominant.

Transformation in the Republican Period (1923–1990s)

With the establishment of the Republic, banks moved to the new capital, Ankara. As the population shifted along the street, the area, which had previously displayed Western architectural influences, evolved during the 1940s and 1950s into a center for electrical and lighting manufacturing. In Turkey, the use of historic buildings as museums dates back to the Ottoman period. Starting from the late 20th century, the practice of converting traditional buildings into museums, a trend common in many countries, gained significant traction in Anatolia during the 2000s.

Restoration and Reuse as Salt Galata (1998–2011) In 1998, Garanti Bank became the main shareholder of the building. While a bank branch operated on the ground floor, the structure functioned as the Ottoman Bank Banking and Financial Research Center. After undergoing various structural interventions, the building was repurposed and reopened in November 2011 under the name Salt Galata, serving as a cultural and arts center that also includes the Ottoman Bank Museum. The adaptive reuse project was carried out by Mimarlar Tasarım under the direction of Aga Khan Award-winning architect Han Tümertekin, while the restoration project was led by Yegân Kahya.