Istanbul Biennial

Istanbul Biennial İstanbul Bienali
Begins	Mid September
Ends	Mid November
Frequency	Every two years (odd years)
Location(s)	Istanbul, Turkey
Inaugurated	1987
Most recent	2011
Genre	Contemporary art
Patron(s)	İstanbul Kültür Sanat Vakfı (IKSV)
Website	www.iksv.org/bienal

The International Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition, held every two years in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The biennial is organised by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. The Biennial aims to create a meeting point in İstanbul in the field of visual arts between artists from diverse cultures and the audience. The ten biennials İKSV has organised up to now have enabled the formation of an international cultural network between local and international art circles, artists, curators and art critics by bringing together new trends in contemporary art every two years.

Considered as one of the most prestigious biennials alongside Venice, São Paulo and Sydney, the International İstanbul Biennial prefers an exhibition model which enables a dialogue between artists and the audience through the work of the artists instead of a national representation model. The curator, appointed by an international advisory board, develops a conceptual framework according to which a variety of artists and projects are invited to the exhibition.

The most comprehensive international art exhibition organised both in Turkey and throughout the geographical sphere we are in, the İstanbul Biennial plays an important role in the promotion of contemporary artists not only from Turkey but from a number of different countries in the international arena.

The opportunity to follow developments and discussions in the art world, and therefore a complementary educational programme is provided both for students and viewers of art through the exhibitions and simultaneously translated panel discussions, conferences and workshops organised within the scope of the exhibitions.

After the first two biennials realised under the general coordination of Beral Madra in 1987 and 1989, İKSV decided to adapt a single curator system following the İstanbul Biennial directed by Vasif Kortun in 1992. The Biennial was organised under the curatorship of René Block in 1995, Rosa Martínez in 1997, Paolo Colombo in 1999, Yuko Hasegawa in 2001, Dan Cameron in 2003, Charles Esche and Vasif Kortun in 2005 and Hou Hanru in 2007 and will be realised by the Zagreb-based curators collective What, How & for Whom / WHW in 2009.

Past Biennals

Installation from Istanbul 2005 Biennial

• 1987 "Contemporary Art in Traditional Spaces" General Coordinator: Beral Madra
• 1989 "Contemporary Art in Traditional Spaces" General Coordinator: Beral Madra
• 1992 "Production of Cultural Difference" Director: Vasif Kortun
• 1995 "Orient-ation - The Image of Art in a Paradoxical World" Curator: René Block
• 1997 "On Life, Beauty, Translations and Other Difficulties" Curator: Rosa Martinez
• 1999 "The Passion and the Wave" Curator: Paolo Colombo
• 2001 "Egofugal - Fugue from Ego for the Next Emergence" Curator: Yuko Hasegawa
• 2003 "Poetic Justice" Curator: Dan Cameron
• 2005 "İstanbul" Curators: Charles Esche and Vasif Kortun
• 2007 "Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary: Optimism in the Age of Global War" Curator: Hou Hanru
• 2009 "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"
• 2011 "Untitled" Curators: Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann

Participating artists at the 2005 Istanbul Biennial

• Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin,
• Pawel Althamer,
• Halil Altındere,
• Yochai Avrahami,
• Yael Bartana,
• Otto Berchem,
• Johanna Billing,
• Michael Blum,
• Daniel Bozhkov,
• Pavel Büchler,
• Phil Collins,
• Smadar Dreyfus,
• Lukas Duwenhögger,
• Maria Eichhorn,
• Gardar Eide Einarsson,
• Hala Elkoussy,
• Jon Mikel Euba,
• Cerith Wyn Evans,
• Jakup Ferri,

Flying City,

• Luca Frei,
• Erik Göngrich,
• Gruppo A12,
• Daniel Guzman,
• Hatice Güleryüz,
• IRWIN,
• Chris Johanson,
• Y.Z. Kami,
• Karl-Heinz Klopf,
• Servet Koçyigit,
• Yaron Leshem,
• David Maljkovic,
• Oda Projesi,
• Paulina Olowska,
• Silke Otto-Knapp,
• Ahmet Ögüt,
• Serkan Özkaya ,
• Sener Özmen,
• Dan Perjovschi,
• Ola Pehrson,
• Khalil Rabah,

Mario Rizzi,

• • RUANGRUPA,
• Solmaz Shahbazi,
• Wael Shawky,
• Ahlam Shibli,
• Sean Snyder,
• edko Solakov,
• Superflex/ Jens Haaning,
• Pilvi Takala,
• Tintin Wulia,
• Alexander Ugay/ Roman Maskalev,
• Axel John Wieder/Jesko Fezer

See also

• Istanbul Modern
• Art exhibition
• Biennale (disambiguation)
• Proje4L / Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art
• Dogancay Museum

External links

• Istanbul Biennale official website