Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary artexhibition, held every two years in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts since its inception. The Biennial aims to create a meeting point in Istanbul in the field of visual arts between artists from diverse cultures and the audience. The biennials IKSV has organized 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.
Format
Istanbul Biennial adheres to an exhibition model in which 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. After the first two biennials realized under the general coordination of Beral Madra in 1987 and 1989, IKSV decided to commission a different curator for each edition, starting with the 1992 Istanbul Biennial directed by Vasif Kortun. The most comprehensive international art exhibition organized in Turkey and the wider region, Istanbul Biennial plays an important role as a local and regional platform for artists to reach an international audience, and for the local audiences to meet artists from around the World. The opportunity to follow developments and discussions in the art world through a complementary educational programme is provided both for students and viewers of art through the exhibitions and simultaneously translated panel discussions, conferences and workshops organized within the scope of the exhibitions. Istanbul’s 13th biennial in 2013 was overtaken by political events; its theme was art in public spaces but was forced to retreat indoors after many of the scheduled venues filling with plumes of tear gas and water cannon as police and demonstrators clashed had been tuned into a battleground between demonstrators trying to protect the city’s Gezi Park. The 2015 edition presented new works by more than 50 visual artists as well as oceanographers and neuroscientists.
Past Biennals
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
Participating artists at the 2005 Istanbul Biennial
Participating artists at the 12th Istanbul Biennial, 2011
The 12th Istanbul Biennial was curated by Jens Hoffmann and Adriano Pedrosa, and ran from September 17 – November 13, 2011. The shows spanned two buildings at Istanbul's Antrepo.
Group Exhibitions
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
"Untitled"
Solo Artists
Past venues
The 2009 biennial took place at three venues on the European side of the city: Antrepo, or warehouse, No. 3 in Tophane; the Tobacco Warehouse, also in Tophane; and the Feriköy Greek School, in Şişli. All of the art selected for the 2011 edition was shown at one central location, in Warehouses No. 3 and 5 next to the Istanbul Modern museum.
