17th Istanbul Biennial Visited by Close to 500,000 People

Tarek Atoui. Photo: Sahir Uğur Eren.

17th Istanbul Biennial
September 17, 2022 – November 20, 2022
https://bienal.iksv.org/en

The 17th Istanbul Biennial, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and supported by the 2007–2036 Biennial Sponsor Koç Holding, came to a close on Sunday, 20 November 2022.

The biennial was visited by close to 500,000 people in 9 weeks as of 17 September, the day it had opened its doors to the public.

Acting as a host across the city, the biennial spanned 12 exhibition venues that are diverse in nature in the Zeytinburnu, Kadıköy, Fatih and Beyoğlu districts, as well as bookstores, second-hand booksellers, cafés, restaurants, metro stops and a radio station.

More than 500 contributors

Directed by Bige Örer and curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Amar Kanwar and David Teh, this edition brought together people and processes in a gathering of 55 projects by over 500 contributors including artists, thinkers, writers, poets, puppeteers, researchers, environmentalists, architects, radio hosts, fisherfolk, buffalo herders, activists, conductors, ethnomusicologists, ornithologists and many others.

Exhibition venues

Zeytinburnu Medicinal Plants Garden, Müze Gazhane (Gashouse Museum), arthereistanbul, Barın Han, The Çinili Hamam, Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum, Büyükdere35, Central Greek High School for Girls, SAHA Studio, Metro İstanbul Yaklaşım Tüneli Taksim and Performistanbul Live Art Research Space (PCSAA) were the 12 venues that hosted the biennial projects. In addition, Nostalji Books & Coffee served as the main venue and the meeting point of biennial’s Poetry Channel programme.

Close to 250 events in 9 weeks

Close to 250 free activities, where the biennial hosted participants from various disciplines such as researchers, artists, thinkers, musicians, puppeteers, comedians and poets, were an integral part of the biennial.

Thousands of people participated in these activities including nature walks, poetry readings, dumpling festival, magazine launches, film screenings, panels, interviews, workshops and outdoor walks.

The public programme of the biennial was coordinated by Zeyno Pekünlü.

Radyo Bienal

For global audiences, Radyo Bienal has engaged Turkish-speaking communities with a 26-episode weekly programme hosted by Açık Radyo (Open Radio), an independent and egalitarian terrestrial radio channel, as well as featuring an English podcast series that can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Children and Youth

The biennial reached more than 3,000 children and young people with many different activities from bird observations to artist workshops.

Free workshops were organised for different age groups at the Pera Museum with the support of Koç Holding throughout the biennial.

Stroller tours were also offered to parents and caregivers who visited the biennial with their infants at Müze Gazhane.

What Are The Birds Thinking?

Within the scope of the biennial, the project titled “What Are The Birds Thinking?” invited children and accompanying adults to lift their heads up and think about birds. The project, realised by the Istanbul Biennial and İKSV Alt Kat, was a collaboration between Education Reform Initiative (ERG), Hisar Schools, Teachers Network and Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum Learning Programmes and Today at Apple. The answers and observations by children in text, painting, photograph, audio or video formats are now available to view on the project’s website.

Generous Listening workshops

During the biennial, İKSV Alt Kat organised activities for children between the ages of 7-9 at Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam with the cooperation of the Istanbul Biennial and the project partner Vuslat Foundation. Based on the work of the sound artist and composer Tarek Atoui, the workshops were designed and conducted by Atölye Pikolo.

Biennial publications

Guide and catalogue

Within the scope of the biennial, a guide and a catalogue were published in cooperation with Yapı Kredi Publications and with the contributions of the Vehbi Koç Foundation.

The guidebook includes detailed information and photos of all biennial projects. The biennial catalogue titled Afterthoughts includes articles that the curators brought together to convey their thoughts and dreams about the biennial to the audience in a more comprehensive way.

Poetry Channel

Conceived for the biennial, Poetry Channel programme called for the poet’s mind and words to guide new ways of thinking in these unprecedented times. It brought together 15 contemporary poets to respond to the current course of world events by writing one poem every month throughout 2021. It was also informed by the poetic liaisons of two poets from the past, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Nâzım Hikmet, both long gone, yet speaking to us today more powerfully than ever before.

A selection from the poems is brought together in a poetry book, available online in English.

Optigull and Pesigull: Roads of Poetry

As part of the biennial, the third adventure in the Optigull and Pesigull series, Opti ile Pesi: Şiirli Yollar (Optigull and Pesigull: Roads of Poetry) was published in Turkish with the support of the Jan Michalski Foundation from Switzerland. As the previous books in the series, Opti ile Pesi: Şiirli Yollar was written by Yekta Kopan and illustrated by Gökçe Akgül, under the editorial direction of Burcu Ural Kopan. The book was distributed free of charge at biennial venues and İKSV Alt Kat. Besides, various events in connection with the book were held for children, who were able to join the adventures of Istanbul’s seagulls and engage closely with the biennial projects.

Dumpling Post

Conceived with the collaboration of the Istanbul Biennial, Hrant Dink Foundation and 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory, the printed edition of the Dumpling Post was distributed free of charge at the biennial venues. The publication, which drew attention to various social, historical and political issues and contributed by more than 30 people, included dumpling recipes, dumpling stories, essays and opinion articles.

Anne(x)

Oda Projesi published the seventh issue of Anne(x) newspaper, which was produced for the 17th Istanbul Biennial. The publication was informed by the collective’s longstanding research into ‘motherhood and production’ and a series of meetings and interviews conducted with groups of mothers and non-mothers from the cultural sector in various geographies.

Crip Magazine

Eva Egermann’s self-published art-zine project Crip Magazine’s fifth issue was published on the occasion of the biennial. The issue was prepared following the research of Egermann with the work of artists, activists and scholars from Turkey around the themes of disability.

A permanent commission by Ayşe Erkmen: Golden Horn in the Golden Horn

Since its 15th edition in 2017, the Istanbul Biennial has invited an artist to present a permanent artwork in the public space for each edition, in cooperation with the 2007–2036 Biennial Sponsor Koç Holding.

This year, acclaimed artist Ayşe Erkmen has been commissioned to create a permanent new sculptural work for the biennial titled Golden Horn in the Golden Horn. Located in Akşemsettin Park between Balat Hospital and the ferry dock, Golden Horn in the Golden Horn is informed by the mysterious and dynamic form of The Golden Horn, the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

Supporters

The 17th Istanbul Biennial was organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Koç Holding. This year, Koç Holding announced that their sponsorship, which was set to cover the period from 2007 to 2026, would be extended until 2036.

İKSV acknowledges the kind contributions of the 17th Istanbul Biennial’s supporters.