New Dates, Format and Participants of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial Announced

Design: Studio Maria João Macedo. Image courtesy of Istanbul Design Biennial.

5th Istanbul Design Biennial
Empathy Revisited
October 15, 2020 – November 15, 2020
https://tasarimbienali.iksv.org/en

Curated by Mariana Pestana with Sumitra Upham (Curator of Programmes) and Billie Muraben (Assistant Curator & Deputy Editor), and organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the sponsorship of VitrA, the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial will open on 15 October 2020. With a new structure that brings together different formats of display, the biennial will be held under the title Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one with participants from various countries and disciplines intervening in exhibition venues, outdoor spaces and digital platforms.

2020 has been marked and will be remembered by a global crisis caused by the new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Following the pandemic, creative industries have stopped their conventional operations and shifted focus in order to find new working methods and paradigms. In times of “physical distancing” the Istanbul Design Biennial, which is by nature focused on dialogue, presents new forms of encounter to reach out to its audience and enlarge their experience.

In light of the current events, the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial reappraises its format to foreground practices of care, localism and new models of co-existence. It presents a generative programme comprising three main axes: an online series titled Critical Cooking Show, a set of research projects on the Mediterranean basin to be archived at the Library of Land and Sea, and a series of interventions in the city, titled New Civic Rituals.

Previously announced to take place on September, the biennial will open on 15 October 2020 with the Critical Cooking Show, and the launch of the research projects displayed at the Library of Land and Sea at ARK Kültür. New Civic Rituals will populate the city of Istanbul and Pera Museum, as and when the context permits. The projects displayed at Pera Museum and ARK Kültür will be open to visit until 15 November 2020, whereas the interventions in the city, research projects and video series will continue to evolve through 2021. This format proposes new modes of engaging with design in line with the current restrictions around social distancing articulating mostly outdoor activities directed at local audiences, while also providing content for a global spectatorship.