Turkey continues to establish itself as an art friendly place with the Tenth Istanbul Biennial opening this weekend.
When I think of Turkey, I don’t usually think of art. But with the success of the Istanbul Biennial, the opening of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum a couple years ago, and a big Picasso exhibition, things are looking up (for art lovers in Turkey).
There will be 96 artists exhibiting at the 2007 biennale, with 18 of them being from Turkey. The curator for the event this year is Hou Hanru. It has been called “Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary: Optimism in the Age of Global War“, which wouldn’t look out of place on a peace protester’s banner.
Here’s an excerpt from the essay posted on the Istanbul Biennial page (it talks of war, Turkey, art, and moving forward)..
“In this age of global wars and globalization of liberal capitalism, it is not impossible but also necessary to revitalize the debate on modernization and modernity and put forward activist proposals to improve social progress. Today, modernization should be carried out in diverse models, relevant to local conditions and ideals, and in the negotiations between individual localities and the ‘global’. In other words, a bottom-up, truly democratic project of modernization and modernity that is based on the respect of individual rights and humanist values is necessary to bring Turkish society out of its contradiction. And this is also true of the global situation in transition.” Conceptual Framework
Times and venues can be found here.
