Taking place from 16 September – 12 November 2017, the 15th edition of the Istanbul Biennial, entitled ‘a good neighbour’ brings together artworks by 56 artists from 32 countries, all addressing different notions of home, belonging and neighbourhood. The biennial takes place in six neighbouring venues: Istanbul Modern, Galata Greek Primary School, Ark Kültür, Pera Museum, Yoğunluk Atelier, and Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam.
Instead of a statement, the curators, artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset, developed 40 questions that have guided the process of making the exhibition. These questions were first presented live in Istanbul by 40 performers of different ages, genders and backgrounds in December 2016, and were shared on the Biennial’s website and social media accounts. A video documentation of the press conference can found through this youtube link.
“Your neighbour might be someone who lives quite a different life from yours. And hopefully you, unlike many politicians lately, are not the one who chooses to deal with your fear of otherness by fencing yourself off. The artists in the 15th Istanbul Biennial raise questions about ideas of home, neighbourhood, belonging and co-existence from multiple perspectives. Some of the artworks examine how our domestic living conditions and modes have changed and how our neighbourhoods have transformed, while others focus on how we cope with today’s geopolitical challenges on a micro-level. The Biennial takes its form from the invited artists’ personal or analytical statements: an engaging mixture of hopes and visions, of sadness and indignation, of history and present day.”
Elmgreen & Dragset, curators of the 15th Istanbul Biennial
Galata Greek Primary School
Heba Y. Amin
Born in Cairo, lives in Berlin
Mark Dion
Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, lives in New York, NY
Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe
Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Dayton, Ohio, both live in New York, NY
Kasia Fudakowski
Born in London, lives in Berlin
Pedro Gómez-Egaña
Born in Bucaramanga, lives between Bergen and Copenhagen
Lungiswa Gqunta
Born in Port Elizabeth, lives in Cape Town
Andrea Joyce Heimer
Born in Great Falls, Montana, lives in Ferndale, Washington
Morag Keil & Georgie Nettell
Born in Edinburgh and Bedford, both live in London
Olaf Metzel
Born in Berlin, lives in Munich
Mahmoud Obaidi
Born in Baghdad, lives in Burlington, Ontario
Henrik Olesen
Born in Esbjerg, lives in Berlin
Erkan Özgen
Born in Mardin, lives in Diyarbakır
Leander Schönweger
Born in Meran, lives in Vienna
Dan Stockholm
Born in Thisted, lives in Copenhagen
Ali Taptık
Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
Bilal Yılmaz
Born in Manisa, lives in Istanbul
Istanbul Modern
Volkan Aslan
Born in Ankara, lives in Istanbul
Alper Aydın
Born in Ordu, lives between Ordu, Ankara, Konya, and Istanbul
Monica Bonvicini
Born in Venice, lives in Berlin
Louise Bourgeois
Born in Paris, died in New York, NY
Latifa Echakhch
Born in El Khnansa, lives in Martigny
Candeğer Furtun
Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
Kim Heecheon
Born in Seoul, lives in Seoul
Mirak Jamal
Born in Tehran, lives in Berlin
Fernando Lanhas
Born in Porto, died in Porto
Victor Leguy
Born in Sao Paulo, lives in Sao Paulo
Klara Lidén
Born in Stockholm, lives in Berlin
Mahmoud Obaidi
Born in Baghdad, lives in Burlington, Ontario
Lydia Ourahmane
Born in Saida, lives in Oran and London
Rayyane Tabet
Born in Ashquot, lives in Beirut
Young-Jun Tak
Born in Seoul, lives in Berlin
Kaari Upson
Born in San Bernadino, California, lives in Los Angeles, California
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Born in Cape Town, lives in Cape Town
Yonamine
Born in Luanda, lives in Harare
Xiao Yu
Born in Inner Mongolia, lives in Beijing
ARK Kültür
Mahmoud Khaled
Born in Alexandria, lives in Trondheim
Pera Museum
Adel Abdessemed
Born in Constantine, lives in London
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Born in Enugu, lives in Los Angeles, California
Alejandro Almanza Pereda
Born in Mexico City, lives in Guadalajara
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Born in Ghent, lives in Ghent
Vajiko Chachkhiani
Born in Tbilisi, lives in Berlin
Gözde İlkin
Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
Liliana Maresca
Born in Buenos Aires, died in Buenos Aires
Lee Miller
Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, died in Chiddingly, East Sussex
Aude Pariset
Born in Versailles, lives in Berlin
Sim Chi Yin
Born in Singapore, lives in Beijing
Dayanita Singh
Born in New Delhi, lives in New Delhi
Tatiana Trouvé
Born in Cosenza, lives in Paris
Tsang Kinwah
Born in Shantou, lives in Hong Kong
Andra Ursuta
Born in Salonta, lives in New York, NY
Fred Wilson
Born in New York, NY, lives in New York, NY
Yoğunluk Atelier
Yoğunluk
Founded in Istanbul, live in Istanbul
Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam
Monica Bonvicini
Born in Venice, lives in Berlin
Stephen G. Rhodes
Born in Houston, Texas, lives in Berlin
Tuğçe Tuna
Born in Mons, lives in Istanbul
Outside all venues
Burçak Bingöl
Born in Giresun, lives in Istanbul
Lukas Wassmann
Born in Zurich, lives in Berlin