The İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) has announced that the 18th İstanbul Biennial, initially planned to meet the audience from September 14 to November 17, 2024, will be rescheduled for 2025 with a new preparation process.
Bige Örer, who has been the Director of the Istanbul Biennial since 2008 and took over the directorship of İKSV Contemporary Art Projects in 2018, declared on December 27, 2023, her decision to step down from her duties at İKSV as of January 15, 2024.
İKSV's statement regarding the 18th Istanbul Biennial is as follows:
"Since March 2023, we have been working with 58 artists from around the world. The conceptual framework of this Biennial aimed to explore the role of art after significant losses and pains, allowing for the production of dozens of new artworks and efficient collaborations both locally and internationally.
"During this time, we received criticism regarding the selection and decision-making processes within the foundation. In response to these critiques, we took action to make all processes more participatory. Although we aimed for the Istanbul Biennial to offer the usual opportunities for artistic expression, dialogue, and coming together, we observed the emergence of factions in the art community in a way we never desired. Artists who had accepted or were considering participating in the Biennial, collaborations, and partnerships were adversely affected. This situation made it impossible to organize the Istanbul Biennial as planned.
"Therefore, we sadly announce to the public that the 18th Istanbul Biennial, initially set to open its doors on September 14, 2024, is postponed. We will present the Istanbul Biennial to the audience again in 2025, taking it through a process within the framework of new regulations, as we always strive to do our best."
What happened?
The 18th edition of the Istanbul Biennial, organized by İKSV, was planned to meet the audience from September 14 to November 17, 2024.
In August 2023, the curatorship of the 18th Istanbul Biennial, previously unanimously assigned to Defne Ayas, was given to British writer and art historian Iwona Blazwick instead. Following the foundation's intervention, independent curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, curator/art historian Selen Ansen, and Armenian artist Sarkis announced their resignations from the advisory board.
While the controversy around Blazwick's curatorship unfolded, Esra Sarıgedik Öktem's resignation from the curatorship of the Venice Biennale Turkish Pavilion added to the discussions. Blazwick's inclusion in the İKSV Advisory Board raised questions about a potential conflict of interest during the process.
İKSV did not provide any explanation for Ayas's removal from her position. Artnet.com reported that the change in leadership brought along discussions of "censorship."
The exhibition catalog of the Turkey Pavilion curated by Ayas at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 included an article by human rights activist and the wife of the slain Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Rakel Dink, on the Armenian Genocide. When this text was censored by the Turkish government, Sarkis exhibited copies of the text in a coffin in the pavilion.