18th Istanbul Biennial to be curated by Christine Tohmé

ISTANBUL

The 18th Istanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will be curated by Christine Tohmé.

The 18th Istanbul Biennial will unfold in three distinct legs, each building on the previous one and carrying forward lines of inquiry and research from 2025 to 2027.

The first leg will feature exhibitions and public programs running from Sept. 20 to Nov. 23, 2025. Throughout 2026, the Biennial will focus on establishing a permanent educational structure and offering a quarterly public program in close collaboration with local art initiatives. This edition will culminate between Sept. 18 and Nov. 14, 2027, with a series of exhibitions, publications, performances and discursive gatherings.

This three-legged biennial attempts to reclaim “time,” a necessary ingredient for transformative artistic processes, by stretching its timeframe and generating different strides.

In her proposal, Tohmé said: “I have found working in the arts to be most transformative, not only in moments of formal presentation but, more importantly, during its production—in the creative process, everyday exchanges, openings, studio visits, and reading groups. Therefore, the 18th Istanbul Biennial should invest as much in the production process as in its presentation. The extended timeframe of three years will allow the Biennial to engage more deeply with the local scene and foster projects and collaborations around collective questions, contexts, and communities. Its multi-year program aims to support generations of artists in connecting with their regional and international peers, building alliances, and confronting new realities.”

The first leg of the Biennial will focus on themes of self-preservation and futurities. In the face of precarity and recurring crises, how do material conditions and lack of safety affect our daily lives and shape our relationships with ourselves, our bodies, and our communities? How do we create spaces of respite, foster unconventional solidarities, and devise counterstrategies of resistance? What futures can we envision in a dual movement of repair and forward imagination? How can we inhabit our worlds as they unravel, making space for both nightmares and dreams, impermanence and endurance? Through such questions, art, dialogue and collective action, this phase seeks to challenge conventional narratives of survival, offering new ways to navigate uncertainty and reimagine what is possible.

For the first leg in 2025, artists are invited to submit their dossiers. The deadline for submission is Dec. 15.