Admission to Istanbul Biennial is free

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The 13th Istanbul Biennial borrows its title from poet Lale Müldür’s book, ‘Mom, am I barbarian?’ Admission to the biennial exhibitions is free.

The 13th Istanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), will start on Sept. 14 and will be open until Oct. 20. Admission to the biennial exhibitions is free, overlapping with the biennial’s vision to create a public space, reach out to a wider audience, and be accessible to everyone.

Curated by Fulya Erdemci, the 13th Istanbul Biennial, “Mom, am I barbarian?” which borrows its title from poet Lale Müldür’s book, will explore the notion of the public space as a political forum and focus on the relation between art and literature (poetry). With the term “barbarian,” it also signifies the novel languages that we need to learn or are yet to invent in order to understand the “other” and to conceive of the world to come. The exhibition aspires to open up a space to rethink the concept of “publicness” through art, and elicit imagination and innovative thought to contribute to social engagement and discussion.

The 13th Istanbul Biennial exhibitions can be visited free of charge at Antrepo No.3 in Tophane, the Greek Primary School in Karaköy, ARTER and SALT Beyoğlu on Istiklal Avenue and 5533 in the İMÇ 5th Block.

Preparations at exhibition venues

With the exhibition around the corner, the biennial preparations are continuing at the exhibition venues. The event features 88 artists and artist groups whose work problematizes the dichotomies between barbarity and civilization, nature and culture, the singular and the universal, the subject and the social, and randomness and order, and layers these relations visually to unravel linguistic and intellectual processes together with emotional experiences.

Featuring 15 artists, artist collectives, civil society groups and initiatives from Turkey, the 13th Istanbul Biennial is the biennial exhibit with the highest rate of participation from Turkey to date.