ArtIstanbul Feshane hosts Asia-Europe Mediations Biennial

ISTANBUL

ArtIstanbul Feshane, one of the historical places brought to the city after a comprehensive restoration process carried out by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Cultural Heritage Department (İBB Heritage), meets art lovers with a new exhibition.

Located on the banks of the Golden Horn, ArtIstanbul Feshane hosts an international exhibition within the scope of the 10th Asia-Europe Mediations Biennial, titled “I am Another You, You are Another Me,” joined by 17 curators and 154 artists.

The 2023 exhibition of the Mediations Biennial, founded by the artist Professor Thomasz Wedland and his team in Poznan, Poland in 2008, opened on Oct. 31 and will continue through Dec. 11 in the context of the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye.

At a press conference recently held for the event, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu expressed that the biennial coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Türkiye, and emphasized that Istanbul is one of the most valuable art cities in the world.

Stating that art has a great power on the world, İmamoğlu said, “Art has the power to overcome all conflicts and all negativities and bring the masses together with goodness, beauty, peace and tranquility. It has a healing power. I do not believe that a person surrounded by art can live a life full of violence and anger. On the contrary, it will make a person feel at peace. Every branch of art and every work affects me in this way."

The 10th Asia-Europe Mediations Biennial is the result of a collaboration of 17 curators from various countries. Paintings, 3D works, photographs, videos and digital works of approximately 154 artists invited by the curators meet the audience in the magnificent atmosphere of ArtIstanbul Feshane.

Artists from 33 European and 34 Asian countries have participated in more than 10 exhibitions in the 15-year 10th Asia-Europe Mediations Biennial exhibition series, which aims to present Conceptual Art and Media Art productions in a global context.

The Mediations Biennial ensures that artists and curators, who live in a very wide geography and need support and solidarity in terms of communication and cooperation, meet with a wide audience in various cities through joint work.

It aims to overcome political, economic, cultural and ecological negativities in a global context and act as a peaceful, constructive and conciliatory mediator between the artist's creativity and production and the masses.

From modernism to the present day, productions in the field of contemporary arts, the ideas and concepts underlying these productions have been built on the ideal of truth, which is the dominant ideal of all societies, and the improvement of individual and social life by this ideal, and images have been created accordingly.

Today's scientific and technological developments enable these metaphors to be produced in an impressive way. The general and traditional opinion is that art and culture are important areas of production in terms of “truth” and “reality.”

The exhibition emphasizes this importance with the intellectual, formal and aesthetic values reflected by the works.