Baykal to represent Turkey in biennial

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Emre Baykal was appointed the curator of the Turkey pavilion by İKSV’s Turkey Pavilion Advisory Board, consisting of Esra Aysun, Cengiz Çekil, Mine Haydaroğlu.

Turkey’s pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2013 will be curated by Emre Baykal, according to a written statement from the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV).

The Turkish pavilion at the Venice Biennial will be coordinated by İKSV with contributions from the Promotion Fund of the Turkish Prime Ministry and sponsored by Fiat in 2013, as it was in 2011.

Baykal was appointed the curator of the Turkey pavilion by İKSV’s Turkey Pavilion Advisory Board, consisting of Esra Aysun, Cengiz Çekil, Mine Haydaroğlu, Adriano Pedrosa and Cristiana Perrella. Baykal worked for the Istanbul Biennial as assistant director from 1995 to 2000 and as its director from 2000 to 2005. In 2005, he co-curated the public space project “Istanbul Pedestrian Exhibition II: Tünel-Karaköy” together with Fulya Erdemci. From 2005 to 2008, he worked as the director of exhibitions at santralistanbul, where he directed the inaugural show titled “Modern and Beyond,” an art-historical account of contemporary art in Turkey, including more than 450 works from the 1950s up to the 2000s.

In 2009, he was invited to DEPO Istanbul as artistic director. Baykal currently works as exhibitions director and curator at ARTER, an initiative of the Vehbi Koç Foundation.

Baykal has curated many group exhibitions including “Second Exhibition” (ARTER, 2010–2011), “Tactics of Invisibility” (with Daniela Zyman, at T-B A21 in Vienna, Tanas in Berlin, and ARTER in Istanbul, 2010–2011), “Mahrem” (in the context of Nilüfer Göle’s “Non-Western Modernities Project,” at santralistanbul, the Kunsthalle Wien Project Space, and Tanas in Berlin, 2007-2008), “Transfer” (a residency project exhibition in collaboration with NRW Kultursekretariat and co-curated by Başak Doğa Temur, santralistanbul, 2007).

The Turkish pavilion at the Venice Biennale has been coordinated by IKSV since 2006. In 2007 Turkey was represented by artist Hüseyin B. Alptekin, under the curatorship of Vasıf Kortun; in 2009 artists Banu Cennetoğlu and Ahmet Öğüt were featured, under the curatorship of Başak Şenova; and in 2011 the pavilion featured artist Ayşe Erkmen, under the curatorship of Fulya Erdemci and with curatorial collaboration from Danae Mossman.