Çanakkale Biennial kicks off today

ISTANBUL

The ninth edition of the Çanakkale Biennial, organized by CABININ – Çanakkale Biennial Initiative, a civil initiative that has brought together different communities around contemporary art in the northwestern province of Çanakkale since 2008, kicks off today.

This year’s event, with the title of “Leaving It to Time” and the participation of over 50 artists, is designed to create a lively platform focusing on current issues, where young people can experience the rich ecosystem of contemporary art.

Under the General Artistic Directorship of Seyhan Boztepe, founder of the Çanakkale Biennial Initiative, the event will continue through Nov. 11 with various artists and exhibition projects.

The biennial will spread this richness of content to historical and cultural venues in the city center, the Troy Museum and its surroundings, and for the first time in the history of the biennial, to art and cultural structures in areas such as Assos and Küçükkuyu.

The ninth Çanakkale Biennial focuses on youth through three main axes centered around the concept of “Leaving it to Time.” The first axis revolves around the visual culture of the youth shaped by digital technologies, gaming culture and communication tools. The second axis addresses artistic approaches to urgent issues affecting young people, such as the future of professions, environmental sustainability and mobility. The third axis emphasizes the central role of art in the transmission and interpretation of cultural heritage, traditions and collective memory.

Troy, one of the most unique cultural heritage sites in the world, and the Troy Museum, which opened its doors in 2018, will once again host exhibitions that are in dialogue with the cultural and historical layers of the geography in the biennial.

The temporary exhibition hall of the museum will host a selection signed by Didem Çapa from the exhibitions held in recent years by Maçka Sanat. The different areas of the Troy Museum will also be the scene of interesting artistic encounters.

An international exhibition, curated by Deniz Erbaş and Swedish Ulrika Flink focuses on the concepts of play and building worlds and will spread to the Troy Foundation Korfmann Library and its surroundings.

At Mahal, the art center of the Çanakkale Biennial Initiative for the past 11 years, a special edition of Burak Topçakıl's "New Ordinary" exhibitions, curated in recent years with new generation artists, will take place with the support of the SAHA Association.