Gülsün Karamustafa to represent Türkiye in Venezia

ISTANBUL

An installation by the influential artist Gülsün Karamustafa will be presented at the Türkiye Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, to be held between April 20 and Nov. 24, 2024.

Curated by Esra Sarıgedik Öktem, the exhibition will take place at the Türkiye Pavilion located in its long-term venue at the Arsenale, secured by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) for the duration of 20 years from 2014 to 2034.

Bige Örer, Director of Istanbul Biennial and İKSV Contemporary Art Projects stated: “We have a long-standing working relationship with Gülsün Karamustafa. She is one of the leading figures of the contemporary art scene in Türkiye and her work has travelled and found its significance in many different parts of the world. Her layered artistic practice engages with the most pressing issues of our time such as displacement and migration, exile and ethnicity, sexuality and gender and many other socio-political issues which will have a dialogue with the conceptual framework of the main exhibition titled ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, curated by Adriano Pedrosa.”

Karamustafa is known for her materially and methodologically diverse works that are born out of personal and historical narratives. Throughout her densely woven artistic production that spans over five decades, Karamustafa has been utilizing varied techniques, mediums, and methods to create paintings, installations, ready-mades, assemblages, photographs and videos that mainly scrutinise and showcase the historical injustices within the socio-political realm.

Primarily focused on issues related to the modernization of Türkiye, displacement, memory, migration, and gender, Karamustafa is hailed as one of the most outspoken and influential contemporary artists in the country that has inspired the new generation of artists.