VACD graduates and students participate in the 13th Istanbul Biennial.
Our VACD graduates and students make their mark on the 13th Istanbul Biennial.
VACD MA student Serkan Taycan and VACD BA09/MA12 alumnus Didem Erk participate in the 13th Istanbul Biennial. Serkan Taycan’s works can be seen at Galata Greek Primary School and Didem Erk’s at Beyoğlu Arter. Other alumni taking part in 13th Istanbul Biennial team are Project Coordinator Demet Yıldız (VACD BA06/CULT MA09), Social Media Curator Övül Durmuşoğlu (VACD MA05), and Curatorial Collaborator Adnan Yıldız (VACD MA04).
The 13th Istanbul Biennial, titled “Mom, am I Barbarian?”, curated by Fulya Erdemci and focusing on the theme of public space as a political forum opens on Saturday, 14 September. The exhibition will be open until 20 October and free of charge to create a public domain and become accessible for everyone.
Featuring 88 artists and art collectives from different generations and geographies, the 13th Istanbul Biennial hosts 11 artists and 2 art groups/collectives from Turkey. 3 artist collaborations are also among the participants. The 13th Istanbul Biennial is one of the biennial editions which feature a high number of participants from Turkey.
Didem Erk’s work exhibited at the 13th Istanbul Biennial, “I wish I could not be traced in the archives (Sırkıran | Secret Decipherer | Mistiko Spastis) ” (2013) is an ongoing project she developed during her time in Nicosia, Cyprus. She began viewing the city as a library, and began reading and walking along the North and South parts. Finding the city to be full of stories (much like any other city), and since language is a place, Erk began treating Nicosia as a library of sorts, a container of stories. The records of the artist’s performance, which she did in both Northern and Southern Cyprus, were shown along the north - south axes in the exhibition space as well.
The project titled “Between Two Seas” (2013) that Serkan Taycan produced for the 13th Istanbul Biennial is about ‘Kanal Istanbul’, one of the mega urban transformation projects that the city of Istanbul is going through. Taycan takes a closer look at ‘Kanal Istanbul’ and experiences by walking this ‘Crazy’ project that is planned to be opened between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea and contain two cities with a population of one million in each. The artist walks on this route of 69 kilometers for four days. Aiming to share his experience with the viewer and all interested Istanbulites, he photographs each kilometer of the path that he has opened by his act of walking.
For more information about 13th Istanbul Bienali: http://13b.iksv.org/en/