What You Need to Know About the 17th Istanbul Biennial

We finally regained the Istanbul Biennial, where we took a long break due to the pandemic. This fine art event, which takes place with the slogan “Change with Art, Transform the World”, takes place between 17 September and 20 November. Here’s what you need to know about the biennial…

Curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Amar Kanwar and David Teh, the 17th Istanbul Biennial features over 500 participants and more than 50 projects. There are artists, thinkers, writers, poets, researchers, architects, radio programmers, fishermen, activists, stand-up comedians, conductors, ethnomusicologists, ornithologists, marine scientists, puppeteers and musicians among the biennial participants.

In addition to 12 exhibition venues in Beyoğlu, Fatih, Kadıköy and Zeytinburnu, the Biennial meets the audience at a radio station and more than 50 second-hand booksellers, bookstores, restaurants, cinemas and hospitals.

The 17th Istanbul Biennial brings together participants from various disciplines who think alike and produce on similar topics in different geographies. The biennial, in which collaborative projects, each of which is the result of long-term research, are presented to the audience, is an invitation to spend time together, think, talk, listen, read, watch, ask questions and seek answers.