Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev to Lead 2015 Istanbul Biennial

The 14th Istanbul Biennial (5 September–1 November 2015), organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, will be drafted by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev with a number of alliances. She will seek the artistic advice of Cevdet Erek, the intellectual rigor of Griselda Pollock, the sensitivity of Pierre Huyghe, the curatorial imagination of Chus Martinez, the mindfulness of Marcos Lutyens, the acute gaze of Füsun Onur, the political philosophies of Anna Boghiguian, the youthful enthusiasm of Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran, the wise uncertainties of William Kentridge and manifold qualities and agencies to come as the process develops.

“The Istanbul Biennial,” according to Christov-Bakargiev, “will embark looking for where to draw the line, to withdraw, to draw upon, and to draw out. It will do so offshore, on the flat surfaces with our fingertips but also in the depths, underwater, before the enfolded encoding unfolds.”

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is an author, an organizer of events and exhibitions, and a researcher of artistic practices, the histories of art and the politics of aesthetics. She is the Edith Kreeger Wolf Distinguished Visiting Professor in Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University (2013–15). She received the Leverhulme Professorship from the University of Leeds for 2014. In 2013, she was the Menschel Visiting Professor in Art at The Cooper Union, New York, as well as the Pernod Ricard Visiting Professor in the philosophy of art and naturecultures at the Goethe – Universität Frankfurt am Main / Institut für Philosophie. She has lectured widely on the relationship between the arts and the sciences, including most recently at Harvard University (2014). From 2009 to 2012, she was the artistic director of dOCUMENTA (13) which took place in 2012 in Kassel, Germany as well as in Kabul, Afghanistan; Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt; and Banff, Canada. Previously, Christov-Bakargiev was the artistic director of the 16th Biennale of Sydney (Revolutions—Forms That Turn, 2008) and chief curator at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art (2002–8, interim director in 2009). She was senior curator at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA affiliate in New York, from 1999 to 2001. Other group exhibitions she has organized include The Moderns, Turin (2003), Faces in the Crowd, London and Turin (2004), Citta’ Natura (1997), and Molteplici Culture (1992). Her books include William Kentridge (1998), Arte Povera (1999), and for dOCUMENTA (13) the 100 Notes—100 Thoughts series as well as The Logbook and The Book of Books (2011–12).

The Istanbul Biennial advisory board members include Adriano Pedrosa, Başak Şenova, İnci Eviner, Iwona Blazwick, and Ute Meta Bauer.

The 14th Istanbul Biennial is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and sponsored by Koç Holding and other supporters, international funders, and funding bodies to be announced.