Venice Biennale responds to trouble in Turkey

On the eve of the Venice Biennale's public opening, the gallerist Haldun Dostoğlu hosted an intimate dinner in honour of Ali Kazma's solo presentation in the Turkish pavilion but the mood was far from celebratory. Instead of cheerfully toasting Kazma for his film installation Resistance, 2013, (and the artist's 42nd birthday), Füsun Eczacıbaşı, Orhan Pamuk, Emre Baykal and some of the most influential collectors, patrons and curators in Turkey passed around mobile phones to share Facebook images and recount stories of the weekend's tragic events in Istanbul and around the country. International guests including Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Achim Borchardt-Hume, Adriano Pedrosa and myself listened to their tearful stories and sympathised with their feelings of paralysis being in Venice while Istanbul descended into chaos. 

For the full story click here

Source: The Art Newspaper