This year’s attendance figures mean a solid success for the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (İKSV), which has been organizing the biennial since 1987. The total number of visitors at this year’s exhibition is more than 10 percent higher than the figure seen in the 10th biennial, held in 2007. That edition, which drew 91,000 visitors, was also a great success as it almost doubled attendance figures compared to its predecessor in 2005, which attracted 51,000 art lovers.The biennial also attracted a high level of international interest, according to the İKSV. “More than 600 members of the press from 35 countries followed the event in addition to around 4,000 art professionals, such as critics, curators and museum and art gallery directors from around the world,” the foundation said in a written statement.
The 11th biennial, held under the conceptual framework “What Keeps Mankind Alive?” under the curatorship of the Zagreb-based curators collective What, How & for Whom (WHW), featured 141 works of art by 70 artists and artists groups from 40 countries. Turning the city into a platform of contemporary art from Sept. 12 until Nov. 8, the biennial showcased its exhibitions at three venues: the old customs warehouse Antrepo No. 3 in Karaköy; the old tobacco warehouse in Tophane; and the Feriköy Greek School in Şişli, which served as an art space for the first time in its history. The school had been empty since it closed in 2003 due to a lack of students.
Billed as “the most comprehensive international art exhibition organized both in Turkey and throughout the geographical sphere Turkey is located in” and considered one of the most prestigious biennials alongside Venice, Sao Paolo and Sydney, the İstanbul Biennial prefers a model of display that enables dialogue between artists and the audience; it offers the work of artists individually instead of a national representation model arranged into separate pavilions for each country. The biennial thus serves as an opportunity for contemporary artists to be promoted internationally.
