Under the conceptual framework of “Kurgusal Gerçekler, Dönüşümler” (Fictional Realities, Transformations), the biennial presents exhibitions at several venues across the city, including the Naval Museum, the Korfmann Library, the old church and an old warehouse in the bus terminal.Çanakkale, home to one of history’s most famous ancient civilizations with its ruins of Troy, is constantly working at marking its place on the international art map by adding more art events to its agenda every year. The biennial is one such attempt, along with ongoing preparations for an international film festival to be launched early next summer.
“We can establish the new lives that we have been demanding in Çanakkale through art, which will add creativity and enrich all lives and social groups in this city,” says İsmail Erten, the biennial’s curator, on the event’s fan page on Facebook. Erten adds: “Nowadays, this city is embracing art as it never did before. This proves the existence of a certain affinity towards art in this city. … The dream of a brand-new Çanakkale creates a novel ‘fictional reality.’ The genuineness and the prospect of this fictional reality will make possible the ‘transformations’ we need in order to achieve our target of good lives.”
“Looking at the lives of modern-day people, we can see humanity departing from natural reality and being dragged into a vortex of fictional realities,” Seyhan Boztepe, the biennial’s director and co-curator says in explaining the conceptual framework on the fan page. Boztepe adds: “The modern human is … busy with lots of pointless problems, wasting his time and energy. … Situations that humans face in modern life are actually fictional realities; ideas that are nourished and developed by ‘the system’ for the human being to concede these as reality. … Despite the negativity created by this situation, the innate or conscious reaction it draws leads to transformations.”
The biennial aims to highlight artistic reactions of this kind through its exhibitions, which will remain on display until Oct. 10.
