Istanbul never ceases to impress me: its scale, its grandeur, its luxuriousness combined with the typical Balkan/Mid-Eastern chaos (forgive the cliché). Indeed, much has been written on Istanbul’s state of hybridity, and its East-meets-West character…what better platform for an international art event than this vibrant city? If current debates within the art world have been negotiating how to navigate between locality, regionalism and internationalism, then this 10th International Istanbul Biennial, curated by Hou Hanru, with the illustrious title “Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary:Optimism in the Age of Global War” departs from the premise that “Urbanization, or explosive urban expansion in the Istanbul fashion, is the most visible and significant sign of modernization. Exploring the urban and architectural conditions of Istanbul has hence become a starting point and a central reference to the conception of this Biennial.” Let’s see the coming days whether this Biennial can live up to the pressure of “tak[ing]on the reality of life in this sleepless city”.
My first few hours in Istanbul – after a (far too) early flight from Amsterdam – were marked by biennial party hopping, and little art. From one drink to the other, from one social gathering to the other…it seems as if the meta-text of these big international art events is an excuse to get a bunch of curators, artists and art travelers together to drink and gossip (and why not?). I was also struck – as I always am when occasionally dipping into these events – by the “everyone is here” effect. Every 5’ I would meet someone I know.
Enough gossip though, and let’s get down to the art – which is after all why we all are here – one would hope. Platform Garanti hosted a later afternoon session with book launches and concerts, staged as a farewell to the Platform building before it closes for a 1-year renovation period. A great opportunity to literally open the innards of this organisation to the public. And so they did! We were allowed to peep in every nook and cranny, installations often hidden in unexpected places…half-eaten plates with cake and wine glasses strewn across every floor. The highlight was a distributed performance called 4/4 by Turkish iconic band NEKROPSI; their drummer Cevdet Erek I knew from Amsterdam, and had actually worked with him as an artist on several occasions. Their concept was simple but ingenious: each 4 members of the band performed separately on a different floor of the Platform building, with the sum of all sounds coming together in the backyard. It was in one word amazing (and this is a word I use seldom and sparingly). We were first greeted by the extremely loud wa-ka wa-ka wa-ka of the guitarist in the gallery space; a real sound tunnel. One floor up in the stairway we found the bassist. Yet one more floor up another screeching guitar, and in the attic Cevdet Erek pounding away at his drums. I was really “wow-ed” how in certain parts of the building the sounds would come together, and reverberate: this is sound architecture in its most genuine form.
Next on the itinerary of this jam-packed first day was the opening of the exhibition ENTRE-POLIS at the Antrepo No.3. Featuring over 50 artists, this exhibition set out to “explore a wide range of issues decisive for the making of our condensed Entre-Polis: urban transformation, global communication, migration, border-crossing travels, geopolitical conflicts, cultural memory, ethnic and religious differences, urban rebellion, manifestations and actions for social solidarity and even, love….It is a collective action to claim for the total dissolution of the borders between art and urban life”. To be fair, one should never judge and exhibition on its opening night: throngs of people moving around, the loud chatter of voices, alcohol flowing copiously…it all distracts from the art works. What I could discern, though, was that as a whole the exhibition looked messy, with little attention to exhibition design, or problems of sound and light bleed. It seemed as many of the works were just thrown into the space with little or no consideration how this would affect the reading of the work; the labeling was difficult or not to be found, and the whole thing had the feel of some bizarre fairground. I had experienced a similar approach a few years ago at an exhibition curated by Hou Hanru for the Venice Biennial. All the works seemed combined together as a huge gesamtkunstwerk, sacrificing the individuality of each work to the curator’s vision. Four works did immediately stand out during this first and very rapid visit: the Russsian collective AES+F, whose Islamic project had been one of my long-time favourites, showed “Last Riot - Last Riot 2”, a photo collage wherein they combine pedophilic eroticism, military fetishism with a warped future vision. American artist Michael Rakowitz’ The invisible enemy should not exist, which takes as its subject the artifacts stolen from the National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad, in the aftermath of the US invasion of April 2003, I had seen previously at this year’s Sharjah Biennial. Rakowitz and his team reconstructed the missing artifacts from the packaging of Middle Eastern foodstuffs, and added labels indicating their origin, status, etc. I was very impressed with the work in Sharjah, though this time around the artist blasted Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the water” through the space; a totally unnecessary and distracting addition. Syrian artist Buthayna Ali’s, swing installation “We” impressed visually, as well as poetically. Ken Lum’s architectural mirror installation House of Realization added a wonderfully playful touch of display and voyeurism: seeing one’s own mirror image, seeing the other’s mirror image.
And if all that was not enough we were bussed off to a party the other end of town. After an unlucky encounter at a restaurant where we got totally ripped off, we joined the hip and beautiful of the contemporary art world to nip cocktails, shake our booties, only to be surprised by a torrential rainstorm, which abruptly ended the outdoor party. Soaked to the bone we boarded our busses again, ending this first busy day with an unexpected splash.
Otagowane jako:
istanbulbiennial
LabforCulture jest inicjatywą partnerską Europejskiej Fundacji Kultury. LabforCulture jest wdzięczna swoim fundatorom za wsparcie
