This year’s Istanbul Biennial theme “Saltwater” suggests restorative properties; cleansing, nourishing and “healing” as the curator, Christov-Bakargiev, has indicated.
And it was the latter of these properties that resonated with me when I escaped the tourist sites (which ironically, I became a sight for the locals and tourists fixated on a black girl wandering around alone), for the serenity of the Istanbul Modern, one of the 36 venues of the Istanbul Biennial this year. It was there, there I was “healed” amongst the art – no piercing stares burning a whole through my back. The only focus, I’d like to think, was the art.
The Istanbul Biennial offers visitors a transition away from the tourist track onto one that merges culture, history, theory and contemporary art into a ‘experience’ organised Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts’ (İKSV).
Visitors and locals alike take the journey to “Saltwater” by traveling from the top of the Bosporus all the way to the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara. It was at Hotel Splendid Palace in Büyükada, the largest of the Princes Islands that I met with Director of the Istanbul Biennial, Bige Örer, to ask about culture and politics and the diversity of the exhibition and artists.
Istanbul Biennial continues at Istanbul Modern until the 26th November. For more info CLICK HERE
Interview filmed for Artefact Magazine
Check out Let’s do Lunch to find out Bige Örer’s recommendations for making contacts in the art in scene… CLICK HERE
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-Kai 🙂
Travelmaker Kai 
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