Vulture Magazine The Michaelmas Issue 2013 | Page 28

Review of Istanbul Biennale:
Artistic discussion and confrontation
in Turkey’s capital

I

like to think of Istanbul as the centre of the
world – straddling two continents, fusing East
with West. This view of the old Byzantium is
perhaps over-stating it a little these days, but to
misjudge the significance of this city is certainly
imprudent. Istanbul has come to the fore over
the course of 2013, albeit on occasions in a more
negative light. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) are perceived to teeter on the edge of
Islamism by a population enamoured with Ataturk’s legacy of secularism and rationalist civil
rights. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of
Turkey since 2002, has been accused of authoritarianism in his methods of government, and this
summer mass anti-government protests were met
with violent police response. The protests in Istanbul, which began in May, were initially to contest the urban development of Taksim Gezi Park.
The escalation of events from an isolated sit-in
to a national reaction to excessive police force
demonstrates the volatility of the Turkish public.
Nonetheless, some developments in Istanbul
elide the chaos and perhaps point to a progressive Turkey in the making. The recently opened
underwater Bosphorus rail tunnel is but one example of the improving infrastructure of the city.
For me, it is the artistic milieu of Istanbul that
best demonstrates a notion of forward thinking,
and which can ironically be seen to be embracing
the chaos, not masking it. Istanbul was selected
as European Capital of Culture in 2010. Events
since then have been most influential in making
Istanbul a platform for artistic discussion in ways
that are more socially and politically relevant
than we see in any other city’s artistic forums.
The 13th Istanbul Biennial, which took place
from the middle of September till late October,
was a remarkable display of art underpinned by
democratic themes. The saga of the rainbow stairs
in August demonstrates the kind of civic victory
that the Biennial seemed to vie for. The Biennial,

entitled ‘Mom, am I barbarian?’ aimed to create the possibility of rethinking the concept
of “public” art, eliciting imagination and innovative thought, and contributing to social and
public engagement. With this in mind, perhaps the most resonant work of the whole Biennial was that of Hamburg artist, Christoph
Schäfer, whose large-scale conceptual drawings of the movements during the Gezi Park
occupation, Bostanorama, exemplify attempts
by artists working to effect social change by
using recent happenings to add weight to their
arguments. Works such as this and Halil Altindere’s film, Wonderland, (which voices the
frustration of youths forced out of Istanbul’s
Sulukele district by redevelopment), capture
a true sense of activism in contemporary art.
The event was, however, criticised for vacillating over the issue of whether the works could
be placed in truly public spaces. Following the
demonstrations, it was decided that the displays
would remain safely contained within four
walls, but that admission would be completely
free of charge for the first time since the Biennial’s conception. This inevitably marginalised
a certain proportion of its potential audience,
however the event was widely publicised and a
huge 337,429 people visited. The relationship
between the exhibition and the protests was