Istanbul Biennial 2019: The Seventh Continent Istanbul’s art scene is booming and it’s never been more evident than in this year’s 16th Biennial (14 September – 10 November). Running across three sites, and showcasing more than 220 artworks by 56 participating artists, it provides art lovers with a wealth of opportunities to fully immerse themselves in art. This year’s theme – The Seventh Continent The Seventh Continent refers to the mass of plastic waste floating in the Pacific, estimated to be five times the size of Turkey. Curator and art historian Nicolas Bourriaud uses this theme to explore the Anthropocene epoch; an era where human activity has been the dominant influence on climate change and the environment. While the biennial isn’t set on preaching an environmental message, it explores our current period in history and suggests a new ‘approach is needed to make sense of it. Bourriaud sees the 56 international participating artists as anthropologists of this ‘off-centred world’, a time where, the physical and symbolic limits that formerly separated human beings from their environments have collapsed. He suggests that,’ both anthropology and art are reflecting the erosion of the old mass systems – sociological, ethnical, sexual or political.’ The site locations Site 1 Located a stone’s throw from the beautiful Bosphorous and a 30-minute walk from Galata Bridge, the main venue (the new addition to the MSFAU Painting and Sculpture museum), plays host to more than half of the participating artists, so ensure you allow a day to take it all in. It’s also conveniently located for grabbing a coffee or a quick bite to eat, should you want some refreshments after an art-filled day. Site 2 The second host venue, the Pera Museum, is more centrally located near Taksim Square. Here, alongside the 14 Biennial artists, is the museum’s permanent collection, which is well worth viewing. Afterwards, head to Solera Winery, a fabulous little wine bar with a good selection of wines. Site 3 The third site, which is home to five art works, is located on Buyukada (the largest of the Princes Islands), situated a one-hour boat ride from the main port. All of the works are located within a short walk from the ferry drop-off for ease. To help inspire your visit to the Biennial, I’ve rounded up a few of my favourite installations / artists’ works. 1. Korakrit Arunanondchai – Thailand This video piece brings together two historical events – the rise of Donald Trump and the death of the King of Thailand woven together with the artist’s grandmother’s experience with dementia and a drone spirit called Chanti. Done through a collage of cleverly woven interviews, original footage, imagery and story-telling, there’s a real beauty to Arunanondchai’s work, which has an ethereal and spiritual quality. The content of the video is almost irrelevant; it’s the sum of the parts that makes it stand out. He punctuates the footage with poignant phrases, which encourage reflection such as: ‘how have the strokes of history painted your picture’, ‘for consciousness to exist beyond bodies’, ‘soil is the most valued species on the earth,’ etc. 2. Jonathas de Andrade – BrazilPeixe The Fish– video This powerful film shows a fisherman holding and stroking a fish with care and love while the fish slowly dies; a ritual performed by fishermen in the Northeast of Brazil. This demonstration of love while the fishermen knowingly kill the fish for food, throws up a complex set of emotions, making for compelling yet difficult viewing. Andrade uses this video to explore human’s relationship to the earth, that we are slowly killing yet depend on for our existence. 3. Hale Tenger – Turkey Appearance –Installation and audio - Buyukada This meditative piece is set in the gardens of Sophronius Palace, a now un-inhabited, dilapidated building on Buyukada Island. As you wander around the gardens you are drawn to the black obsidian mirrors that reflect the magic of this wild garden. You are forced to walk slowly in between the mirrors so you can hear the audio that forms part of this installation, a poem written by the artist – the voice of a fruit tree. The inspiration for this installation comes from a botanical technique girdling: the complete removal of a strip of bark which can kill trees or encourage enhanced growth of fruit. The artist asks ‘Can you be by not doing?’ and she creates a wonderful space to reflect on this and indeed how humans manipulate nature for their own gain. 4. Haegue Yang – South Korea ‘Incubation and Exhaustion’- sculpture, sound (Painting and Sculpture Museum) Yang presents an immersive sensorial environment with scents, sounds and textures. The room is saturated with biomorphic sculptures made up of motifs ranging from chillies and garlic to high-end surgical robots. These striking hyperreal images and sculptures are paired with an audio from a famous interview with Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, where native bird song and camera clicks was all that was recorded. Yang’s installation explores the breaking down of barriers between technology, politics, art and nature. Overall, the experience left me feeling reflective. Perhaps human beings are merely a dot on the landscape of the history of this great earth whose time is up. Motivated by human-centric concerns, the climate change debate, which has provoked so much discussion and anxiety, maybe suggests our focus should be on how to leave this earth gracefully.
Elinor Seath
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The London Design Biennale showcases some of the world’s most exciting designers, innovators and curators to demonstrate how design impacts every aspect of our lives. This year’s Biennale at Somerset House explores important political, social and environmental issues, with the pavilions providing a place where visitors can engage with these subjects in a fun and interactive way. The theme ‘Emotional States’ encourages artists to examine the global and political shift towards understanding a country’s overall happiness and well-being. At a time when there is now a Gross National Happiness Index, the United Arab Emirates has a Minister for Happiness, Venezuela elected a Vice Minister of Supreme Social Happiness and Theresa May appointed a Minister for Loneliness, exploring emotion has never been so timely. Ideally, you need a full day to explore all 37 pavilions at the Biennale. For those with limited time, I’ve highlighted the most exhilarating ‘must-see’ exhibitions. Greece: ‘Disobedience’ Set in the forecourt at Somerset House, visitors are invited to walk through the walls of this 17-metre-long kinetic structure. As you take your first step, the floor moves down and the walls expand out like a skeleton breathing. The shock of this makes you either hurry through, relieved to come through the other side, or inspires an excitement and curiosity where viewers would lean into the sides of the wall and look in wonder at the structure. To further bring the structure to life, there will be dance performances that will run throughout the Biennale. Puerto Rico: ‘Soft Identity Makers’ This dynamic exhibition explored the concepts of nation and identity, which is particularly interesting in Puerto Rico where residents are American citizens but don’t have voting rights. Visitors are invited to select five images of different textures, colours, flavours, sounds and attitudes, which are translated into symbols through a specially designed algorithm to create a unique identity, which gets printed onto a T-shirt that you can keep – brilliant! Saudi Arabia: ‘Being and Existence’ This beautiful meditative exhibition uses mirrors and slow-moving circular, mandala-like images to create a sense of infinity. As you look closer, you notice the circles are comprised of a complex series of white light symbols. These symbols or ‘codes’ are based on Arabic calligraphy and Islamic geometry and use the Vedic Square – the hidden language of creation – to create the symbols. Dundee: ‘Shpeel’ As you walk into a darkened room, you become immersed in a techni-colour light show, with light cast onto the walls and loud music playing in the background. In the centre of the exhibition is the ‘avatar’ that lets you control the colours and lights by pressing different buttons. You soon learn that the buttons relate to different emotions with which you can explore and interact with other visitors. This clever piece of design has been developed to help young people explore their emotions when language can be prohibitive. USA: ‘Face Values’ This interactive exhibition looks at alternative uses of facial recognition technology, typically used for security and behavioural profiling. Visitors are invited to sit in front of a camera and asked to express an emotion and hold it for 30 seconds. The computer then creates a profile detailing your age, ethnic background and how successful you were in creating that emotion. All images taken during the exhibition will be archived throughout the duration of the Biennale. Israel: ‘Exposed Nerves’ Here visitors will find a live rapid response design studio, with an artist, architect and designer working towards a different design brief each week. This is just a snap shot of the wonderful exhibitions on offer for all to enjoy. With only two weeks to go, ensure that you make the time to visit this fabulous creative event.
The details The London Design Biennale is on at Somerset House from now until 23 September 2018. http://www.londondesignbiennale.com Elinor Seath In a quest to bring two of my burning passions (travel and art) together, I jumped on a plane bound for Marrakech to experience my first Biennale. I had a window of two days to enjoy the festival, and having experienced the madness that is Marrakech last year, I was keen to do some pre-trip homework to ensure I had a plan to enjoy the festival to its fullest. After talking with my friends and colleagues about my mini adventure, I was surprised to learn how few people knew what a Biennale was. So, if your one of those people here’s a little background... Biennales - A global celebration of art Biennales are international art festivals hosted by large cities across the world, and are typically held every two years. Currently, there are 46 countries that stage Biennales. Typically lasting over 12 weeks, they provide a platform to showcase international artists, attracting thousands of visitor, which provides a great boost to a city's tourism. While it's good to have a plan, my pre-trip planning and what actually happened in Marrakech were two very different things! When I had initially conducted my research, the website for the Marrakech Biennale wasn’t that easy to navigate and sadly, I didn't fare much better navigating my way around Marrakesh, so what I saw happened quite by chance, which added to the drama. I am pleased to say the website is now much more coherent. The Biennale can be felt throughout the city with museums, hotels and galleries hosting exhibitions and workshops under its working title NOT NEW NOW. Despite reading the explanation for this a number of times, the meaning still eludes me, so you I’ll leave you to work that one out for yourself! There are three main exhibition sites and I was lucky enough to stumble upon Palais El Badi, a vast ruined palace. Here 22 international artists were invited to create a site-specific piece responding to the history of the palace and the ruins that are now left.
As I stepped back out onto the streets of Marrakech, senses heightened, I became more aware of the art around me - even the local plumber promoting his services seemed like art to me and reminded me of a piece I’d seen in the Palais El Bahia. Over the course of 24 hrs, I had seen a mind-boggling variety of art from incredible photos of Jamaa El Fna, the main square in the medina, to a 'pimped out' photo booth where you were invited to share your stories, it all intermingled to create a fascinating experience.
Bringing together art and travel, a Biennale is a fantastic way to learn about a new city and enhance the visitor's experience. I love that art is a safe space to explore some really challenging issues we face in the modern world, allowing others to open up debate in a unique way. I think I have found my calling - Biennales here we come! So, if you're looking for a weekend in a fascinating city and you want to see some art – get yourself to Marrakech before the first week in May – you won’t regret it. |
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