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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New cultural district set to embrace London’s river festival throughout SeptemberNine Elms is hosting an array of installations, exhibitions, walks and talks as part of Totally Thames. The area, which spans the border of Wandsworth and Lambeth, is perfectly positioned to enjoy some of the most diverse events within this year’s Totally Thames programme which will include more than 170 art and cultural events along a 42-mile stretch of London’s river. Last year’s giant wooden sculpture ‘HippopoThames’ by Florentijn Hofman captured the hearts of local residents and attracted interest from around the world. Following its success, another ‘first for London’ commission will be in Nine Elms on the South Bank throughout September. Internationally acclaimed underwater sculptor, Jason deCaires Taylor, will bring The Rising Tide to the foreshore neighbouring MI6 in Vauxhall. Four proud working horses and their riders pay homage to the industrial evolution of the Thames and the nomadic people who have travelled and traded on its shores for millennia. The Rising Tide highlights the role of the Thames as the lifeblood of London, shaping the city’s great history as a centre for culture, industry and commerce. Concealed and revealed by the tide, The Rising Tide is best viewed from the riverside walkway for up to two hours either side of low tide (see nineelmslondon.com/totallythames for tide times). Up river at Riverside Gardens at the base of The Tower – One St George’s Wharf, A Mile in My Shoes is the exciting debut exhibition for the Empathy Museum. Created in collaboration with local residents and members of the community, A Mile in My Shoes is an audio portrait presented to the public as an interactive shoe-shop. Visitors are invited to (quite literally) walk a mile in the shoes of a stranger while being immersed in a narrative of their life. The ‘shoe shop’ will be open from 4 – 27 September, midday to 6pm, Wednesday to Sunday. Other opportunities to enjoy Totally Thames in Nine Elms on the South Bank include: · Figures on the Foreshore – a site-responsive artwork by Tim Davies, commissioned by Thames Tideway Tunnel, which explores childhood memories through a series of performative gestures and actions. The work is captured in stop-motion photographs, conveyed across hoarding panels, on Nine Elms Lane between Kirtling Street and Cringle Street. · The Great River Race on Saturday 12 September, visible on the South Bank of the river between Lambeth Bridge and Chelsea Bridge. Over 300 man powered vessels take part in the colourful 'river marathon' which will pass through the area · Water Lambeth (also part of Lambeth Heritage Festival) - an artistic exhibition on display throughout September which juxtaposes paintings, photography, museum objects and maps that help document the history of Lambeth’s stretch of the Thames. For more information on any of the events taking place across Nine Elms on the South Bank, visit www.nineelmslondon.com/totallythames. |
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