Full List of Artists for the 2017 Istanbul Biennial Announced

The list of artists particiatping in the 2017 Istanbul Biennial has been announced. Held in Turkey’s largest city, the exhibition is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), and this year’s edition will take place from September 16 to November 12 in venues across Istanbul, which include the Istanbul Modern, ARK Kültür, the Pera Museum, the Yoğunluk Atelier, and Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam.

This year’s edition will be the 15th iteration of the event. Last December, the curators of Istanbul Biennial 2017, Scandinavian artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, announced the theme for the upcoming event, “A Good Neighbor,” which addresses the notion of living as part of a community. The works shown at the event will therefore focus on ideas related to homes, neighborhoods and private and public spheres.

Regarding their curatorial decision, the duo explained that “home is approached as an indicator of diverse identities and a vehicle for self-expression, and neighborhood as a micro-universe exemplifying some of the challenges we face in terms of co-existence today.” They further elaborated by saying, “The artists in the 15th Istanbul Biennial raise questions about ideas of home, neighborhood, belonging and co-existence from multiple perspectives. Some of the artworks examine how our domestic living conditions and modes have changed and how our neighborhoods have transformed, while others focus on how we cope with today’s geopolitical challenges on a micro-level.”

In total, there will be 55 artists and two collectives taking part in this year’s Istanbul Biennial, with a diverse range of nationalities. This is also the first time that artists will curate the event in the 30-year history of the exhibition.

The full artist list is as follows:

Heba Y. Amin
Mark Dion
Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe
Kasia Fudakowski
Pedro Gómez-Egaña
Lungiswa Gqunta
Andrea Joyce Heimer
Morag Keil and Georgie Nettell
Olaf Metzel
Mahmoud Obaidi
Henrik Olesen
Erkan Özgen
Leander Schönweger
Dan Stockholm
Ali Taptık
Bilal Yılmaz
Volkan Aslan
Alper Aydın
Monica Bonvicini
Louise Bourgeois
Latifa Echakhch
Candeğer Fürtun
Kim Heecheon
Mirak Jamal
Fernando Lanhas
Victor Leguy
Klara Lidén
Mahmoud Obaidi
Lydia Ourahmane
Rayyane Tabet
Young-Jun Tak
Kaari Upson
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Yonamine
Xiao Yu
Mahmoud Khaled
Adel Abdessemed
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Alejandro Almanza Pereda
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Vajiko Chachkhiani
Gözde İlkin
Liliana Maresca
Lee Miller
Aude Pariset
Sim Chi Yin
Dayanita Singh
Tatiana Trouvé
Tsang Kin-Wah
Andra Ursuta
Fred Wilson
Yoğunluk
Monica Bonvicini
Stephen G. Rhodes
Tuğçe Tuna
Burçak Bingöl
Lukas Wassmann

Je-Seung Lee is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.

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