Istanbul Exhibition 2015: Armenian Themes

• 09.20.2015, 16:10
•  Region,  World,  No-politics

One of the main themes of the 14th Istanbul Exhibition this year has been the Armenian issue dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The epigraph to the exhibition  was the word Saltwater, meaning  salty waters of the Bosphorus, the salty tears, Istanbul, lying on the shores of the Bosphorus. Though the official Istanbul does not like to remember the tears shed in 1915 by Armenians and afterwards,  in 1955, by Greeks, a great many artists, however, address to this, describe these tears, painting them in different forms and styles.

As the curator of the 2015 Istanbul Biennial Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev said, it is crucial that an exhibition of contemporary art in Turkey focuses on the Armenian question, through both historical works of art and contemporary projects. At the 14th Istanbul Biennial, this is not expressed curatorially through any national pavilion, nor through an "Armenian'' section of the exhibition, but through a strong participation of individual artists and specific artworks that seem to be echos of this history, interwoven into the texture of the whole exhibition, Asbarez writes.

The artists’ work will not be exhibited in a single venue, but will be dispersed along the Bosphorus, in places stretching from the Istanbul Modern to the new Hrant Dink Foundation and a former tobacco warehouse. Artists in the Armenian programme include: Vernon Ah Kee, Haig Aivazian, Sonia Balassanian, Anna Boghiguian, Kristina Buch, Hera Büyüktasçıyan, Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas, Arshile Gorky, Paul Guiragossian, Michael Rakowitz, and Sarkis,  Mediamax reports.

The main sponsor of the project was Dilijan Art Initiative of Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Charitable Foundation. But the sponsorship of Dilijan Art Initiative includes not only Armenian artists. ''We are not nationalists, but internationalists; we span the entire Universe'', emphasized the curator of the 14th Istanbul Biennial. ''The delightful black and white film by Francis Alys ''Silence of Ani'' and complex installations by Michael Rakowitz and Kristina Buch were also created with support of Dilijan Art Initiative."

According to Culture.am, Dilijan Art Initiative is a new project of IDeA Charitable Foundation, the goal of which is to transform the city of Dilijan into an international center of the arts and education. Implementation of the project, envisioning the creation of a wide range of venues inspiring creativity and academic studies with an emphasis on intercultural dialogue between East and West, is scheduled for 2016.

The 14th Istanbul Biennial will be open until November 1, 2015.