Image: Hrair Sarkissian, “Execution Squares” (2008) (detail)
Article published in Ararat Magazine, http://araratmagazine.org/2010/06/11th-istanbul-biennial/:
"It is not difficult to be skeptical of the premise of art biennials, as they are often considered the quintessential cultural manifestation of the neoliberal economy as well as the nexus of culture and tourism. In Turkey, suspicion towards contemporary art has been rampant and self-replicating since the late 1980s when major corporations started to provide institutions with financial support, including the Istanbul Biennial. Predictable arguments propagate that the agenda of the private capital impedes or rather disables artistic practice, by making it dependent, mediocre, and often insincere. In the midst of this ongoing distrust, the 11th Istanbul Biennial deliberately makes more political statements than ever before. In a time when corporations are increasing eager to sponsor critical art production and events, Zaghreb-based curatorial collective WHW (Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić, and Sabina Sabolović) face a great deal of protests and condemnations that reek with resentment towards the biennial and its corporate sponsor. Yet, the curators insist that what matters is to negotiate. They might not speak up about the predicaments of the contemporary arts in Turkey, such as the polarization among curators, arrogance towards other artistic practices, and shortcomings of internationalization, but they manage to prompt curious questions: to what extent does the funding source restrict the critical edge of artistic practices? Can art still ignite transformative conversations in politics?
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