Istanbul Biennial rejected curator recommended by advisory board in favour of Iwona Blazwick

The Istanbul Basis For Tradition and the Arts (IKSV), which runs the Istanbul Biennial, has rejected recommendation to nominate Defne Ayas, the Turkish-born, Berlin-based curator, who was chosen unanimously by a panel of worldwide specialists as the very best candidate to organise the subsequent version of the exhibition.

As an alternative, the IKSV appointed Iwona Blazwick to organise the present, which opens in September 2024, despite the fact that Blazwick was a serving member of the advisory panel tasked with selecting a curator for the biennial on the time of her choice, elevating questions on conflicts of curiosity on the highest ranges of the muse. The incident additionally highlights the challenges of working cultural establishments in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey and the risks of self-censorship.

President Erdoğan prolonged his 20 years in energy after profitable the nation’s presidential elections in Might. His victory was met with fears from members of Turkey’s inventive neighborhood who’ve confronted intimidation and a clampdown on their freedom of expression beneath his rule.

Blazwick is the previous director of the Whitechapel Gallery in London and now serves because the chair of the Royal Fee for AlUla’s Public Artwork Skilled Panel in Saudi Arabia.

After they have been knowledgeable of Blazwick’s appointment, three members of the biennial advisory panel resigned. Blazwick has additionally now resigned from the panel, in accordance with the IKSV. She declined to remark.

Opaque choice course of

On the finish of January, the Istanbul Biennial advisory board met to overview the proposals of 4 shortlisted curators, together with Defne Ayas, who had been requested to stipulate their concepts for the subsequent biennial. Ayas is an skilled curator who has organised reveals in politically delicate contexts; she beforehand curated the Gwangju Biennial in South Korea in 2021 with Natasha Ginwala, the Moscow Biennale in Russia in 2015 and the Baltic Triennial in Lithuania in 2012.

Following discussions, the board members—Iwona Blazwick; Yuko Hasegawa, the director of the twenty first Century Museum of Modern Artwork, Kanazawa, Japan; Agustín Pérez Rubio, an unbiased curator based mostly in Spain and a former museum director; Selen Ansen, a curator and artwork historian based mostly in Istanbul, and the Turkish-Armenian artist Sarkis who lives in Paris—unanimously chosen Ayas.

Regardless of this, the IKSV, which additionally oversees the Turkish Pavilion on the Venice Biennale, rejected the board’s suggestion.

Critics consider that Ayas was judged too dangerous by the muse. They cite her curation of an exhibition by Sarkis for the Turkish Pavilion on the 2015 Venice Biennale. A list accompanying the present included an essay written by Rakel Dink, the widow of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in Istanbul in 2007. In her textual content, Dink made a passing reference to the “Armenian genocide” to explain the ache of her folks. Following a criticism from the Turkish authorities, which denies that the genocide passed off, {the catalogue} was withdrawn. Ayas and Sarkis then positioned all remaining copies right into a coffin which Sarkis coated in colored glass and remodeled right into a sculpture (Respiro, 2015).

The IKSV declined to say why it had rejected Ayas and it has declined to publish the checklist of advisory board members on its web site, because it has carried out for earlier editions. Till contacted by The Artwork Newspaper, the muse additionally declined to substantiate that Blazwick was nonetheless a serving member of the biennial advisory board when she was appointed to steer the subsequent version, and it has declined to say whether or not Blazwick, who has served on the board for 4 consecutive editions of the exhibition, had submitted a curatorial proposal for the biennial because the 4 shortlisted curators did.

When Bige Örer, the director of the biennial informed the advisory board that Blazwick had been chosen, Agustín Pérez Rubio, Selen Ansen, and Sarkis resigned. All three have been contacted by The Artwork Newspaper; all three declined to remark.

In an announcement to The Artwork Newspaper, Defne Ayas mentioned: “It was an honour to be thought of for the function, and I’m grateful that the advisory board advisable my appointment. I’d have taken nice delight in curating the forthcoming version. At this level, I’ve no regrets and want the Biennale success. I hope for the long run that the nomination and choice processes might be absolutely clear and extra in step with the biennial’s legacy as one of many pre-eminent cultural occasions within the artwork world.”

Turkish response

The choice to nominate Iwona Blazwick was met with sturdy criticism by Turkish curators, artists and writers who voiced their dismay on social media. One among them, Duygu Demir, an artwork historian and unbiased curator based mostly in Istanbul, describes the IKSV’s rejection of Ayas as “self-censorship”. She tells The Artwork Newspaper that the biennial’s predominant sponsor since 2007, Koç Holding, is unlikely to have put stress on the muse to make the choice. “If something, Koç Holding has let folks know it isn’t in settlement with the Erdoğan authorities and we haven’t witnessed any interference at Arter, the modern artwork museum in Istanbul arrange and funded by Koç Holding.”

Whereas Demir acknowledges the difficulties of organising exhibitions within the present local weather, she believes that vital work can nonetheless be carried out. “We’ve all found out other ways of utilizing our voice. I lately labored with a Kurdish artist; we mentioned sure photographs and textual content, rejected just a few, and located a manner ahead. The principle factor is that you just don’t go away these delicate choices to the directors; these are choices that curators and artists must be making. I’m not towards Iwona Blazwick or her follow; she has an incredible monitor document on the Whitechapel and Tate and I’m completely satisfied to see a girl organise the subsequent biennial. What many people object to is the shortage of transparency on the IKSV.”

Others query how the IKSV can proceed to operate with out clarifying the way it appointed Blazwick. In an announcement despatched to The Artwork Newspaper, Sarp Özer, one other unbiased curator in Istanbul, mentioned: “Establishments just like the IKSV must be sure to ideas and protocols that may’t simply change in a single day. It’s troublesome to fathom how the professionals in cost thought the absence of the advisory committee wouldn’t require a correct public rationalization.”

The assertion continues: “When Blazwick’s appointment was introduced, Görgün Taner, the final director of the IKSV, mentioned: ‘We’re delighted that Iwona Blazwick has accepted our invitation to curate the 18th Istanbul Biennial.’ Ought to we assume that IKSV has settled on issuing private invites somewhat than contemplating completely different proposals? Will it proceed to take action within the years to return? Cultural establishments are outlined by the readability, consistency, and accountability of their actions.”

“The entire issues raised to date level to IKSV’s public mandate because the biennial just isn’t named after the muse [that administers it] however the metropolis of Istanbul. We hope this dialogue will assist carry the establishment ahead in the direction of a extra equitable, clear, open and trustworthy mode of operation.”

Vasif Kortun, a curator and author in Istanbul, has served on the Istanbul biennial advisory board and has curated two editions of the exhibition, in 1992, and in 2005 with Charles Esche, now the director of the Van Abbemuseum within the Netherlands. Chatting with The Artwork Newspaper, Kortun warned of the risks of self-censorship, and mentioned Ayas was greater than able to navigating the delicate political atmosphere. “There is no such thing as a finish to it. The second you begin on this street, you by no means know how one can cease. Coping with a difficult political local weather must be a negotiation. Curators and artists ought to ask themselves: ‘How far can I’m going?’; ‘How can I inform this story?’ Defne Ayas is an clever girl who understands the sophisticated context in Turkey. She is aware of it’s higher to do the biennial in one of the best ways doable somewhat than pointlessly frightening folks.”

Kortun provides that “the biennial doesn’t know which geography it’s in. There has not been a single curator from the Balkans or the southern Mediterranean. As an alternative, we’ve seen a succession of white Europeans. I discover the entire thing stunning.”

In an announcement, the IKSV mentioned: “The choice on the selection of curator [for the Istanbul Biennial] is made by IKSV and accepted by the Board of IKSV. In regards to the nomination of Ms Iwona Blazwick who’s an internationally famend curator we wish to level out that the advisory board which included Ms Blazwick didn’t appoint Ms Blazwick. The choice to nominate Ms Blazwick was taken by IKSV additional to the non-acceptance of the recommendation of the advisory board by IKSV. It’s to be famous that the advisory board provides recommendation which isn’t nevertheless binding and IKSV could act independently of such recommendation.”

“Ms Blazwick’s work is extremely revered by IKSV as she is an internationally famend curator with vast information of latest artwork and deep information of the context in Turkey because of her expertise within the advisory board from which she stepped down. IKSV presently deemed that it’s a second by which to appoint a world curator to steer the subsequent version artistically.”