The 12th Istanbul Biennial will explore the relationship between art and politics, and the pieces in this biennial fall under five general themes: Abstraction, Ross, Passport, History and Death by Gun. The location for the biennial is the Warehouses No. 3 and 5 which is next to the Istanbul Modern museum, and it will be arranged from 17th of September till 13th of November 2011.
Highlights alternative living
Elmgreen and Dragset will be presented within the ‘Ross’ Group Show with their work "The Incidental Self". They have made a large shelving system that occupies a wide wall space with 500 smaller framed photographs of various gay cultural and everyday life situations on display.
The photographs references the standard family photo set-up found in almost any home around the world, but is exaggerated both in terms of quantity and in its definition of "family". The standard family photo type of frame is used in the installation, yet the content is changed for a new type of life, based on friendship and affinity as opposed to family. The installation highlights alternative modes of living, which do not seek to obtain any rights or acceptance but rather claim their own identity as an alternative to mainstream culture.
Untitled
The 12th Istanbul Biennial is organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture, and it has been held every two years in Istanbul since 1987. The curators of this year’s biennial are Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffman. They have invited the artists that will present their works at the biennial, and all in all it will include five group shows and approximately 45 solo presentations.
The title of the biennial, "Untitled 2011" is primary inspired by the Cuban-American artist Gonzalez-Torres. Most of his works is named “Untitled” followed by a description in parentheses. The five general themes(Abstraction, Ross, Passport, History and Death by Gun) where all ideas that surfaced in his own work before he died of AIDS in 1996.
Ticket prices
The ticket price for the 12th Istanbul Biennial will be 15 TL for tickets purchased in advance, and 20 TL starting on the opening date, September 17. Tickets can be purchased from Biletix or at the main box office at the Istanbul Culture and Art Foundation in Sishane. University students who show their student IDs at the ticket offices in Antrepo will be able to enter free of charge because the Istanbul Biennial sponsor, Koç Holding, will pay the tickets.
For more information about the tickets, take a look at the biennial’s webpage: