Epress.am News from Armenia
The 12th Istanbul Biennial’s artistic selection will provide a depiction of the universality of the human condition when it opens this Friday under the direction of Sao Paolo’s Adriano Pedrosa and Costa Rica–born Jens Hoffmann, writes the Hurriyet Daily News.
Central to the biennial is Cuban-American contemporary artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ works “Untitled” (Abstraction), “Untitled” (Ross), “Untitled” (Passport), “Untitled” (History), “Untitled” (Death With a Gun). Indeed, the “untitled” theme is also seen in the name of the giant art event, which is similarly called “Untitled.”
Works by artists from different corners of the world blend together at the event in perfect harmony due partly to the curators but also to the universal reach of Torres’s works. “Untitled” (Ross), which was made in memory of the artist’s deceased lover, Ross Laycock, who died from AIDS, opens up space for the artistic expression of concepts of love, homosexuality and loss, while the selection inside shows how similarly these concepts are experienced, regardless of a person’s country or culture.
In addition to the five main halls, the biennial is hosting individual exhibitions by artists including Dora Maurer, Füsun Onur, Adrian Esparza, Geta Bratescu, Meriç Algün Ringborg, Akram Zaaatari, Ahmet Öğüt, Zarina Hashmi, Geoffrey Farmer, Marwa Arsanios, Ala Younis, Eylem Aladoğan, Letizia Battaglia and Zarouhie Abdalian.
Abdalian’s Set for the Outside
The US-based Abdalian of Armenian descent writes about her large-scale, site-specific installation at the biennial on Kickstarter: “When I travel in August, it will be my first time in Istanbul. Being of Armenian descent, however, I have had a relationship to the place in which this installation will exist for my entire life. It is a relationship that is informed by an ever urgent past, by a present that exists only through my reading of literature and news media, and by a physical distance. In developing the piece, I will draw both from this relationship and from my research at the site.”
To read Hoffman’s brief interview with Abdalian, visit the biennial’s website.
The 12th Istanbul Biennial opens to the public on Friday and runs through till Nov. 13.