The 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, titled "A School of Schools" curated by Jan Boelen with Nadine Botha and Vera Sacchetti, has announced the first participants of this year's edition, which takes place from Sept. 22 to Nov. 4.
Organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the biennial will bring together old and new knowledge, academic and amateur, professional and personal, engaging multigenerational, trans-disciplinary practitioners from Turkey and abroad.
SIX WEEKS, SIX VENUES, SIX SCHOOLS
Over the course of six weeks, the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial will inhabit six of the city's most iconic cultural institutions, which will host the biennial's many schools, exploring the multiple dimensions of design as learning.
At Akbank Sanat, the "Unmaking School" emphasizes the irrepressible human instinct to be creative as a pedagogical dynamo that drives innovation in production, redefines the future of work, and re-frames our engagement with our cities.
At Yapı Kredi Culture Centre, the "Currents School" explores flows, networks, distribution, and hierarchies of information and subjects, both digital and analogue, abstract and embodied, to critically examine new technology and systems.
At Pera Museum, the "Scales School" investigates the fluidity of taxonomies, quantifications, and institutionalized norms, standards and values to highlight biases and assumptions in our social, economic and intellectual agreements.
At Arter Gallery, the "Earth School" asks what is natural, what disaster is, what evolution is and when the planet and human were forced to renegotiate their pedagogical relationship.
At SALT Galata, the "Time School" travels from hyperspeed and acceleration into the expansiveness of deep time, learning about contested pasts and speculative futures from paradoxical durational perspectives and the objects that dictate them.
At Studio-X Istanbul, the "Digestion School" learns from metabolic systems, patterns of consumption, cultural rituals and food infrastructure to consider circular education and lifelong learning.
A SCHOOL OF SCHOOLS: ORIENTATION
The opening program, "A School of Schools: Orientation," held from Sept. 20 to 21, will see practitioners, educators and thinkers from Turkey and abroad converge in a biennial conceived as a public space for dialogue, provocation and production. Together, they will test and revise a variety of educational strategies to reflect on the role of design, knowledge, and global connectedness in contemporary Istanbul and beyond. All are invited to take part and join in the creation of spaces of exception.
For more information and to apply for the media, academic or professional accreditation for the opening program can be found online on İKSV's website.
PARTICIPANTS FROM THE WORLD
Biennial participants include [AI]stanbul from Turkey and the U.S.; AATB from Switzerland and France; Abake from France and the UK; Bakudapan from Indonesia; Kerim Bayer from Turkey; Cihad Caner from Turkey and the Netherlands; Ali Murat Cengiz from Turkey and the Netherlands; Taeyoon Choi from the U.S. and Korea; Commonplace Studio from the Netherlands; Jesse Howard from the U.S. and the Netherlands; Tim Knapen from Belgium; Danilo Correale from Italy and the U.S.; Amandine David from France; Teis De Greve from Belgium; Derya Irkdaş Doğu from Turkey; Eat Art Collective from the Netherlands; Ecole Mondiale from Belgium; FABB from Turkey; Studio Folder from Italy; Avşar Gürpınar and Cansu Cürgen from Turkey; Mark Henning from the Netherlands and South Africa; Nur Horsanalı from Turkey and Finland; Ils Huygens from Belgium; Navine G. Khan-Dossos from the U.K. and Greece; Roosje Klap from the Netherlands; Land+Civilization Compositions from Turkey and Netherlands; Pedro Neves Marques from Portugal and the U.S.; Margarida Nunes da Silva Mendes from Portugal; Alexandra Midal from France; Carlos Monleon from Spain and the UK; Gökhan Mura from Turkey; Martina Muzi from Italy; Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios from France; New South from France; Camilo Oliveira from Brazil and Italy; ONAGÖRE from Turkey; Thomas Pausz from France and Iceland; Ana Penalba from Spain; Juliette Pepin from France; Charlotte Maeva Perret from the UK; Radioee.net from Argentina, the U.K. and the Netherlands; Emelie Röndahl from Sweden; Helga Schmid from Germany; Judith Seng from Germany and Sweden; SO? from Turkey; Studio Legrand Jager from the UK and Germany; Studio Makkink & Bey from Netherlands; SulSolSal from the Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil; Jenna Sutela from Finland and Germany; Jennifer Teets and Lorenzo Cirrincione from the U.K. and France; Unfold from Belgium; Ottonie Von Roeder from Germany; Henriette Waal and Studio Klarenbeek & Dros from the Netherlands); Mark Wasiuta from the U.S.; Lukas Wegwerth from Germany; Pınar Yoldaş from Turkey and the U.S. and Peter Zin from Netherlands and Portugal. More artists and artistic initiatives and institutions will follow.