Füsun Onur to Represent Turkey at 2021 Venice Biennale

Füsun Onur has been selected to represent Turkey at the 59th Venice Biennale, scheduled from May to November 2021. The announcement continues the gradual unveiling of national pavilions despite the pandemic lockdown. Other confirmed artists include Yuki Kihara (New Zealand), Marco Fusinato (Australia), Stan Douglas (Canada), Latifa Echakhch (Switzerland), Zineb Sedira (France), Pilvi Takala (Finland), Sigurður Guðjónsson (Iceland), Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl (Austria), and Melanie Bonajo (Netherlands). Cecilia Alemani was appointed Director of the Visual Arts Sector, and Roberto Cicutto was elected President of the Venice Biennale earlier in 2020. Born in Istanbul in 1938, Onur studied sculpture at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts and the Maryland College of Art. Her first solo exhibition was at Taksim Art Gallery in 1970, and she has participated in the Istanbul Biennial (1987, 1995, 2011, 2015), Moscow Biennale (2007), and documenta (2012). Her work explores space, time, rhythm, and form through everyday materials, challenging boundaries between painting and sculpture. The Turkey Pavilion will be curated by Bige Örer, director of the Istanbul Biennial and contemporary art projects at İKSV. The advisory board, including Italian curator Milovan Farronato, praised Onur's poetic relationship between life and art.