Istanbul Biennial 2022 Curators on Composting, Community, and Cinema

The 17th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Ute Meta Bauer, Aman Kanwar, and David Teh, opens across multiple city venues with no unifying theme, instead adopting a 'composting' process of long-term research and collaboration. Women constitute 60% of contributors, including artists, poets, academics, and women working in fishing and pastoralism. Venues include a former Greek high school for girls, two historic hammams, and a 1930s building that was Emin Barin's atelier. The biennial launched a film program with the Istanbul Film Festival in April, featuring two feature films and a thematic shorts program. Arahmaiani brings her ongoing Flag Project, a participatory work started in 2006 with Amumarta Pesantren in Yogyakarta, to Istanbul. Lamia Joreige presents 'Mapping a Transformation,' reinterpreting a historical frieze with archival material, drawings, and texts addressing Ottoman-era chronicles, famine, Arab nationalism, and the fates of Palestine and Greater Lebanon. The biennial aims to foster dialogue and experimentation in international art events.