Hundreds of designers from Turkey will put Istanbul on the map as an important center for innovative design by showcasing their work at the first ever Istanbul Design Biennial, which kicks off Oct. 12 under the theme of imperfection and also features international designers.
A press conference was held Oct. 10 to discuss what’s in store for the much-anticipated Istanbul Design Biennial, which will take over Galata Greek Primary School and Istanbul Modern as its main venues until Dec. 12. EU Minister Egemen Bağıs and Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay attended the press conference.
“I think this biennial is very important in terms of gathering together the important names of design in Istanbul. Istanbul is an important design memorial in the world,” Bağış said during the conference, according to Anatolia news agency.
Bağış heralded Istanbul’s unique ability to straddle two geographical divides and pointed out that Istanbul is the most western city in the East and the most eastern city in the West. “Istanbul is the Asian city of Europe and the European city of Asia. That’s why it is very important to organize this biennial here,” Bağış said. The EU minister said his only expectation is that IKSV will continue to organize and host this event.
The biennial’s exhibitions will explore creative products and projects from all disciplines of the creative industries in major fields from urban design to architecture; interior architecture; and industrial, graphic, fashion and new media design, as well as their subfields.
Exhibitions will include 514 projects, 236 of which are of Turkish origin, while the remaining 278 come from 48 other countries around the world, including the United States, Germany, Belgium, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Greece.
The theme of imperfection was interpreted by curators Arolat and Grima via their own independent approaches in two separate exhibits that will be hosted in the biennial’s two venues.
The Istanbul Design Biennial aims will bring university students together with the biennial’s audience and organizers via an academic program, in which the biennial will collaborate with 74 departments at 26 universities in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Eskişehir and Northern Cyprus, as it aims to emphasize the importance of design education.
For more info visit the official website
