13th Istanbul Biennial
14/9-20/10 2013
Curator: Fulya Erdemci

Until 20 October, the works over 88 artists, artist collectives and performers from all around the world can be visited in scope of the 13th Istanbul Biennial, titled “Mom, am I barbarian?” organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). The final week of the exhibition will also feature various events, talks and film screenings.

As of 10 October, over 230,000 viewers have visited the biennial exhibitions in five venues. Realized as a free admission biennial for the first time, the 13th Istanbul Biennial verifies the role that art, research and discussion can play in society, as well as the growing interest in contemporary art. The visitor numbers have already doubled in the first four weeks as compared to the previous edition which attracted 110,000 visitors in total.

The 13th Istanbul Biennial, “Mom, am I barbarian?” and curated by Fulya Erdemci, which borrows its title from poet Lale Müldür’s book, explores the notion of public domain as a political forum and focuses on the relation of art and literature (and poetry in particular). With the term ‘barbarian’, it also signifies the novel languages we need to learn or yet to invent to understand the ‘other’s and to conceive the world to come. The exhibition aspires to open up a space to rethink the concept of ‘publicness’ through art and elicit imagination and innovative thought to contribute to social engagement and discussion.

The Biennial Book, featuring a full visual documentation of the exhibition and essays and contributions by renowned authors including İlhan Tekeli, Süreyyya Evren, Suna Ertuğrul, Andrea Philips, Dan Hind, Suhail Malik, Alberto Lopez Cuenca will be published in December by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and Yapı Kredi Publications.

The 13th Istanbul Biennial organised by İKSV and sponsored by Koç Holding, takes place at Antrepo no.3 in
Tophane, Galata Greek Primary School in Karaköy, ARTER and SALT Beyoğlu on İstiklal Street and 5533
in İMÇ 5th Block.
The 13th Istanbul Biennial exhibitions will be open through the national holidays in Turkey between 12-20
October, 2013.
The electronic version of the 13th Istanbul Biennial guide is available on the biennial website, 13b.iksv.org/en.

“Mom, Am I Barbarian?”
The notion of the public domain as a political forum will be the focal point of the 13th Istanbul Biennial. This highly contested concept will serve as a matrix to generate ideas and develop practices that question contemporary forms of democracy, challenge current models of spatio-economic politics, problematize the given concepts of civilization and barbarity as standardized positions and languages and, above all, unfold the role of contemporary art as an agent that both makes and unmakes what is considered public.

The idea of the public domain has diverse historic,philosophical, theoretical and geo-political roots and definitions. No matter how many interpretations exist, they are fueled by questions of democracy,related to equality, civic rights and political debate. From the existence of an artwork to the freedom of social media and the designation of urban spaces as public, the notion of public domain can cover a vast area where social engagement and political public debate are possible. It is this potentiality of public domain discourse that the exhibition aims to articulate.