Istanbul Biennial to ponder 'a good neighbor'

"Is a neighbor someone you really see?" This is how the press conference for the announcement of the framework for The 15th Istanbul Biennial started. 

For the media conference, curators Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset created a live performance for the conference involving 40 people. Each person asked a question about the meaning and existence of a neighbor such as "Is a good neighbor someone with a bigger family than yours?" or "Is a good neighbor someone who leaves you alone?" On one hand, the questions addressed the local lives that each person experience each day, while also addressing the international and political problems that people encounter in general.

"Art is not about giving answers but asking questions, and that's why the biennial aims to ask the question about how we live in micro levels such as, in our homes and in our neighborhood," Elmgreen said during the press conference.

"The title 'a good neighbor' is about looking at the small unit in our lives and looking at the micro level of our living," said Elmgreen. "A home is a place where we dare to be ourselves and the neighborhood is kind of an example of how we live together. The biennial will be addressing different forms of the neighborhood." 

The final format of the biennial will be determined with the artists, meaning it will be an exhibition where artists are curators.

While the neighborhood concept is a part of Turkish culture, the curators aim to handle this concept from an international point of view. The biennial will deal with localities and the international conception of the concept of the neighborhood. 

The concept could be explained with the billboard campaign that will be created exclusively for the 15th Istanbul Biennial. The...