A city-wide exhibition for everyone: 14th Istanbul Biennial

Centered on how the theme of 'saltwater' ties Istanbul together, ?KSV's 14th Istanbul Biennial will start this weekend at real and unreal venues across the city The 14th Istanbul Biennial, "SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms," will open to the public starting Sept. 5 in 30 venues around the city.

While creating the framework of the biennial, festival "draftsperson" Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev focused on the thought and the concept of "saltwater," the Bosphorus and its currents going in opposite directions. Christov-Bakargiev also focused on the history of Istanbul and Bosphorus and how the Bosphorus was made. It is known that the Black Sea was, in ancient times, a lake and that the Bosphorus only opened up around 2500 B.C. 

The Bosphorus is a passage - and even means "cow passage" in Greek - Christov-Bakargiev said in an earlier interview with Irene Gludowacz in Parnass and CI Mag. The Bosphorus is a passage where things can crank, move or crack, she added. In the same interview, she said she wanted to refer to all these currents under the surface of modern Turkey when choosing the works and selecting the venues. 

Christov-Bakargiev is very careful about choosing words; she does not want people to call her a curator but a "draftsperson." As such, during a Sept. 2 press conference to promote the biennial, when someone asked "how she selected the venues for the biennial," Christov-Bakargiev said: "I have never used the word 'select.'" For her, it is not politically correct to use the word "select." 

Christov-Bakargiev also said the first venue she decided upon was Leon Trotsky's house on Büyükada, one of Istanbul's Prince Islands. "[Turkish Nobel Laureate] Orhan Pamuk told me that Trotsky's house was on Büyükada. I...