Seminar: The Making Of A Biennial / Models, Institutions, Stakeholders
Speaker: Çelenk Bafra
Time: 6:00 -7:30 pm
What is the difference between biennials, which increasingly become more important, and other exhibitions? Who are the stakeholders of biennials, which are generally known with the name of the city where they are held and the signature of the curator? The exhibition team or the supporters, the artists or the audience? The workshop will search for an answer to the latter through a detailed study of various biennials, with a special focus on the Venice Biennial, which is considered as the most established and large-scale biennial in the world. We will also look at the Sao Paulo Biennial, as well as the biennials realised in Turkey. Thus, the transforming structure and issues of biennials will be discussed through a study of historical and current examples.
About Çelenk Bafra
Çelenk Bafra is a curator and director in visual arts with 20 years of experience in biennials, museums, residency and funding programmes. She is an editor, arts writer, lecturer, and the producer of a weekly podcast broadcast on Acik Radio. She has curated group exhibitions and public programmes in museums and institutions in Europe since 2009. Çelenk Bafra was the Director of SAHA, a non-governmental arts council supporting artists and curators through grants and programmes. As the Curator and Director of Exhibitions & Programs at Istanbul Modern, she oversaw museum's curatorial department and artistic programme. She curated international group exhibitions, video & film programmes, lectures, performances, and edited publications at the museum. Before joining Istanbul Modern, she worked at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), not only as the director of the Istanbul Biennial, but also as the coordinating curator of the Saison Culturelle de la Turquie in partnership with the Institut Français in France, and an advisor for the Pavilion of Türkiye, la Biennale di Venezia in Italy. She is the founding director of Atelier de Turquie, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and SAHA Studio in Istanbul, and contributes in various other residency and studio programmes internationally.
Çelenk Bafra's curatorial practice encompasses group exhibitions prioritizing research and commissions as well as transnational and collaborative programmes.
**Selected Exhibitions: School Square Galatasaray (Pera Museum, 2018-2019), An Exile on Earth (Zilberman Berlin & Istanbul 2018-2019), Harbor (IM, 2017), Till It’s Gone (IM, 2015-2016), Neighbours (IM, 2014), Plurivocality (IM, 2014), Modernity? (IM, 2013), La La La Human Steps & Istanbul Modern Rotterdam (Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam, 2012), Uncanny Encounters (IM, 2011), Ahmet Cevdet Bey Presents: Tunnel of Fear (Overgaden CAC, Copenhagen, 2011), Fantasie et Ile (FRAC Corse, Corsica 2010), Emploi Saisonnier (La Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, 2009-2010).
**Selected Programmes: World Weather Network (2022-2024), Wayward Initiatives (2023), the Octopus Programme (2021-2022), YAP: Young Architects Program (with MoMA/MoMA PS1, MAXXI, Constructo, IM, 2012-2016), Artists’ Film International (Whitechapel Gallery, IM, other partners, 2011-2018) and Museums Talk series from the USA, the UK and Germany (British Council, Goethe Institute, US Embassy, IM, 2011-2018), Headless Women (Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, 2012), 60 Ans 60 Vidéos (Apollonia, Strasbourg, 2009)
* To learn conditions of participation in a single seminar, we would kindly ask you to send an e-mail to apply@curatingcontemporaryart.org address noting the required seminar details. Single seminar participation fee is 250 TL + Kdv.
* The program will take place on the online platform Zoom.