Speaker: Bige Örer
About the Seminar: Istanbul Biennial continues to establish a relationship with the era and geography in which it has been present for more than thirty years and to produce original art exhibitions with aesthetic and critical priorities. Each curator invited to the Biennial brings themes to the city in an exhibition format that feeds on the transformative power of art. After nearly two years of preparation, the participating artists produce new works and / or present their works that question the biennial theme from different perspectives. The biennial meets with the audience for two months free of charge at the exhibition and events around the city. This seminar will explore the history, venues, conceptual frameworks of the Istanbul Biennial, the diversity of curatorial methodologies and discourses, and the relationships they have established with the local art field through the exchange of knowledge and experience through curatorial strategies through exhibitions and learning programs.
About the Speaker: Bige Örer is an initiator and facilitator of exhibitions and artistic projects. She is currently the director of the Istanbul Biennial (since 2008) and Contemporary Art Projects at IKSV (since 2018). There she directs the artistic vision and programme for the Istanbul Biennial as well as a wide variety of cross disciplinary projects, including the Pavilion of Turkey at the Venice Biennale; learning, residency and public programmes which are developed together with a multitude of international and local collaborators. She has a background in political science and public administration as well as sociology. She has been a consultant and a jury member of numerous selection panels and awards. She was an independent expert in the European Union’s department that evaluates sculptural funds. She was also a member of the project Capacity Building for Cultural Policy in Turkey and a member of the team that writes the alternative Cultural Policy Compendium of Turkey. Bige Örer's breadth of activity embraces both the artistic and the academic fields. Her contribution in various publications includes the research she co-conducted on the financing of international contemporary art biennials. She is the co-author of the children’s book ‘A Colourful Journey in a Time MachinSe: Istanbul Biennials for Children’ with Sureyyya Evren. Bige has written extensively about biennials and has taught courses on the subject at Istanbul Bilgi University. Since March 2013, she has been the vice-president of the International Biennial Association. She is on the editorial board of IBA which conceptualised and produced the inaugural issue of its journal, Pass.
* The single course fee of the event you want to participate in the seminar series is 100 TL and tickets can only be obtained from the ticket offices. For more information: apply@curatingcontemporaryart.org