"Curating Contemporary Art" Seminar Program
Seminar: Trusting the Process
Speakers: Fatoş Üstek, Burçak Bingöl
Date: 26 Mart 2026, Thursday
Time: 18:00-19:30
Since 2023, independent curator and writer Fatoş Üstek has served as the curator of Frieze Sculpture. In this discussion, she will be joined by Burçak Bingöl, an artist whose work will feature in the 2025 edition.
Together, they will trace the journey of Frieze Sculpture, examining its development over the years and its curatorial approach within the setting of Regent’s Park. The conversation will explore the exhibition-making process, covering artist selection, conceptual planning, spatial dialogue, production, and installation. It will also address how large-scale public sculptures function on an international stage, engaging diverse audiences and contributing to global contemporary art discourse.
Drawing on Burçak Bingöl’s artistic practice and her involvement in the 2025 edition, the talk will reflect on how an artist’s conceptual and material processes align with a curatorial vision. It will also examine how site-specific strategies influence the final presentation. The challenges and opportunities of creating and showcasing works in a prominent open-air exhibition will be a key focus.
This conversation aims to provide insight into the curatorial and artistic dynamics behind a major public sculpture exhibition, emphasising the collaborative exchange between curator and artist that shapes the public’s experience.
About Fatoş Üstek
Fatoş Üstek is a curator, writer, and cultural thinker with over two decades of international expertise. She is currently working on establishing a new art institution, inspired by her forthcoming book The Art Institution of Tomorrow Reinventing the Model (Lund Humphries, 2024). The book presents a forward-looking model for art institutions, emphasising agency in financial, operational, and artistic realms. Previously, Üstek served as the director of two prominent UK art institutions, the Liverpool Biennial and The Roberts Institute of Art. She is the Co-founder and Director of FRANK Fair Artist Pay and has been the curator of Frieze Sculpture, London, since 2023. Her curatorial projects include biennials, exhibitions, festivals, and large-scale public art commissions, fostering new connections between art, audiences, and urban spaces.
About Burçak Bingöl
Born in Görele and raised in Ankara, Burçak Bingöl completed her art education at PhD level in the Fine Arts Faculty at Hacettepe University, Ankara. She also completed programs on music at Ankara State Conservatory between 1985-91 and on Photography at New School, New York in 2009.
She realized solo exhibitions in New York, Ankara, Istanbul, Berlin, and Tate St Ives. She was part of many group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad, including Dialogues: Modern Artists and the Ottoman Past at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Frieze Sculpture 2025: In the Shadows, London; and the 15th Istanbul Biennial, a good neighbor. As a curator, she has made four exhibitions in Ankara and Istanbul. She participated in various artist residency programs such as Porthmeor Studios – Cornwall, IASPIS – Stockholm, Cité des Artes – Paris, Hunter College – New York, and Gate 27 – Ayvalık.
Her works are in many public and private collections in the US, Europe, the Middle and Far East including the Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, 21C Museum – Kentucky, Salsali Private Museum – Dubai, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art – Krakow, Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Istanbul; OMM Odunpazarı Modern Museum - Eskişehir, Baksı Museum – Bayburt.
Bingöl worked as a faculty member at Hacettepe University and Istanbul Technical University. She held the position of Zilberman Gallery's founding artistic director between 2011 and 2017. She is currently a member of the advisory board of the Fine Arts Institute of Hacettepe University, Ankara.
She currently lives and works in Beyoğlu, Istanbul.
* This seminar is organized in collaboration between Akbank Sanat and Open Dialogue Istanbul
* 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 850 TL for adults, 650 TL for students (VAT included).
* The program will take place on the online platform Zoom.