Istanbul Modern

Istanbul Modern is a former cargo warehouse that became an internationally renowned modern art museum following its initial use as a space for contemporary art at the 8th Istanbul Biennial in 2003. The building was designed by architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem between 1957 and 1958.

The 15th Istanbul Biennial showcases nineteen artists’ projects within Istanbul Modern’s open-plan ground floor. Currently, the harbour area around the museum is under substantial transformation, and issues around urban development are reflected upon in several of the artworks displayed.

The museum’s collection of Turkish and international modern and contemporary art is on permanent display on the second floor. It is also possible to visit the museum’s cinema, where a film programme put together by Istanbul Modern’s curatorial team is screened at scheduled times throughout the exhibition period.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Adel Abdessemed

  Born in Constantine, lives between London and Paris
  Adel Abdessemed
• List of works on display Volkan Aslan

  Born in Ankara, lives in Istanbul
  Volkan Aslan
• List of works on display Alper Aydın

  Born in Ordu, lives between Ordu, Ankara, Konya, and Istanbul 
  Alper Aydın
• List of works on display Mahmoud Obaidi

  Born in Baghdad, lives in Burlington, Ontario
  Mahmoud Obaidi
• List of works on display Latifa Echakhch

  Born in El Khnansa, lives in Martigny
  Latifa Echakhch
• List of works on display Candeğer Furtun

  Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
  Candeğer Furtun
• List of works on display Mirak Jamal

  Born in Tehran, lives in Berlin
  Mirak Jamal
• List of works on display Kim Heecheon

  Born in Seoul, lives in Seoul
  Kim Heecheon
• List of works on display Fernando Lanhas

  Born in Porto, died in Porto
  Fernando Lanhas
• List of works on display Victor Leguy

  Born in São Paulo, lives in São Paulo
  Victor Leguy
• List of works on display Klara Lidén

  Born in Stockholm, lives in Berlin
  Klara Lidén
• List of works on display Henrik Olesen

  Born in Esbjerg, lives in Berlin
  Henrik Olesen
• List of works on display Lydia Ourahmane

  Born in Saida, lives in Oran and London
  Lydia Ourahmane
• List of works on display Rayyane Tabet

  Born in Ashquot, lives in Beirut
  Rayyane Tabet
• List of works on display Young-Jun Tak

  Born in Seoul, lives in Berlin
  Young-Jun Tak
• List of works on display Kaari Upson

  Born in San Bernadino, California, lives in Los Angeles, California
  Kaari Upson
• List of works on display Kemang Wa Lehulere

  Born in Cape Town, lives in Cape Town
  Kemang Wa Lehulere
• List of works on display Yonamine

  Born in Luanda, lives in Harare
  Yonamine
• List of works on display Xiao Yu

  Born in Inner Mongolia, lives in Beijing
  Xiao Yu

Pera Museum

Pera Museum was originally built by architect Achille Manoussos as Hotel Bristol in 1893. Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation founded the Pera Museum after the Neoclassical building’s renovation in 2005. Located just off İstiklal Caddesi, this private foundation museum has three large collections: Orientalist Paintings, Anatolian Weights and Measures, and Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics. The first two floors house selected works from these collections. The 15th Istanbul Biennial presents work by sixteen artists on the top three floors of the museum, with two additional works displayed within the museum’s Orientalist Painting collection.

The museum’s curatorial team has put together a film programme responding to the Biennial’s title – ‘a good neighbour’ – which is screened at scheduled times in the auditorium in the museum’s basement. Parts of the Biennial’s public programme take place in collaboration with the educational team of Pera Museum.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Njideka Akunyili Crosby

  Born in Enugu, lives in Los Angeles, California
  Njideka Akunyili Crosby
• List of works on display Alejandro Almanza Pereda

  Born in Mexico City, lives in Guadalajara
  Alejandro Almanza Pereda
• List of works on display Burçak Bingöl

  Born in Giresun, lives in Istanbul
  Burçak Bingöl
• List of works on display Monica Bonvicini

  Born in Venice, lives in Berlin
  Monica Bonvicini
• List of works on display Louise Bourgeois

  Born in Paris, died in New York, NY
  Louise Bourgeois
• List of works on display Berlinde De Bruyckere

  Born in Ghent, lives in Ghent
  Berlinde De Bruyckere
• List of works on display Vajiko Chachkhiani

  Born in Tbilisi, lives in Berlin
  Vajiko Chachkhiani
• List of works on display Gözde İlkin

  Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
  Gözde İlkin
• List of works on display Liliana Maresca

  Born in Buenos Aires, died in Buenos Aires
  Liliana Maresca
• List of works on display Lee Miller

  Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, died in Chiddingly, East Sussex
  Lee Miller
• List of works on display Aude Pariset

  Born in Versailles, lives in Berlin
  Aude Pariset
• List of works on display Sim Chi Yin

  Born in Singapore, lives in Beijing
  Sim Chi Yin
• List of works on display Dayanita Singh

  Born in New Delhi, lives in New Delhi
  Dayanita Singh
• List of works on display Tatiana Trouvé

  Born in Cosenza, lives in Paris
  Tatiana Trouvé
• List of works on display Tsang Kin-Wah

  Born in Shantou, lives in Hong Kong
  Tsang Kin-Wah
• List of works on display Andra Ursuta

  Born in Salonta, lives in New York, NY
  Andra Ursuta
• List of works on display Fred Wilson

  Born in New York, NY, lives in New York, NY
  Fred Wilson

ARK Kültür

ARK Kültür, located close to Istanbul Modern and Galata Greek Primary School, was originally built as a family home. The house has been inhabited by various different families throughout the decades. During the 1970s and 1980s, an Italian antique dealer transformed the building into an eclectic, ornate living space, but the house was redone in Bauhaus style in 2008 by its current owner, the architect Gülfem Köseoğlu. She also converted the building into an exhibition and cultural space.

ARK Kültür displays a single artist’s work over all three floors, in the style of a fictional ‘house museum’.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Mahmoud Khaled

  Born in Alexandria, lives in Trondheim
  Mahmoud Khaled

Galata Greek Primary School

Galata Greek Primary School, located in Karaköy and in close proximity to Istanbul Modern, was built in the Neoclassical architectural style in the late nineteenth century. The school was one of the main educational locations for children of Greek descent in Istanbul for over a century. Due to a decrease in the Greek population of Istanbul in the second half of the twentieth century, the school officially closed its doors in 2007. A recurring venue of the Istanbul Biennial, the building has a special significance due to its legacy as a school, a place for learning and knowledge and a key institution in any residential neighbourhood.

Fifteen artists are showing their work at the Galata Greek Primary School, each with an individual space, in classrooms, hallways, stairway landings, the former ballroom and the attic.

The Galata Greek Primary School library runs an ongoing educational programme, which continues throughout the exhibition period.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Heba Y. Amin

  Born in Cairo, lives in Berlin
  Heba Y. Amin
• List of works on display Mark Dion

  Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, lives in New York, NY
  Mark Dion
• List of works on display Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe

  Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Dayton, Ohio, both live in New York, NY
  Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe
• List of works on display Kasia Fudakowski

  Born in London, lives in Berlin
  Kasia Fudakowski
• List of works on display Pedro Gómez-Egaña

  Born in Bucaramanga, lives between Bergen and Copenhagen
  Pedro Gómez-Egaña
• List of works on display Lungiswa Gqunta

  Born in Port Elizabeth, lives in Cape Town
  Lungiswa Gqunta
• List of works on display Andrea Joyce Heimer

  Born in Great Falls, Montana, lives in Ferndale, Washington
  Andrea Joyce Heimer
• List of works on display Morag Keil & Georgie Nettell

  Born in Edinburgh and Bedford, both live in London
  Morag Keil & Georgie Nettell
• List of works on display Olaf Metzel

  Born in Berlin, lives in Munich
  Olaf Metzel
• List of works on display Mahmoud Obaidi

  Born in Baghdad, lives in Burlington, Ontario
  Mahmoud Obaidi
• List of works on display Erkan Özgen

  Born in Mardin, lives in Diyarbakır
  Erkan Özgen
• List of works on display Leander Schönweger

  Born in Meran, lives in Vienna
  Leander Schönweger
• List of works on display Dan Stockholm

  Born in Thisted, lives in Copenhagen
  Dan Stockholm
• List of works on display Ali Taptık

  Born in Istanbul, lives in Istanbul
  Ali Taptık
• List of works on display Bilal Yılmaz

  Born in Manisa, lives in Istanbul
  Bilal Yılmaz

Yoğunluk Artist Atelier

As part of the 15th Istanbul Biennial, a participating local artist collective has redesigned their atelier, a former apartment in the Beyoğlu neighbourhood, close to Pera Museum. The atelier is situated on the fourth floor of a building on a busy restaurant street, and welcomes small groups of viewers on a timed viewing schedule due to the scale and the dimly lit nature of the site-specific installation.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Yoğunluk

  Founded in Istanbul, live in Istanbul
  Yoğunluk

Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam

Küçük Mustafa Paşa Hammam is located in the Fatih residential neighbourhood across the Golden Horn. While it is the site furthest away from the other venues, it remains within walking distance. Constructed in 1477, the disused hammam is one of the oldest Turkish baths in Istanbul and reflects some of the key traditional features and social structures of the Ottoman period.

While the larger ‘male’ section of the hammam was a site for the 14th Istanbul Biennial, the recently renovated ‘female’ section is this year used as an exhibition space for the first time. Two artists have worked specifically with the interior of each of their sections, and a specially developed dance performance takes place at scheduled times within the ‘male’ part of the hammam.

Artists exhibiting at this venue

• List of works on display Monica Bonvicini

  Born in Venice, lives in Berlin
  Monica Bonvicini
• List of works on display Stephen G. Rhodes

  Born in Houston, Texas, lives in Berlin
  Stephen G. Rhodes
• List of works on display Tuğçe Tuna

  Born in Mons, lives in Istanbul
  Tuğçe Tuna