Despite the advisory board’s unanimous choice of Defne Ayas as the curator for the 18th Istanbul Biennial, the Foundation’s choice of Iwona Blazwick led to a crisis in the art field starting in August, and then to discussions about transparency, accountability and censorship in the community. According to the news in Bianet, past biennial participants and members of the art community published an open letter to the Foundation “Open Letter to İKSV: Towards a Better Istanbul Biennial”. The letter included the following:
“Open Letter to İKSV: Time to Have Better Istanbul Biennials
The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) is experiencing a crisis. The recent events surrounding the selection of the curator of the 18th Istanbul Biennial (see The Art Newspaper, ArtReview, Monopol, and Argonotlar, among others) have shown that İKSV has failed to maintain a transparent, accountable, ethical, and inclusive practice. This impacts Turkey’s field of culture as İKSV remains one of the country’s oldest and most influential cultural institutions.
We call on İKSV to adopt legitimate and transparent practices. The Biennial has yet to address the following topics and criticism: Who is the decision-maker at the Istanbul Biennial? What are the criteria and ethical guidelines for the selection process of curators? If the Istanbul Biennial Advisory Board does not have de facto authority as declared by the institution, why have some of the members of the Advisory Board resigned after the selection process that resulted in the appointment of one of the serving Advisory Board members? Why has the public not been informed of how the curator selection took place?
We urge İKSV to implement practices of accountability regarding its organization of the Istanbul Biennial and other cultural events. As a private foundation in public service, İKSV has a public mandate and responsibility. We believe that the fulfillment of a cultural organization’s public mandate comes from its dialogue with its artists, audiences, and constituents. We invite İKSV to fulfill its obligations by adopting better accountability and responsiveness based on merit, fairness, and honesty.
We, the undersigned participants of the previous Istanbul Biennials and members of the arts community, call on İKSV to respond to the recent criticisms and take the necessary steps in light of its public mandate.”
The current list of signatures and the letter can be found here.
