* Change of venue for the 16th Istanbul Biennial

Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), organising body of the Istanbul Biennial, today announced that the programme previously located at the Istanbul Shipyards will be moved to another venue in the city. Due to the delay of the construction process on the site of the Istanbul Shipyards, and the need to complete the disposal of asbestos materials determined to be present in some of the historic buildings afterwards, İKSV has decided that the Istanbul Shipyards will not be among the venues for this year’s biennial. A further announcement will be made in due course concerning an alternative site.
Click for the detailed announcement.

The 16th Istanbul Biennial, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and sponsored by Koç Holding, running from 14 September to 10 November 2019, is pleased to announce the key locations for this year’s programme.

Curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, the 16th Istanbul Biennial entitled The Seventh Continent, will feature the work of more than 60 artists. Please click to see the full list of participating artists.

The vast 600 year-old Istanbul Shipyards, founded in the natural harbour of the Golden Horn in Istanbul in 1455 by Sultan Mehmet will be the main Biennial location this year, with a series of major art commissions throughout the site. For over 450 years, the area served as the main construction and repair centre of the Ottoman Navy. In the 16th century, Istanbul Shipyard had the capacity of performing simultaneous construction of 200 ships and was known as one of the largest shipyards in the world at that time. Istanbul Shipyards (Tersane Istanbul) is now the subject of a large-scale masterplan to create new housing, infrastructure and public buildings over the next decade.

In addition to the Shipyards, the biennial will present its programme in two other significant locations in Istanbul:

The splendid neo-classical building of the Pera Museum, in the heart of the city, featuring a historic collections of orientalist paintings, Anatolian weights and measures, and Kütahya tiles and ceramics, will be the second venue for the biennial. Just a short walk from the shipyards, the museum will be transformed into an anthropological museum for parallel worlds, a place for fictional archaeology, where artists will reinvent the past.

The third significant location will be Buyukada, the largest of the nine so-called Princes’ Islands set in the Sea of Marmara, a short ferry ride from the mainland with a total population of just 7,000 people and featuring the remains of a Byzantine palace and monastery. Buyukada became known as the Prince’s Island as a result of its notoriety, history and beauty as early as the 9th century AD. Artworks will be located in houses and old buildings across the island.

The addresses of the venues

Istanbul Shipyards
Camii Kebir Mah. Taşkızak Tersane Cad. 5
Kasımpaşa, Beyoğlu

Pera Museum
Meşrutiyet Cad. 47
Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu

Mizzi Mansion
Nizam Mah. Çankaya Cad. 31
Büyükada

Anadolu Kulübü
Nizam Mah. Yirmiüç Nisan Cad. 44
Büyükada

Taş Mektep
Kadıyoran Türkoğlu Sk.
105. Ada, 1. Parsel
Büyükada

Hacopulo Mansion (Former Adalar District Governorate)
Nizam Mah. Çankaya Cad. 44
Büyükada