11th Istanbul International Istanbul Biennial

The 11th International Istanbul Biennial's conceptual framework has been announced by the Biennial curators WHW (What, How & for Whom) at the Biennial press conference on Monday, 17 November at the Ses Theatre in Beyoğlu. The 11th International Istanbul Biennial will take place between 12 September-8 November 2009 and takes its title, "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" from the closing song of the second act of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, written 80 years ago. WHW has chosen to announce the conceptual framework of the Biennial through a short dramatic performance in which they were the actors, instead of releasing the concept in the conventional press release format. WHW performed at the Ses Theatre under the direction of the Croatian theatre director Oliver Frljić to an audience made up of press and the contemporary art scene. After the performance, curators have answered the questions... According to WHW, the question "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" seems to be more urgent and topical than when it was first posed by Brecht in 1928. The conceptual framework of the 11th International Istanbul Biennial "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" will serve as a trigger, as well as a certain script for the exhibition, allowing us and the artists to pose questions of economic and social urgency today. Conceptual framework in newspaper format By bringing Brecht back under the spotlight, WHW aims to re-evaluate our ways of action, our value systems and daily practices in terms of the role of artistic production in today's capitalist climate. In posing the question "What Keeps Mankind Alive?", WHW is more interested in Brecht's oeuvre not as a classic that needs to be rediscovered and shown to new generations, but as a source for a variety of models, proposals, strategies of artistic practice and understanding of art. Conceptual framework of the 11th International Istanbul Biennial Taking advantage of the "Cultural Season of Turkey in France" organised between first of July 2009 and 31 Mars 2010, the Lyon and Istanbul Biennials consolidate the collaboration which started in 2005, renewing operations for the development of media and public exchanges between their two openings of September. »

http://www.iksv.org/bienal/english/