The
Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) organizes the first Istanbul
Design Biennial (IDB) in its 40th year. The IDB covers the fields of
urban design, architecture, industrial design, graphic design, fashion design
and new media design as well as relevant creative products and projects.
Until the
12th of December the IDB hosts over 100 projects by nearly 300
designers and architects from 46 countries. Using two different exhibition
venues curators Emre Arolat and Joseph Grima interpret the theme “Imperfection”
from their own perspectives. The theme of the IDB was adopted after the
suggestion of Deyan Sudjic, member of its Advisory Board and Director of Design
Museum in London. Sudjic stated: “There
is nowhere better to explore it than in Istanbul, a city of infinite layers,
charged with the vitality that comes from engaging rapid urban, social and
cultural change.” Sudjic also highlighted that “Istanbul as a city, is far from perfect, yet it is one of the most
exhilarating and dynamic centres in the world. Its special quality is that it
makes so much from the imperfect, the inexact and the provisional. “
The
Istanbul Design Biennial is transforming the great city of Istanbul into a city
of design during two months by presenting academy programme, workshop
exhibitions, seminar programme, film screenings, parallel participant programmes,
like SALON/, and design walks as well as both main exhibitions.
‘Musibet’ curated by Emre Arolat at Istanbul
Modern
One of the
two main exhibitions of the IDB is located at the Istanbul Modern, a venue
designed by EAA-Emre Arolat Architects. This exhibition is named ‘Musibet’ and curated
by Emre Arolat. ‘Musibet’ congregates more than 30 projects of 165 designers
and architects, displaying multiple faces of grand transformations continuously
being realized in Istanbul, as well as in many other geographies. The
exhibition aims to question the self-styled-marvellous legitimacy of the
arguments of design activities in this context.
Emre Arolat
organized the curatorial framework of the exhibition under two headlines. Under
the first headline, ‘Transformation’, Arolat will question urban transformation
and mass housing projects, which have been on the table lately in Istanbul, and
social tension due these projects while comparing them to other sample cities.
Under the other headline, ‘Anti-Context’, the parallels in the thoughts of
local and global actors on a geographical scale with Istanbul in the centre,
universal consent, the changes in new technologies, architectural and fashion
design practices of the new world will e debated.
Bora Ozkus, Batu Kepekcioglu, Ali Pasoaglu
Bahar Korcan
Ebru Salah
Xavier Deleroy
‘Adhocracy’ curated by Joseph Grima at Galata
Greek primary school
The other
main exhibition is hosted by the Galata Greek Primary School and reunites 60
projects by 120 designers and architects. ‘Adhocracy’, curated by Joseph Grima
in collaboration with an international team, surveys the contemporary design
scene in the wake of a wave of social and technological revolutions that have
transformed the realm of desing in recent years. The exhibition argues that
rather than in finished products, the maximum expression of design today is to
be found in processes-system, tools, networkds and platforms that involve users
in the process of definition of the end products. The exchitbtion charts the
mirgration of the epicenter of production from the factory floor to back to the
craftsman’s workshop. The title, Adhocracy, is a reference to the move away
from the dominance of the bureaucratic model of organization, typical of the
indurstrial era, towards an apporoach that embraces bottom-up innovation.
Istanbul scale model
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Campo de Cabada
Giancarlo de Carlo
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