The 18th Istanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of long-term Biennial Sponsor Koç Holding (2007–2036), welcomed more than 100,000 visitors in just 15 days. The biennial opened its doors with preview days on September 16 and became fully accessible to the public on September 20, drawing remarkable interest from the very first day.
Curated this year by Christine Tohmé, the 18th Istanbul Biennial is held under the title “The Three-Legged Cat.”Spanning eight venues across the Beyoğlu–Karaköy area, it explores fragility, resilience, and imaginative futures in the face of crises and insecurity.
Tohmé frames the biennial’s guiding questions as follows:
“When confronted with fragility and recurring crises, how do material conditions and insecurity shape our daily lives? How do our relationships with ourselves, our bodies, and our communities evolve? How do we create spaces to breathe? How do we discover unconventional forms of solidarity and counter-strategies for resistance? How do repair and forward-looking imagination move together to help us envision possible futures? As our worlds unravel to accommodate both nightmares and dreams, ephemerality and resilience, how do we continue to live in them?”
A Biennial in Motion
Unfolding over three phases, the 18th Istanbul Biennial focuses on the themes of self-preservation and future possibilities. The first phase — now on view — stretches across eight free-to-visit venues in Beyoğlu and Karaköy until November 23:
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Elhamra Han
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Eski Fransız Yetimhanesi Bahçesi (Old French Orphanage Garden)
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Meclis-i Mebusan 35
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Külah
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Zihni Han
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Galeri 77
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Muradiye Han
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Galata Greek School (Galata Rum Okulu)
The preview days attracted strong interest from international cultural institutions, art professionals, critics, writers, and journalists.
Hosting 47 artists and more than 100 works, the biennial invites audiences to reflect on resilience, healing, and collective imagination in uncertain times.
For further impressions of the 18th Istanbul Biennial, you can read İdil Sancar’s article “Reflections from the 18th Istanbul Biennial.”
