A Quest for Curatorial Authority: Beral Madra and The First Two İstanbul Biennials

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, large‐scale, recurring exhibitions, known as biennials, triennials, or the quinquennial exhibition Documenta, have turned into platforms that define contemporary global art. A few years before the turn of such cultural globalization, the First İstanbul Biennial in 1987 planted its roots and turned İstanbul into one of the global contemporary art hubs in the world. This paper examines the first two İstanbul Biennials both organized by Beral Madra,1 one of the prominent curators in Turkey and surveys how Madra struggled to turn these initiatives into recurring prestigious events. Through an examination of Madra’s work, the article proposes a methodological approach to examine biennials outside of the Global North. The paper surveys the conceptual, spatial, and organizational aspects of two landmark exhibitions in Istanbul and their place in the history of contemporary art in Turkey. The paper inspects the theoretical construction of these inaugural exhibitions to reveal the modernist tendencies in the conceptual framework of the First and the Second İstanbul Biennial (September 25 – November 15, 1987 and September 25 – October 31, 1989). It demonstrates the venues selected for display and examines how the formation of these exhibitions became entangled with the cultural policies. Last, it surveys the role of the Curator and how this role served as a mediator between state agencies as actors that founded or sponsored the exhibitions, and the artists, critics, visitors, who were part of the temporary museum event. It illustrates how biennials are temporary museums that are constructed through power dynamics and how the title ‘Curator’ became a hard‐earned credential in the short history of contemporary art in Turkey. The author offers this example as a template of analysis for understanding the curatorial practices in large – scale exhibitions, both in the ‘center’ and in the ‘periphery’.