SEVEN QUESTIONS TO BERAL MADRA 

 

By TOTI CARPENTIERI

1. The 17th Istanbul Biennial opened on 11 September, what has changed since the first two editions of 1987 and 1989 that saw you as coordinator? 

Istanbul Biennale is a by-product for the 35 years socio-political-economic and cultural history of Turkey; I mean to understand the changes you ask about one must look to all these states of affairs. In 1985 after a bloody military coup in 1980 Turkey entered the global liberal economy, but not into an interrelated democracy. Fascism was pending in the background of this so-called capitalist victory. Biennale, initiated by the flourishing private sector, was a kind of whitewashing the existing political pollution. When I was invited to the advisory board of the 1st Biennale (the first one was not mentioned as biennale), I had only 6 years of experience in local contemporary art; but the board appointed me as the artistic coordinator of the exhibitions. The first two biennale was based on the concept of connecting Istanbul to the mainstream of contemporary art in Europe and introducing the art production in Turkey to the international experts and institutions. Despite the fact that Cold War was over, and Globalization had its golden days, 1990’s Turkey had again a traumatic political environment with many kinds of terrorism, nevertheless liberal capitalism flourished, and the private sector embraced contemporary art as a tool for international visibility, which in turn helped the artists and art productions to gain new opportunities through gallery investments, international exhibitions, and activities. Many artists were recognized and became visible in international exhibitions. Istanbul Biennale mainly supported by private sector has maintained its attractive position by inviting famous international curators, who always used the historical, exotic, heterogeneous infrastructure of the city; however, to my opinion most of the time with an inevitable neo-orientalist approach. In the last 20 years, during the rule of AKP government Istanbul Biennale is under the camouflaged surveillance of state authoritarianism; it is avoiding the display of strongly dissident works; repeating my opinion that the biennale is not independent of political and economic developments.

2. What memories do you have of "Mediterraneo", the exhibition / project for nations, held in Bari as part of Expo Arte 1989, which in its first implementation featured artists from France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, Turkey ? 

EXPO-ARTE was organized by the Fiera Del Levante management in cooperation with the Cultural Commission of the Apuglia region, in a 30,000 m2, modern fair complex in all respects. Galleries, cultural unions and centers and art publishers participated in the commercial art fair in five large pavilions. In this fair, we watched examples of art at different levels; Besides the famous galleries, there were many galleries that carried art purely commercially. I met with the exhibition's selection committee Italo Musa, Toti Carpantieri, Arnoldo Pomodoro and Francesco Vincintore (one of the organizers of the Mediterranean Countries Series) during a dinner. They argued that the art problems of the Mediterranean countries are common and that the art environment, which is monopolized by the Northern European countries, should be made more widespread by acting together. This issue was also addressed by the Secretary General, Dr. Giuseppe Giocovelli. It was also voiced by Gaetano Piepoli and the region's Minister of Culture. This exhibition also heralded the Post-Cold War vision of global communication in contemporary art and culture. In particular, it was emphasized that the Mediterranean, despite its local characteristics, is a cultural region with integrity and privilege, and that this should be emphasized from all aspects. I can say that one of the foundations of the Mediterranean Cultural Union was laid for the European Union, which took place in 1992, at EXPO-ARTE. In the open session on March 17, the exhibition organizers of eight Mediterranean countries also stated the importance of this special exhibition, that this communication is inevitable at the theoretical and practical level, and the presence of the Mediterranean character in today's art. Again, each exhibition organizer explained the features and meaning of their own exhibition in this interesting exhibition covering 1500 m2 of the whole exhibition area. The result was quite surprising. The artists of the eight exhibitions displayed a very high level of aesthetics, a common taste, consciousness and intellectual structure. Consisting of eight countries, the exhibition reflected a striking unity, simultaneity and identity, although there was no communication between the exhibitors and the artists. Despite the fact that Turkey experienced the fact of being backward in terms of artistic communication with Europe among these countries, it did not spoil the general image. On the contrary, it attracted great attention and admiration. The result of this participation opened the way to Pavilion of Turkey in Venice Biennale and my admission into the international curating profession.

3. What did it mean for you to be the curator of the Turkish Pavilion in the 44th Venice International Art Biennale in 1990, a task that was then repeated four more times from 1993 to 2005? 

Bari exhibition was the beginning of my adventure in Venice Biennale; Bari friends have encouraged me to curate a show in the next Venice Biennale and in 1990 the chief curator Giovanni Carandente applied to TR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked to appoint me as the curator and the commissar of The Pavilion of Turkey. He also offered a free space in The Padiglione Italia; a 10m2 room at the very end of the building; next to the Pavilion of Cyprus, which at that time was a hostile country for Turkey! During the two decades I could convince the state and the private sector about the significance of this participation and each time I had better financial support from different sources. I deliberately invited two or more artists to give them a visibility in international level. In 2005 I invited a Hussein Chalayan; he attracted great attention, so that IKSV decided to take over the presentation of the Pavilion of Turkey. I believe that all the artists of the former four participations achieved good recognition. I gained experience and was recognized as a curator from so called east of EU and received many other international exhibition invitations. If you look to the concepts of the exhibitions you can see that I referred to critical socio-political-cultural discourses and debates which related to the particular years of the biennale.  I collected my essays on Venice Biennale in a book: İki Yılda Bir Sanat (Art in Every Two Years).

4. And even more the curatorships of the exhibition "Modernities & Memories Recent Works from the Islamic World" in the 47th Venice International Art Biennale, and those of the Central Asia Pavilion and the Azerbaijan Pavilion respectively in the 53rd and 54th edition of the lagoon event? 

The exhibition project “Modernities and Memories” was probably the first extensive project to represent Islamic countries in Venice Biennale. It was conceived in a series of meetings in 1995 initiated and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation with the aim of realizing a joint cross-cultural communication between the Islamic countries to express cultural pluralism through contemporary art works. The curatorial group meetings were held in Paris (1995), Istanbul (1996), Jakarta (1996), New York (1996) and Venice (1997). The exhibition was prepared through a defined process of inquiry focusing on contemporary aesthetics, experience and criteria of art as well as on the philosophy and artistic vocabulary of the artist as regards to her/his cultural background. The first venue of the exhibition was 47^Th Venice Biennale 1997 in ZENOBIO INSTITUTE, Academia. The second venue was in Istanbul in Dolmabahçe Cultural Center, curated by me, supported by Istanbul Bilgi University. The artists in these exhibitions were selected for their ideas and concepts which reflect the socio-political-cultural environments and developments in their countries, for their competent exploitation of tradition and modernism which opens new perspectives and modes of perception and for their skill and knowledge in applying the universal art language into their native background. After this significant exhibition I was invited to curate Central Asia Pavilion and Azerbaijan Pavilion.

5. What is the role and what are the tasks of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts (İKSV) 

IKSV was founded in early 1980’s by major private sector companies and personalities to support and promote contemporary art and culture in Turkey; at the very beginning music and theater were the main events, painting and sculpture exhibitions were the side activities. Repeating myself: In 1980 Turkey faced the third military coupe – let us remember that 171 political convicts were executed and 650.000 were detained and jailed- and won the ultimate non-democratic label. On the other side liberal economy was knocking the doors of private sector and now they had to answer this call; liberal economy stepped in in 1985 and the private sector started to apply all the conditions of this new promising situation. One of them was to show that Turkey has democratic goals and has to gain prestige in the international arena through culture and art. In 1986 I was invited to the advisory board of the 1^st Istanbul Biennale and during the work process the board appointed me as the coordinator- at that time “curator” was not an identified profession. I again coordinated the 2nd one, after that I did not have any significant professional connection to IKSV, except participating in several conferences. IKSV is the leading sustainable foundation for promotion of culture and arts in Turkey; private sector as well as the state and local government are supporting this foundation with different types of collaborations. Over the years, IKSV has bestowed the local art scene international recognition; many local artists gained fame. international artists benefited from the opportunities in the glorious historical environment and gained inspiration and knowledge. Many international curators could make important exhibitions and enhanced their professional fame. It is certain that this process is positive. There are also negative aspects, briefly as follows: In the city of 16 million, this biennial can only reach a maximum of 500,000 people; there is no permanent venue for the biennale and many venues of the city are used so that it becomes difficult to control them in terms of quality and impact; the budget is used for logistics and PR purposes rather than for the participating artists; it is observed that there are always favorites, in the selection of local artists; it is conceived for the large public but it is still functioning for the elites. Since the Gezi turmoil and its political oppression consequences IKSV and the invited curators are very cautious and guarded in terms of exhibition concepts and works to be exhibited; only some courageous artists dare to present dissident works.

6. What is your “BM CAC” today? 

I founded a simple small gallery in 1981 (GALLERY BM) developed it to a non-profit BM Contemporary Art Centre (BM CAC) in 1989 with many partnerships and supporting funds. In 2012 I closed the gallery space in Nişantaş and moved to other parts of the city, at first to Karaköy (BM SUMA CAC) and then to Beşiktaş ( KUAD GALLERY) as non-profit BM CAC with different partners until 2016. I realized approximately 200 international exhibitions with over 500 local and international artists during the 40 years. BM CAC is currently an archive and library open to research and academic work. BM CAC’s aims and objectives still are to exhibit, document and promote the works local and international artists; to create a mutual perceptive communication between the audiences and the artists; to open a new field for socio-cultural discussion, critical theory, visual thinking and art-making. In the choice of programs organized and works exhibited there is the sole criterion of debate, critical thinking, constructive ideas, and innovation of concept and maturity of techniques. The programs and exhibitions aim to display soundness of judgment in identifying important artists and guide their contribution to the local and global multi-disciplined arts and culture. BM CAC archive is open to short- or long-term contracts of art, design and culture with private and official local and international institutions, governments and NGO’s.

 

7. Currently, what is the situation of contemporary art in Turkey, and in which directions the artists are going

Since 2000, humanity has been experiencing the environment created by global politics focused on religion, nationalism and racism, and by Post-truth serving Neo-capitalism, which formulates the world as a stock market and produces ecological problems. People are forced to submit or revolt in the face of various disasters and crises. Artists in Turkey and the surrounding countries are aware of this situation and continue their production of interpreting and challenging the developments. With their scathing and provocative works, they show the courage to oppose the politics of war and undemocratic governments, fundamentalism, polarization attempts and discrimination in the region. In countries like Turkey, where Modernism and democratic processes have not been completed, artists can find ways to move away from conventions and fundamentalisms. Although, tradition imposes a limitation, but also creates a rich source of cultural and visual inspiration; artists seek and find inspiration and phenomena in the mystery of cultural heritage and memory. Relational critical theories also allows artists to deal with tradition by using eclectic quotations and individual codes.

Young artists work separately or simultaneously in all of the art techniques such as writing, drawing, taking photographs and videos, painting and sculpture, making installations using a thousand and one unfamiliar materials, and performing. They want to turn the head of a society that has not made a clear choice of art until now, by moving back and forth between areas where art history draws definite boundaries. They see it as getting a result, if not a success. Undoubtedly, the absence of local and international market control is an important factor here; it's like they say "we're out of the mega-market anyway" and they use this comfort. This feature is valid not only for Turkey, but also for Post-Soviet countries and Middle Eastern countries.

Today's younger generation embraces painting, reflecting their personal stories within the technical spectrum ranging from photo-realism to digital art, from neo-classical and neo-expressionist paintings to multi-media installations. They mainly produce urban and social landscapes with strong criticism and black humor. They are aware that painting is a difficult but valuable means of artistic expression; but they also know the utilitarian side of painting: The condition for working with galleries is painting, and the artwork that can be sold in Turkey is painting. In particular, installations with many materials, accompanied by videos stand out as works that can be easily documented, transported and applied everywhere.

Not only the pandemic period has its negative effects on the art scene but also the extreme economic crisis, high inflation is now a hard-hitting reality for artists and art experts. Travel to EU is restricted by Schengen Visa and EURO; which means specially young generation artists of all disciplines cannot easily make professional travels.

 

Beral Madra, August 2022