Cover Story: Politics on the canvas

2009/10/21

HANI AHMAD

The International Istanbul Biennial showcases art works that push for greater political awareness, writes HANI AHMAD. POLISH artist Artur Zmijewski’s installation, Democracies, exhibited at the International Istanbul Biennial is compelling work. It seeks to strip the viewer of his apathy of political issues, whatever the latter may be, whether distinct to a place in time, or a common concern affecting the whole of humanity.

Comprising “short pieces of video footage of public political events, filmed in Israel and the West Bank, Poland, Germany, France, Northern Ireland and Austria”, Democracies echoes the overarching theme of the biennial, now in its 11th edition.

One footage focuses on weekly protests by Palestinian women against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank while another is of anti-Nato protests in Strasbourg, France in April 2009, on the 60th anniversary of the forming of the Atlantic Alliance.

Politics and economics — collective or individual — are the drivers of the biennial. Its theme, “What Keeps Mankind Alive?” is taken from Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 Three-Penny Opera that questions the value of capitalism and seeks to redistribute wealth.

From the start, the 11th biennial curatorial team WHW (What, How and For Whom), a young collective based in Zagreb, impresses upon us a glut of statistics, none of it arbitrarily chosen but controlled and directed. The official programme represents 70 artists from 38 countries.

Bader Al Awadhi’s Bleeding, 2007 (detail), part of a group show, ‘Where is my privacy?’ at Casa Dell’Arte/CDA Projects gallery

It is becoming clear that Asia (including the Middle East) is fast gaining ground in the art world (in 2008, 11 of the 20 highest-earning artists were from China). And in the next decade or so, China, India and Brazil will probably dominate critical thinking, writing and production in art and corner the lucrative market.

American artist Oraib Toukan’s The Equity is in the Circle (2007-09), comprising installation, photography and video text, has the Middle East carved up for auction, an elegant statement of the Western colonial past, and a shrewd observation of the capitalist present, taking Dubai (and Abu Dhabi and Sharjah) as a fine example of the astonishing economic development in the United Arab Emirates. But at what cost to the environment, society, and the country’s finances in the wake of the financial meltdown.

On a more human scale, Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovic’s Turkish Report 09 (2009) is cleverly conceived, consisting “of red sheets of paper printed with the main points from a report on the status of women in Turkey ... relating to gender inequality ... including honour killings”.

These pieces of paper are rumpled up and strewn all over the biennial’s venues. They serve as a reminder of how we sometimes treat difficult topics with disdain and in this case, as rubbish, but that they could also be powerful campaigning tools, raising awareness.

Her other work, Sunglasses (2009), in collaboration with Mor Çati (a foundation for women victims of violence in Istanbul) is equally quiet and powerful, taking a simple device and advertisements of glamorous shots of women wearing sunglasses. At the corner of the posters are harrowing stories of abused women. The posters, placed on the ground, act as metaphors that conceal the pain and bruises, and that such topics are still not openly discussed, let alone properly addressed.

These biennials and triennials are two-a-penny. In the top 10 are, arguably, Venice, São Paolo, Berlin, Shanghai, Manifesta, Dak’Art, Gwangju, Prague, Sharjah and Istanbul, plus Documenta (once every five years) and Münster (once every 10 years).

Even this list is personal, not fixed and dependent on where, physically and metaphysically, you happen to be at a given time, your list is influenced by a number of factors: relevance, geography, ideology, the profile of the curatorial team, your career, your current concerns, your bank balance. Biennial and triennials can inspire you and make you question your own prejudices and beliefs, or make you head straight back for the airport, agitated and frustrated at their triteness and triviality.

But the importance of these festivals and the seriousness of their endeavours cannot be underestimated, although it is easy to get lost in the hyperbole created around such events, generated not necessarily by marketing people but largely by self-interest groups: gallerists, curators, writers, arts organisations, auction houses, museum and gallery directors, collectors and artists themselves.

These festivals are the barometers of the contemporary visual art world and by extension seek to mirror and challenge the current issues of the day that impact on ordinary, everyday lives.

The Istanbul Biennial, now 20 years old, is, by any reckoning, a major indicator. One of its marvel is its location, situated in a country where a gamut of political agendas and liberalism to conservatism, sit alongside fundamentalist religious ideology. Works of art that could be viewed as dangerous are openly exhibited and not incur the wrath of the secular or religious authorities, be forcibly removed and carted off the premises.

Oraib Toukan’s, The Equity is in the Circle

Instead, the biennial attracts huge crowds. This is a strength of Turkey (and Istanbul), a testament of her confidence in her people’s ability to negotiate explosive and disruptive ideas and practices, and her place in world history and on the world stage.

Turkey is as complex as any other country, inextricably connected to a global economy, forging easy and uneasy political alliances, domestic and foreign, with Istanbul straddling both the continents of Europe and Asia.

Next year, it will be a designated European Capital of Culture, along with Essen in Germany and Pecz in Hungary, an honour not to be scoffed at as Turkey continues to press for membership in the European Union.

With all the stats thrown at us, it would have been useful to know how much the city benefits from the biennial in financial terms, too. What is difficult to measure, and not immediately, is the psychological and ideological impact the biennial will have on the locals and those visiting it.

• The 11th International Istanbul Biennial ends on Nov 8.

Artur Zmijewski’s Democracies