“The Public Turn in Contemporary Art”

Yesterday I went to my first Biennial event held at santralistanbul:

“Art and Negotiation in Public Space”
31 August – 1 September 2007

The international project “The Public Turn in Contemporary Art” - led and realized by santralistanbul in cooperation with ArtBOX.gr from Thessaloniki, University of Art and Design Helsinki from Helsinki and Maison des Métallos from Paris - is a series of activities on the role of contemporary art in creative transformation and democratization of public space. The project, realized between 31 August – 31 October 2007, brings together artists, writers, art historians and theoreticians working on the subject. The theme will be discussed in three panels, artist talks, a documentation exhibition and a book.

speakers included:
Socrates Stratis
Hou Hanru
Jörgen Svensson
BikvanderPol
Superflex


Do you copy?, originally uploaded by superflexnet.

The artists group superflex who participated in the 9th Istanbul Biennial talked talked bout their project super channel and resulting community led project tenant spin and projects under the banner SUPER COPY.

Jörgen Svensson talked about his project Neighbourhood Secrets towards Stavangar 2008 city of culture and his excellent project Public Safety in 2000, in the small Swedish town of Skoghall where Two American Policemen, for which he invited two American policemen to the village, who patrolled the streets of Skoghall for two weeks in full uniform. The local community treated the two policemen like moviestars. Everyone wanted their autographs, and they were invited to appear on TV and radio talkshows.

Bik van der Pol talked about their current project for the biennial where they have selected walls/sites around the city on which to project the video programme Nightcomers. There is also a blog. The artists have mapped the locations for the screenings here on google earth.


Hou Hanru presented a couple of European projects he has been working on including his project for Luxembourg 2007 city of culture focusing on migration and UrbanLab 2007.