The Catalogue of the 12th Istanbul Biennial, edited by Jens Hoffmann and Adriano Pedrosa with coordinating editor Pelin Derviş, is now available. It is designed by Jon Sueda of Stripe. It provides a comprehensive overview of the 12th Istanbul Biennial, including information on participating artists, their exhibited works, and a full checklist. It features newly commissioned essays by Jessica Morgan, Julieta González, João Ribas, Chus Martinez, and Aykut Köksal as well as a number of texts by Jens Hoffmann and Adriano Pedrosa. The entire exhibition was photographed for the publication, giving readers the chance to visit (or revisit) the biennial.
All three publications of the 12th Istanbul Biennial are available at archivebooks.org and selected bookstores. In addition to The Catalogue, there is Remembering Istanbul, which shares the topics discussed at the conference of the same name and features the contributions of the past 11 editions' curators and four artists; and the 432-page, full-color The Companion, which includes interviews between the curators and the participating artists, the curators' introductions to the group exhibitions, images of artworks by the participating artists, plans of the exhibition spaces, the program of parallel events, and detailed information about the biennial projects.
The 12th Istanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, was on view from September 17 through November 13, 2011. It explored the rich relationship between art and politics, focusing on artworks that are both formally innovative and politically outspoken. It took as its point of departure the work of the Cuban American artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996). Gonzalez-Torres was deeply attuned to both the personal and the political, and also rigorously attentive to the formal aspects of artistic production, drawing in part from post-Minimalism and Conceptualism and in part simply from everyday life.
The artists who participated in the 12th Istanbul Biennial are: Zarouhie Abdalian, Bisan Abu-Eisheh, Eylem Aladoğan, Eddie Adams, Jonathas de Andrade, Claudia Andujar, Nazgol Ansarinia, Edgardo Aragón, Julieta Aranda, Ardmore Ceramic Art Studio, Marwa Arsanios, Yıldız Moran Arun, Kutluğ Ataman, George Awde, Nicolás Bacal, Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck & Media Farzin, Taysir Batniji, Letizia Battaglia, Milena Bonilla, Baha Boukhari, Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros, Mark Bradford, Mathew Brady, Geta Brătescu, Chris Burden, Teresa Burga, Tom Burr, Adriana Bustos, Johanna Calle, Juan Capistran, Tammy Rae Carland, Yaima Carrazana, Elizabeth Catlett, Claire Fontaine, Søren Thilo Funder, Lygia Clark, Mat Collishaw, Theo Craveiro, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Antonio Dias, Nazım Hikmet Richard Dikbaş, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Cevdet Erek, Adrian Esparza, Simon Evans, Geoffrey Farmer, Lara Favaretto, Dani Gal, Flavia Gandolfo, Simryn Gill, Group Material, Dor Guez, Alexander Gutke, Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, David Haines, Rula Halawani, Shuruq Harb, Newell Harry, Zarina Hashmi, Mona Hatoum, Carlos Herrera, Clara Ianni, Colter Jacobsen, Voluspa Jarpa, Magdalena Jitrik, William E. Jones, Tamás Kaszás & Anikó Loránt, Ali Kazma, Annette Kelm, Edward Krasinski, Faouzi Laatiris, Runo Lagomarsino, Tim Lee, Jac Leirner, Leonilson, Roy Lichtenstein, Glenn Ligon, Ella Littwitz, Jazmín López, Renata Lucas, Jorge Macchi, Kris Martin, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Dóra Maurer, Tina Modotti, Kristen Morgin, Antoni Muntadas, Aydan Murtezaoğlu, Ernesto Neto, Rivane Neuenschwander, Henrik Olesen, Füsun Onur, Catherine Opie, Ahmet Öğüt, Lygia Pape, Vesna Pavlović, Jorge Pedro Nuñez, Irena Lagator Pejović, Raymond Pettibon, Kirsten Pieroth, Rózsa Polgár, Charlotte Posenenske, Wilfredo Prieto, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Rosângela Rennó, Meriç Algün Ringborg, Martha Rosler, Ira Sachs, Collier Schorr, Wael Shawky, Gabriel Sierra, Homayoun Askari Sirizi, Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi (PAGES), Mungo Thomson, Joaquín Torres García, Francisco Tropa, Adriana Varejão, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Adrián Villar Rojas, Weegee, Sue Williamson, Hank Willis Thomas, Camilo Yáñez, Ala Younis, and Akram Zaatari.