An installation by the influential artist Gülsün Karamustafa will be presented at the Türkiye Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, to be held between 20 April and 24 November 2024. The exhibition will take place at the Türkiye Pavilion located in its long-term venue at the Arsenale, secured by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) for the duration of 20 years from 2014 to 2034.
Bige Örer, Director of Istanbul Biennial and İKSV Contemporary Art Projects stated: “We have a long-standing working relationship with Gülsün Karamustafa and we are thrilled to work with her in developing the exhibition for the Türkiye Pavilion. Gülsün Karamustafa is one of the leading figures of the contemporary art scene in Turkey and her work has travelled and found its significance in many different parts of the world. Her layered artistic practice engages with the most pressing issues of our time such as displacement and migration, exile and ethnicity, sexuality and gender and many other socio-political issues which will have a dialogue with the conceptual framework of the main exhibition titled ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, curated by Adriano Pedrosa.”
Gülsün Karamustafa (1946, Ankara) is an internationally acclaimed artist known for her materially and methodologically diverse works that are born out of personal and historical narratives. Throughout her densely woven artistic production that spans over five decades, Karamustafa has been utilising varied techniques, mediums, and methods to create paintings, installations, ready-mades, assemblages, photographs and videos that mainly scrutinise and showcase the historical injustices within the socio-political realm. Primarily focused on issues related to the modernization of Turkey, displacement, memory, migration, and gender, Karamustafa is hailed as one of the most outspoken and influential contemporary artists in Turkey that has inspired the new generation of artists.
Karamustafa has participated in numerous international biennials including Istanbul, TR; São Paulo, BR; Gwangju, KR; Kyiv, UA; Singapore, SG Havana, CU; Thessaloniki, GR; Sevilla, ES. The artist has presented solo exhibitions at major institutions and galleries worldwide, including SALT Beyoğlu and Galata, TR; Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin DE; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; IVAM Institut d’Art Modern, Valencia, ES; The National Contemporary Museum of Athens, GR; Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, DE; Lunds Konsthall, Lunds, SE; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg [AT], Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, DE; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, DE among others. Her works have been included in the permanent collections of Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR; Tate Modern, London, GB; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, US; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, US; Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, FR; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL; Ludwig Museum, Cologne, DE; MUMOK, Vienna, AT; Wien Museum, Vienna, AT; Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, PL; EMST National Contemporary Art Museum, Athens, GR; Istanbul Modern Art Museum and Arter, Istanbul. She received the Roswitha Haftmann Prize in 2021 and Prince Claus Award in 2014. The artist lives and works in Istanbul and Berlin.
The Advisory Board of the Türkiye Pavilion consists of General Manager of Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, Culture and Arts Enterprises Özalp Birol; Lecturer at Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Sculpture Nilüfer Ergin Doğruer; artist İnci Eviner; Director and Curator of the Fiorucci Art Trust Milovan Farronato and Editor of Sanat Dünyamız and art writer Fisun Yalçınkaya.
The Türkiye Pavilion exhibition is coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye.
The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia will run between 20 April and 24 November 2024 with the title Foreigners Everywhere and will be curated by Adriano Pedrosa.