International Workshop for Art Academies
Dates of the workshop: September 5 –18
Official Presentation: September 15; 17:30 - 18:00 at Antrepo no.5 with reception by Finnish Ambassador Maria Serenius

ellinor | bottles | meira | stina | atilla

The workshop Lost in Translation is for two weeks before and during the opening days of the 9th Istanbul Biennial. For the first time the Istanbul Biennial collaborates with educational institutions. Over 80 students and lecturers from 12 international art academies are participating in Lost in Translation, the results of which will be presented at the 2nd floor of Antrepo no. 5 -building.

The 9th Istanbul Biennial is curated by Charles Esche and Vasif Kortun. The title of the Biennial is Istanbul, referring both to the real urban location and the imaginative charge that this city represents for the world.

The 9th International Istanbul Biennial will be situated in several small and large scale spaces in the Taksim-Galata region of Istanbul, preferring to work in sites that have a more common reference to the every-day rather than using monumental historical places as in the previous biennials. The main building of the Biennial will be Antrepo no.5 which will host the Hospitality Zone and the 9B Positionings Programme. Developed in parallel with the 9th Istanbul Biennial, the 9B Positionings Programme will spotlight different cultural phenomena within the city and beyond. This project will take various forms, from lectures and events, metaphoric maps and catalogue essays, to tours and travel advice. In this way Positionings will highlight and support by affiliation concurrent projects in the city and internationally that further elaborate and/or offer different perspectives on the proposals of the biennial. Through these activities Antrepo no.5 is to become a meeting point in the city with various social and artistic activities which also include press conferences, opening ceremony, meetings with the artists, workshops, conferences, performances and parties.

Lost in Translation is part of the 9B Posititionings, and the task of the workshop is to reflect different strategies of art practices outside the white cube, activating the cityscape, defining ways of visual communication within the city and questioning the possibilities and demands of site specific art. During the workshop the students have had lecture series with Aysa Ince, Bulent Tanju, Özlem Unsal, Erden Kosova, Gülsün Karamustafa, Orhan Pamuk, Vasif Kortun/Charles Esche, which lead into discussions about the structure and development of the urban space of Istanbul. The Lost in Translation project has been initiated by Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center (Istanbul).

Partaking academies: Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb; Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki; Manchester Metropolitan University; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Art Academy of Valand, Gothenburg; School of Photography and Film at Gothenburg University; Art Academy of Weissensee, Berlin; University of Fine Arts, Hamburg; Academy of Fine Arts, Braunschweig; Bezalel Academy for Art and Design, Tel Aviv; Istanbul Technical University, Architecture Faculty; Malmö Art Academy, Lund University; Art Academy of Jutland

Sponsors: Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki; Embassy of Finland, Ankara; FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange; KONE Istanbul.

Main coordinators of the workshop:
Pelin Tan, ITU, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul
Minna Henriksson, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
Vasif Kortun, Platform Contemporary Art Center / 9. International Contemporary Art Biennial, Istanbul
Mika Hannula, Professor of Art in Public Space, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki