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 "Saltwater: A Theory of Thought Forms," drafted by U.S.-based
art historian Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, is inspired by the
waterways that shape this ancient city, and the sprawling show
set in 36 venues stretches from a Black Sea lighthouse to the
island refuge of the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.
The title evokes salt's dual nature to heal and corrode. "Salt
is my way of speaking about power," she said. "Art does not
belong to one side or the other. It serves a third: people."
The Istanbul Biennial, now in its 14th edition, opened in
September against a backdrop of violence. Fighting between the
Turkish army and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party that
erupted suddenly in July wrecked a tenuous peace process.
A suicide bombing blamed on Islamic State killed 102 people in
the capital this month ahead of an election on Nov. 1. War in
Syria has sparked an influx of 2 million refugees, tens of
thousands of whom have made the treacherous voyage to Europe.
The upheaval has not frightened off art crowds that reached a
record 450,000 this week. They stop at bathhouses, hotels and
garages in a kind of scavenger hunt for art through the city.
MESSAGES OF PEACE
Christov-Bakargiev, who brought a lecture series to Kabul during
the 2012 documenta fair, said art is most vital in times of
strife. "I am interested in working in conflict zones."
Djambawa Marawili, a 62-year Aboriginal Australian, brought his
own work as well as rare artifacts from his Yolngu people,
including a graphic that served as a treaty with white settlers
in 1935.
"I can see there are reasons for conflict here. By bringing our
art all this way, maybe we can open eyes and minds. Making peace
is what we do with art," Marawili said.
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Most references to nearby conflicts are deliberately oblique, and
Christov-Bakargiev bristled at art-world criticism the show glosses
over Turkey's current problems. "You shed light on the present by
looking at the past," she said.
A dozen artists examine the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
early in the last century, including Belgian-born Francis Alys'
black-and-white video "The Silence of Ani", in which children play
among the ghostly ruins of Ani, the former seat of the Armenian
kingdom, using whistles to imitate the area's lost bird species.
ISLANDS
In "The Flesh Is Yours, the Bones Are Ours," American artist Michael
Rakowitz, whose roots are Jewish Iraqi, uses art-nouveau plaster
friezes moulded by apprentices of Istanbul's long-gone Armenian and
Greek artisans. He then incorporates the real excavated bones of
stray dogs that were rounded up and deported to an Istanbul island
where they starved to death in 1910.
The episode foretells the expulsion of Armenians and Greeks in
ensuing years. The work is in a former Greek primary school.
"Traces of fingers and hands that have borne silent witness to what
has happened in the city from buildings that survived – that is
something very hopeful and resilient," Rakowitz said.
The pearl of the show is the island of Buyukada, an hour's ferry
away, where horse-drawn carriages shuttle artgoers to crumbling
Victorian homes for a rare peek inside, including where exiled
Trotsky wrote "History of the Russian Revolution".
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