Starting this year, the Mardin Biennial introduces a new section. In this section, titled “Invited,” actors or institutions from the art world will be invited to curate an exhibition at each biennial. Those who are invited will, in turn, invite other artists, creating an exhibition that progresses entirely through the ethics of hosting and hospitality.
The first edition of “Invited,” organized concurrently with the 5th Mardin Biennial between May 20 – June 20, 2022, will explore an autonomous path and an alternative mode of exhibition-making, one that operates outside the familiar roles and statuses of contemporary art. It will open a space for a sustainable, generous, and collaborative exhibition model that coexists in dialogue with the biennial’s main exhibition.
This year’s “Invited,” selected by the Mardin Biennial’s advisory board and administration, draws inspiration from Adwait Singh’s curatorial text. The works of invited artists Alper Aydın, Ekin Saçlıoğlu, Erkan Özgen, İrem Tok, Itamar Gov, and Jennifer Steinkamp explore alternative forms of relations in light of concepts emphasized in the biennial’s conceptual frame, “The Promise of Grass”—such as exchange, generosity, and gift economies.
İrem Tok (b. 1982, Turkey)
Site archéologique Meydan Larousse, 2021
Mixed media, Installation
130 x 110 cm
Unique
Courtesy of the artist and PİLOT Gallery
Itamar Gov (b. 1989)
Phantom Limbs of Anatolia, 2022
Stone and metal installation
Courtesy of the artist and Zilberman Gallery
Erkan Özgen (b. 1971, Turkey)
Vortex of Extinction, 2022
Endemic plant species on paper, 13 pieces, 39 x 27 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Zilberman Gallery
Alper Aydın (b. 1989, Turkey)
Noah, 2013
Sculpture
Courtesy of the artist
Ekin Saçlıoğlu (b. 1979, Turkey)
Lonely George, 2017
Resin Casting
Courtesy of the artist
Jennifer Steinkamp (b. 1958, USA)
Flight to Mars 9, 2010
Video installation
Ed. 1/1 + AP
Borusan Contemporary Art Collection