The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts (İKSV), which together with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism coordinates the Turkish pavilion of the Venice Biennale, has chosen visual artist and filmmaker Gülsün Karamustafa to represent the country at the sixtieth edition of the event, which will take place from April 20 to November 24, 2024. Oktem.
Karamustafa’s career spans more than five decades, during which she has earned a reputation for her materially and methodologically diverse works commenting on issues such as gender, displacement, migration and memory, as well as Turkey’s modernization and its traumatic effect on the country’s population. Her practice encompasses painting, installation, ready-mades, assemblage, photography and video, all of which she uses to investigate socio-political injustices. Karamustafa frequently centers historical narratives as well as her own personal experiences in her work, which she says is further guided by materials. She has enjoyed career retrospectives at Hamburger Bahnhof—Museum für Gegenwart in Germany, SALT in Istanbul, and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Karamustafa has participated in several iterations of the Istanbul Biennale as well as the Gwangju Biennale, São Paulo Biennale, and Singapore Biennale, among other international events.
“We have a long-standing working relationship with Gülsün Karamustafa,” said Bige Örer, director of the Istanbul Biennale and İKSV contemporary art projects, in a statement. “[She] is one of the leading figures of the contemporary art scene in Turkey and his work has traveled and found meaning in many parts of the world. His layered artistic practice addresses the most pressing issues of our time such as displacement and migration, exile and ethnicity, sexuality and gender and many other socio-political issues that will dialogue with the conceptual framework of the main exhibition titled ‘Strangers everywhere,’ Organized by Adrian Pedrosa.”
The Turkish Pavilion is sponsored by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is located in the Arsenal.
