The Istanbul Biennial has ended early following the resignation of its curator, Christine Tohmé. The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) cited ‘personal reasons’ for her departure.
Beirut-based Tohmé had envisaged the event, which she titled The Three-Legged Cat, to unfold in three stages. The first exhibition, featuring more than 40 artists, alongside performances, screenings, and talks, closed in November last year; a programme of conferences and workshops was scheduled for 2026 and a second exhibition in 2027. Neither of the latter events will now take place.
Tohmé’s appointment was supposed to represent a new start for the biennial following myriad controversies. In August 2023 Defne Ayas was selected by a jury to direct this edition, but the appointment was then reversed by IKSV unilaterally. Former Whitechapel Gallery head, Iwona Blazwick, herself a member of the selection committee, was given the role. The latter then resigned amidst the subsequent outcry.
With Tohmé now departed, a curator for the next biennial, which will now open in 2027, is yet to be confirmed, with a new advisory board currently considering names. The board comprises the Turkish academic Ahu Antmen; Lydia Gatundu Galavu, curator at the National Museums of Kenya; the Turkish artist Gözde İlkin; the Berlin-based curator Renan Laru-an and Sally Tallant, the president and executive director of the Queens Museum, New York.
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