Liu Ding and Carol Yinghua Lu will curate the 2027 Istanbul Biennial, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ISKV) has announced.
Liu Ding is an artist and curator based in Beijing. He currently teaches exhibition display as a visiting professor at NABA Milan. He has participated in biennales including the Busan Biennale, 2018; Yinchuan Biennale, 2018; Istanbul Biennial, 2015; and Asia Pacific Triennial, 2015 and his work has been shown in numerous art institutions internationally including M+ Museum, Hong Kong, 2025; Gwangju Museum of Art, 2024; Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2020; MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Vienna, 2019; The Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 2018; Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, 2018 and 4A, Sydney, 2017.
Carol Yinghua Lu is an art historian, curator and current director of the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing. Previously, she was artistic director and senior curator of OCAT, Shenzhen, guest curator at Museion, Bolzano and the China researcher for Asia Art Archive, as well as contributing editor for frieze, chief editor for the Chinese edition of Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art and co-founder and co-editor of Contemporary Art and Investment magazine.
The pair have worked together since 2007, and most recently as artistic directors of the 2024 Yokohama Triennale.
‘Today, as we navigate a landscape of extreme political volatility and the pervasive influence of algorithmic technologies, art often finds itself in a state of “elsewhere” – obsessed with seeking external horizons to alleviate our deep-seated existential anxieties. The 19th edition calls for a dire shift in focus’, said Liu and Lu in a statement. ‘We seek to move beyond reactive commentary and technological escapism to recognise and reclaim the primary agency of art and the individual. By confronting ourselves and the realities of our time, this biennial aims to restore the critical rigour and visceral greatness of ideas and art, creating a space to not just reimagine, but to actively build, a more sovereign and resilient future for artistic practice.’
The biennial will take place from 18 September to 14 November 2027.
Read next Rethinking Institutional Trust in Istanbul’s Art Ecosystem
