Turkey’s Çanakkale Biennial has been cancelled less than three weeks before it was due to open. Featuring 42 artists the exhibition was supposed to meditate on the issue of migration. In a statement published on the biennial website the biennial organisers note, by way of opaque explanation, that ‘we are deeply saddened by the developments within a political agenda that does not place art as a primary point of concern’. After the failed coup a large number of activists, journalists and intellectuals have been arrested by the Erdoğan government. The statement continues ‘Beral Madra, the art director and the co-curator of the biennial since its third edition in 2012, has willingly left her position due to this agenda that is contradictory to the basis of our organization.’
The biennial was due to feature JR (France-USA), Peter Aerschmann (Switzerland), Cengiz Aktar (Turkey), Nevin Aladağ (Turkey-Germany), Halil Altındere (Turkey), Maher Abdel Aziz (Syria), Canan Beykal (Turkey), Sabine Küper-Büsch & Thomas Büsch (Germany-Turkey), Aissa Deebi (Palestine), Cem Demir (Turkey), Bikem Ekberzade (Turkey), Ahmet Elhan (Turkey), Tuğba Elmacı (Turkey), Mehmet Erim (Turkey), Çınar Eslek (Turkey), Anur Hadžıomerspahıć (Bosnia), Roza El Hassan (Hungary), Pravdoliub Ivanov (Bulgaria), Alfredo Jaar (Chile-USA), Haider Jabbar (Iraq), Reysi Kamhi (Turkey), Norayr Kasper (Canada), Bouchra Khalili (Morocco-France), David Larsson (Sweden), Kalliopi Lemos (Greece), Dieter Mammel (Germany), Angela Melitopoulos (Germany), Ali Miharbi (Turkey), Boris Mikhailov (Ukraine-Germany), Eleni Mylonas (Greece), Birgit Johnsen & Hanne Nielsen (Denmark), Adrian Paci (Albania), Sermin Sherif (Turkey), Vahit Tuna (Turkey), Josephine Turalba (Philippines) and Esin Turan (Austria-Turkey).
The biennial statement ends ‘Exactly one year after Aylan Kurdi’s lifeless body was washed up on our shores, we would like to dedicate the unrealised 5th Çanakkale Biennial and the efforts of everyone involved to all the people who have been expelled from their homelands.’
5 September 2016.
