The longtime director of the Istanbul Biennial, one of the world’s most important recurring art exhibitions, will depart her post in January, a move that comes as the show continues to weather scrutiny over how it selected a curator for the 2024 edition.
Bige Örer, who has been director of the biennial since 2008, is set to officially leave her position on January 15. The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), which manages the biennial, announced her resignation on Wednesday.
“We warmly thank Bige Örer for her contribution throughout the years and wish her every success in her future endeavours,” the IKSV wrote in its announcement.
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Within the Turkish art world, the Istanbul Biennial has been heavily criticized this year, with many alleging that the system for choosing a curator for the 2024 edition was marred by conflicts of interest. Much of the criticism came after an Art Newspaper report from August that revealed that curator Defne Ayas had been chosen by a group of specialists to organize the show, only to be rejected by the IKSV in favor of Iwona Blazwick, who was herself a member of that panel.
According to the Art Newspaper, the decision to reject Ayas may have rested on a past controversy over the Turkish Pavilion that she curated for the 2015 Venice Biennale. The catalogue for that pavilion, done by the artist Sarkis, included mention of the Armenian genocide, which the Turkish government denies having taking place. After the government complained about the catalogue, it was taken out of circulation, and copies of it were made into a sculpture by Sarkis.
The Art Newspaper report led four artists to quit the 2024 biennial and many more to question why the biennial had not released the names of the selection committee members. It also had a ripple effect in the Turkish art scene, causing some to direct their attention to the 2024 Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, by the artist Gülsün Karamustafa. Karamustafa’s pavilion was initially curated by her dealer, who later departed her post to avoid “conflicts that may arise.”
As the pressure mounted, the IKSV committed itself to overhauling the process by which curators are chosen for future biennials, promising greater transparency along the way. But it also said that Blazwick would still curate the 2024 show and affirmed that the IKSV still had the right to nix the selection committee’s choices.
“Preparations for the 18th Istanbul Biennial continue as planned, under the coordination of the biennial team,” the IKSV said on Wednesday. It promised that a new director would be announced “in the coming days.”
Örer, the outgoing Istanbul Biennial director, previously curated the 2022 Turkish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Since 2013, she has been the vice president of the International Biennial Association, the organization that offers recommendations for how to facilitate global biennials and triennials.