THE NEW DIRECTOR OF THE ISTANBUL BIENNALE KEVSER GÜLER
Since 1987, the Istanbul Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), will be directed by curator and researcher Kevser Güler as of January 15.
The 18th Istanbul Biennial will take place between September 14 and November 17, 2024, with the support of many institutions, organizations, international funding providers, and cultural institutions, primarily Koç Holding, under the curatorship of Iwona Blazwick and the directorship of Kevser Güler. The preview of the biennial will be held for press members from September 10-13, 2024, and for art professionals on September 12-13, 2024.
About Kevser Güler
Kevser Güler, who served at the Istanbul Biennial between 2007-2014, was part of the founding team of the Cappadox Festival Contemporary Art Program and served as the assistant curator of the program between 2015-2017. Between 2014-2019, she conducted research on the Arter collection and worked as the Curator and Exhibitions Director at Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts from 2020-2021.
Güler's curatorial work focuses on exploring and discussing the current conditions, possibilities, and constraints of cultural and artistic production, organizing exhibitions and programs in museums, art centers, galleries, rural and urban public spaces, and non-art venues, along with preparing publications. Recent exhibitions and programs she has taken on curatorial responsibilities for include "Together Fanzine," Feshane Hope Meeting: Starting from the Middle, ArtIstanbul Feshane (2023); They Were Continuously Flying by Drawing Circles, Çağla Köseoğulları, Sanatorium, Istanbul (2023); Sympathetic System, Karşı Sanat, Istanbul (2022); This Place, Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts (YKKS), Istanbul (2021-22); Backstage: A Theater Memory, Hagop Ayvaz, YKKS, Istanbul (2020-21); Square, Deniz Gül, YKKS, Istanbul (2020); Milat, Lale Müldür, YKKS, Istanbul (2020); On Celestial Bodies, Arter, Istanbul (2020-21); Rocks and Winds, Microbes and Words, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar, Sanatorium, Istanbul (2019); Magnet and Moon, Nilbar Güreş, Galerist, Istanbul (2019); flesh, bone, Bilsart and Operation Room, Istanbul (2019); Colony, Kaos GL Association, Abud Efendi Mansion, Istanbul (2017); Escape Routes from the World, Cappadox, Nevşehir (2017); Let's Plant Our Garden, Cappadox, Nevşehir (2016) and Cappadocia Collision, Cappadox, Nevşehir (2015).
Born in Izmir in 1983, Güler graduated from Boğaziçi University with a degree in Industrial Engineering and later pursued a master's degree in philosophy at Galatasaray University. In 2021, she taught courses focused on the history of exhibitions at Kadir Has University, and that same year, she programmed and conducted workshops examining contemporary questions of exhibitions and artworks in the context of art ontology within the scope of Mişar Art. Güler, who writes texts on contemporary art and visual culture, also served as an editor for various independent publications and exhibition catalogs, and was a member of the advisory board of the Art World magazine between 2021-2023.
Güler, who actively participated as a consultant and jury member in many art programs, including SAHA Studio, Ankara Queer Art Residency, Lucy Art Residency, and the Berlin Senate Guest Artist Program, was also a member of the advisory board of the Istanbul Biennial Research and Study Program, where she mentored artists.