Turkey pavilion to present Sarkis’ work in Venice

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

A new installation by the influential Turkish-Armenian artist Sarkis will be presented at the Pavilion of Turkey at the 56th International Art Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia, to be held between May 9 and Nov. 22, 2015. Curated by Defne Ayas, the presentation will take place at a dedicated new location at the Arsenale as recently secured by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) for the duration of 20 years from 2014 to 2034.

A graduate of Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Sarkis had his first exhibition at the Istanbul Art Gallery in 1960. Throughout his career, he has worked with various mediums and has been, since the end of the 1960s, an icon of installation art in particular. His works have been shown worldwide in important art institutions, museums, and galleries, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Kunst-und-Ausstellungshalle in Bonn, the Louvre in Paris and the Bode Museum in Berlin.

Sarkis was also part of “When Attitudes Become Form: Works - Concepts - Processes - Situation – Information” (Kunsthalle Bern, 1969),” Documenta VI and VII” (Kassel, 1977 and 1982), and the biennials of Sydney, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Moscow, and Istanbul. Recently, he has had solo in Turkey and abroad. He has been living and working in Paris since 1964.

The curator of the pavilion, Defne Ayas, has been the director and curator at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, since 2012. Since 2005, she has been a curator at Performa, the biennial of performance art in New York. In September 2012, Ayas co-curated the 11th edition of the Baltic Triennial of International Art, to great acclaim.

The Advisory Board consists of artist Ali Kazma, associate professor of Art History at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Art Burcu Pelvanoğlu, independent curator and art critic Cristiana Perrella, Bahçeşehir University’s Associate Professor in history and theory of art and visual culture Lewis Johnson and Yıldız Technical University art and design faculty member Zerrin İren Boynudelik.