The 7th Çanakkale Biennial titled “Constellation” started with exhibitions consisting of works of 31 artists brought together around different conceptual frameworks and fictions. CABININ (Çanakkale Biennial Initiative) and Azra Tüzünoğlu are the curators of the biennial, which focuses on intersecting and interacting relationships, collaborations, sharing and communications. The exhibitions, which will meet with visitors between September 22 – October 17, 2020, within the framework of the program that takes into account the measures to combat pandemics. The exhibitions will be accessible online after this date.
Constellations have been separated by imaginary boundaries since ancient times have helped define the positions of stars in the sky. Mythologies have been derived around the characters that each constellation is likened to. Constellations formed as a result of the human looking at the space from the earth joining points at various closeness and distances became a sign of the human effort to make sense of life and the universe. On the other hand, constellation, which is one of the concepts used in the field of cultural sociology, is defined as “a pause point in the movement of thought with a cluster effect saturated with tensions” (AKThompson as cited in W. Benjamin). This is not an arbitrary point, and the image is “what the past meets in a constellation of the present” (Susan Buck-Morss). Constellation, of different elements, phenomena, When one starts to think about the phenomena that occur in moments when the positions are interrelated and intersect with each other and the potentials of these moments, it makes itself felt and comes into existence; It points to structures, not facts. In this respect, it also evokes the clustering of art productions with each other and with art history.
On the other hand, Constellation is a concept that has the meaning of a group of related or similar people or things in everyday language. In this sense, it points to CABININ’s setup for the 7th Çanakkale Biennial. It also describes the structural strategy of CABININ, which consists of contemporary art-oriented relationships, collaborations and interactions with the disciplines of architecture, archeology, history and ecology.
The exhibition titled “Unwillingly but with Pleasure”, curated by Azra Tüzünoğlu, consisting of works selected from the Agah Uğur Collection at the biennial, is at the award-winning Museum of Troy. “What Does it Look Like?” curated by CABININ is taking place at Mahal while the four part exhibition titled “Culture: Damaged or Destroyed” curated by Tüzünoğlu takes place in Korfmann Library and Red Villa. The main supporter of the 7th Çanakkale Biennial is Dardanel.
Artists: Agnès Varda, Agnieszka Polska, Ahmet Sipahioğlu, Alexandra Pirici, Ali Can Metin, Anahita Razmi, Aslı Altay, Cao Fei, Cevdet Erek, Constantin Xenakis, Cristina Lucas, Ekin Bernay, Ekin Saçlıoğlu, Erinç Seymen, Füsun Onur, Gülsün Karamustafa, Hale Tenger, Halil Altındere, İnci Eviner, Koki Tanaka, Korhan Başaran, Marcos Ávila Forero, Marko Mäetamm, Nabuaki Onishi, Nasan Tur, Nora Turato, Pınar Yoldaş, Rüstem Aslan, Sanja Iveković, Serkan Demir, Taus Makhacheva.