Controversy: Major Reversals

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) announced on January 19 that it had postponed the 18th Istanbul Biennial (originally scheduled to open on September 14), until September 2025, and that the previously appointed curator, Iwona Blazwick, had stepped down. Since August 2023, İKSV has faced criticism from the Turkish and international art community for choosing Blazwick over the original recommendation of its advisory board, Defne Ayas. İKSV pledged that its 2025 edition will involve “a new preparatory process” with more transparency. In the fallout from the revelations, longtime Istanbul Biennial director Bige Örer left her position in January and curator Kevser Güler was named the new director.

In Berlin, the art community mounted strong resistance to cultural bureaucrats. On January 22, Joe Chialo, the senator for cultural and social cohesion, retracted a mandatory “antidiscrimination” clause for artists seeking state funding over “legal concerns” after facing widespread criticism and an international boycott led by the artists coalition Strike Germany. Chialo had initially proposed a new policy requiring artists to follow the definition of antisemitism outlined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which vaguely characterizes all criticism of the state of Israel as “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.”