The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) has announced Nilbar Güreş as the Turkish Pavilion’s representative artist at the 61st Venice Biennale, which is scheduled to open on May 9, 2026. Additionally, Başak Doğa Temür was appointed as the project’s curator. 

Based between Istanbul, Naples, and Vienna, Güreş is a multidisciplinary artist who works across various media, including sculpture, installation, painting, photography, and performance. Often drawing from personal experiences, she creates humorous yet critical works that explore broader sociopolitical issues such as gender, identity, and cultural memory. Throughout her career, Güreş has received several accolades, and her works have been widely exhibited at major biennials and museums across Europe and beyond.

According to a press release, the Advisory Board for the Türkiye Pavilion selected Güreş because her practice aligns with the forthcoming biennial’s theme, “In Minor Keys,” which was developed by the late Koyo Kouoh. The board noted that the artist’s oeuvre is “eloquent both in creating a poetic universe, and in staying faithful to a rigorous narrative that . . . gives visibility to marginalized communities, remaining deeply rooted in Türkiye’s complex social fabric.”  

Başak Doğa Temür is a former curator and artistic program board member at Istanbul’s Arter Museum. From 2017 to 2019, Temür participated in the Advisory Board for the Türkiye Pavilion. During the early 2000s, she contributed to the establishment of various art institutions in Turkey, such as Arter, Istanbul Modern, and santralistanbul.

The Turkish Pavilion’s exhibition will be on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026 at the Arsenale, one of the main venues of the Venice Biennale. 

Yuqian Fan is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.