Istanbul Biennial 2013

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Istanbul Biennial 13, art-exhibition, referred to acute social problems of our era, and created huge debates. Exponates were created by modern artists, and had very different characteristics; they were created in chaotic and progressive manner. Fulya Erdemci, the curator of exhibition, decided to focus the exhibition on the role of public spaces in art and society. Main trigger to this decision was the government plan for Gezi Park and the civil protests during this summer in Turkey; Erdemci and her team supported the protesters (her catalogue essay exalts “this feeling of incredible solidarity and joy”)*. Istanbul Biennial 13 had title “Mom, Am I a Barbarian?” which is a quote from Lale Muldurs book of the same name; eventually I saw part of poem while visiting Arter. Biennial orbits around the problems of modern world, of city where the individual cannot find a space to freely express himself, of city where the individual finds himself restricted from society and government decisions on public spaces; problems of democratic public space, aggressive urban transformation, political engagement, collective living. One more fact about biennial is that subject is not for concern of only Turkish people, the problem on which biennial focuses is far more universal.
“Mom, Am I a Barbarian?” just the title can create big discuss. What does the term “barbarian” mean, or who is “barbarian” in case of biennial? Literally the term "barbarian" refers to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage. In idiomatic or figurative usage, a "barbarian" may also be an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, warlike, insensitive person.(1) Therefore the person who is being restricted from

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