The 3rd Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial, which began on 15 May 2014 under the theme “Small Is Good”, hosted the participation of around 10,000 children and hundreds of events. Spread across many parts of Istanbul over the course of a month, its arts and culture events reached audiences from almost every section of society.
Explaining that a child’s creativity can only be developed by providing the right conditions, and that their work focuses on exactly this, Biennial Director Gazi Selçuk said: “We are very happy and proud to have held the 3rd Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial. This year there was a visible increase in the number of our events compared with previous Biennials. Around 10,000 children took part in the Biennial, in which more than 600 teachers were involved. With more than 500 events and projects, the Biennial reached hundreds of visitors of all backgrounds and ages. Nearly 50 schools visited the Mustafa Kemal Cultural Centre, the Biennial’s exhibition venue. Drama, creative art workshops, games, music, dance, theatre, stop motion, a waste materials workshop, meetings with writers, a writing workshop and workshops bringing together a range of different disciplines continued non-stop throughout the Biennial. One of the most important strands of the Biennial was the ferry events. We had to cancel some of the ferry events and concerts in Kadıköy Square because of the Soma disaster. The ferry events that did go ahead involved around 400 children over the course of the Biennial.”
Noting that children’s rights take on great importance in this major organisation whose subject is the child, Selçuk said: “Unlike in previous years, we included children’s rights events in the Biennial. Issues that have recently been in the news – dozens of child murders, child labourers, missing children, abused children, child brides, juvenile offenders – have made it necessary to draw attention to this subject. So we prepared a programme to raise awareness of children and their rights. Supported by the Consulate General of Sweden, this strand will continue for the next eight months. The programme consists of stop-motion workshops in which short films on children’s rights will be made, talks, drama projects, music events and art workshops on contemporary art. Anyone wishing to find out more about the Biennial can follow developments on the website www.cocukgenclikbienal.org”
About the Biennial:
The Biennial is an art organisation created to enable the 3 million students studying in Istanbul in particular, and children all over the world in general, to take part in contemporary art, to use different materials, techniques and disciplines, and to present their original artistic work to audiences on a high-quality platform. By creating a space for sharing grounded in multiculturalism on a global scale, the Biennial enables different geographies and cultures to be expressed through the eyes and aesthetics of children. Through its events and exchanges, it raises the quality of arts education while fostering effective intercultural communication and the creation of a common language, contributes to the development of young artists and key players in the cultural industries, and aims in the long term to create producers and consumers of arts and culture.
Biennial Director, Gazi Selçuk
Curators: Maria Sezer, Leyla Sakpınar, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülçin Özdemir Aksoy and Kader Akçay
Advisory Board: Harun Kaya, Deputy Governor of Istanbul; Prof. Devrim Erbil, State Artist, academic; Muammer Yıldız, Provincial Director of National Education; Berna Çağatay, TEGV General Manager; Beral Madra, curator and art director; Fikret Toksöz, TESEV Good Governance Programme Director; Osman Kavala, Chair of the Board, Anadolu Kültür A.Ş.; Şerafettin Turan, Deputy Provincial Director of National Education, Istanbul; Gazi Selçuk, art director, artist, educator; Gülçin Aksoy, faculty member, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University; Leyla Sakpınar, lecturer at Boğaziçi University, artist, educator; Maria Sezer, artist, educator; Esra Çelikkanat, educator; Özcan Yurdalan, photographer, writer, educator
