19th Istanbul Biennial Announces Main Venue and Open Call
The 19th Istanbul Biennial, curated by artist and curator LIU Ding and art historian and curator Carol Yinghua LU, has announced Artİstanbul Feshane as its main venue and launched an open call inviting artists to submit proposals addressing the impact of war.
Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of 2007–2036 Biennial Sponsor Koç Holding, the 19th Istanbul Biennial will take place from 18 September to 14 November 2027, with further venues across Istanbul to be announced at a later date. Press and professional previews will take place from 14 to 17 September 2027.
As part of their ongoing research for the edition, LIU Ding and Carol Yinghua LU invite artists working across all disciplines to submit works and proposals reflecting on experiences of war and its consequences. The open call represents one line of research within the Biennial’s wider conceptual framework, which will encompass other areas of inquiry and is expected to be announced in December 2026.
Conceived as a space for collective reflection on war and peace, the call welcomes submissions from artists who are living through or have lived through war and who engage critically with these experiences through their artistic practices.
In their invitation to artists, the curators state that while “Art cannot end wars or resolve their underlying causes,” it can create spaces in which dominant narratives are questioned and dissent, doubt and alternative possibilities can emerge.
The curators consider the relationship between individual recollection and the memories constructed by communities and states, asking how artistic practices might offer more nuanced ways of thinking about life under extreme conditions. In doing so, the open call addresses questions of courage, complicity, ethics and endurance, while considering what may remain absent from official accounts of war.
The call is open to artists from Turkey and abroad working across all disciplines. Applicants are asked to submit a project proposal directly addressing the themes outlined in the curators’ invitation, together with a portfolio presenting their previous work and experience. Applications can be submitted in either English or Turkish. Selected artists will be invited to continue the conversation with the curators, either online or in person.
Applications will be accepted from 19 October until 22 November 2026 at 23:59 (Istanbul time, UTC+3) for all the information needed and to submit proposals follow the link below
https://bienal.iksv.org/en/19th-istanbul-biennial/open-call
The Biennial’s main venue, Artİstanbul Feshane, will host the edition alongside additional venues to be announced. The 19th Istanbul Biennial will be open to the public free of charge throughout its run.
LIU Ding is an artist and curator based in Beijing. His artistic and curatorial practice focuses on multiple viewpoints and modes of description, connecting historical and contemporary narratives while exploring the construction of subjectivity within Chinese art. He has participated in international exhibitions including the Busan Biennale, Yinchuan Biennale, Istanbul Biennial, Asia Pacific Triennial, Prospect New Orleans, Shanghai Biennale, Taipei Biennial, the Chinese Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale, Media City Seoul and Guangzhou Triennale. Since 2018, he has taught exhibition display as a visiting professor at NABA Milan.
Carol Yinghua LU is an art historian and curator and holds a doctorate in art history from the University of Melbourne. She is the director of Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum and previously served as artistic director and senior curator of OCAT Shenzhen, guest curator at Museion in Bolzano and China researcher for Asia Art Archive. Her writing has appeared in artist monographs, catalogues and journals including e-flux journal, frieze, The Exhibitionist, Yishu, Flash Art and Contemporary. She was a contributing editor for frieze from 2008 to 2018 and received the Yishu Award for Critical Writing and Curating on Contemporary Chinese Art in 2016.
Applications for the open call are open from 19 October to 22 November 2026.
