CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST, 2007 ISTANBUL FORUM

22 September 2007
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Auditorium

CB Forum on the occasion of the 10th Istanbul Biennale focusing on the past, present and future of the global biennale and their impact on the current and future cultural and artistic communication and curatorial practices.

The forum which is open to Central Eastern European (CEE) experts and curators is being organized on the occasion of the 10th Istanbul Biennale, under the patronage of CEI (Central Europe Initiative) by BM Contemporary Art Center and European Culture Association, Europist and supported by Mimar Sinan University.

Istanbul Continental Breakfast Istanbul 2007 is an activity of the international project 'Continental Breakfast' that fosters and supports the creation of partnership projects and multidimensional capacity building exchange programmes in the field of contemporary art in Central Eastern Europe. It is composed at present by a network of institutions in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, Turkey and United Kingdom.

During the Venice meeting, the CB working group has decided to focus on the main
events of the summer (Venice Biennale, Documenta, Muenster, Athens, Istanbul and Lyon etc…) and conceived the forum as

"After All…"
This preposition generously covers the recent past, the present and the future of the biennale as the ultimate spectacle of global contemporary art. The biennale as such should be continuously examined, analyzed and evaluated in their influence on artistic creativity and tasks, on the institutions and on the art market. Moreover, Their impact on curatorial responsibilities and functions, their weight on local or regional cultural policies, on city economies, tourism and public education is an essential field of discussion and criticism. The inevitable ambiguities and dilemmas related to the concepts, contents, methods and organizational issues of the biennale are being discussed since decades, however, with the inclusion of new territories with different socio-political and cultural backgrounds these issues need to be re-visited.

Hereby, we hope that the Istanbul Biennale will be a motivating background for a deeper insight into the global biennale and into the Istanbul art scene as one of the most attractive hot spots of global contemporary art.

Beral Madra
BM Contemporary Art Center

Mahir Namur
European Cultural Association, Istanbul

participants:
ekaterina degot- russia / jaroslav andel-chezc republic/ giuliana carbi- italy / maria vassileva-bulgaria/ janka vukmir-croatia/ nebosja vilic-macedonia/ anda rottenberg-poland/ ana peraica-italy/ aurora fonda-italy/ branco franceschi-croatia / erdað aksel, markus graf, t.melih görgün, beral madra, mahir namur, lora sariaslan, sinan niyazioglu- turkey