Developed in collaboration with SAHA, the Curatorial Seminar offered a small group of curators the opportunity to engage closely with mentors and their peers to explore pertinent issues relating to exhibition-making, commissioning, running non-profits, and other activities curators are now regularly expected to perform. The Curatorial Seminar focused on Istanbul as a case study, exploring a number of key issues that challenge our understanding of what constitutes an emerging art scene, the strengths and pitfalls of working within such a context, and questions of how to develop a curatorial practice that supports artists and local infrastructure within the international art world.
The Seminar was primarily conducted online, through Skype lectures with curators and online discussions, as well as reading groups and workshops. Between September 21 and 25 the seminar was held in person in Istanbul, and included site visits to artists’ studios and selected venues, seminar sessions with guest curators, and an in-depth study of the 13th Istanbul Biennial, Mom Am I a Barbarian?, curated by Fulya Erdemci.