Christine TohmÉ Named Curator of the 18th Istanbul Biennial

The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), which administers theIstanbul Biennial, has announcedChristine Tohméas the curator of the event’s eighteenth edition. The Beirut-born Tohmé since 1993 has served as the founding director of Ashkal Alwan, a nonprofit Beirut-based organization that supports contemporary artistic practices. In 2002, she inaugurated Home Works: A Forum on Cultural Practices, a multidisciplinary platform taking place every two to three years and focusing on contemporary cultural practices in the Arab region and beyond. Tohmé curated Sharjah Biennial 13 in 2017, which unfolded in five parts across multiple cities, including Ramallah on the West Bank and Dakar in Senegal.

Spanning 2025 to 2027, the Eighteenth Istanbul Biennial will be broken into three parts. The first, set to run from September 20 to November 23, 2025, will center exhibitions and public programs. The second, in 2026, is to be achieved through collaboration with local art initiatives and will comprise a permanent educational offering and quarterly public program, while the last section, taking place between September 18 and November 14, 2027, will feature a series of exhibitions, publications, performances, and discussions.

“The extended timeframe of three years will allow the biennial to engage more deeply with the local scene and foster projects and collaborations around collective questions, contexts, and communities,” said Tohmé in a statement. “Its multi-year program aims to support generations of artists in connecting with their regional and international peers, building alliances, and confronting new realities.”

Tohmé’s appointment comes after the İKSV established new rules for choosing a curator for the Istanbul Biennial. The revised regulations were put in place after the İKSV named British art historian Iwona Blazwick curator of the Eighteenth Istanbul Biennial despite the fact that the Biennial advisory board had unanimously recommended Turkish-born curator Defne Ayas to lead the event, which at the time was scheduled to take place in 2024. According to the new rules, the advisory board is allowed to recommend three candidates for the role, and İKSV must choose one of them.