Before the 14th
Istanbul Bienali Tuzlu Su (Istanbul Biennial Salt Water) arrived, Dükkân (Store) No. 106 on the corner
of Hacımimi Mahallesi and Boğazkesen Cadessi collected dust as storage
for machinery. Now bright light enters clean windows onto the walls and staircase painted black. An Iznik bowl serves as inspiration for the
exhibit, and small clay plates glazed turquoise are lined up on
a desk in front of it. A record player spins playing
jazz music while Theaster Gates, a potter and TED Conference speaker, sculpts a mound of rough, local clay into a tall vase on a
Turkish electric wheel. He speaks modestly about the clay bowls and plates drying on the built-in shelves. He will heat them in the kiln downstairs, and then glaze the hardened pottery. As with
the store space, the potter transforms the clay from nothing into
something.
Unlike the store, the parking garage venues on Çukurcuma Cadessi and Boğazkesen Cadessi feel underwhelming
at best and annoying at worst. The exhibits at
the parking garage adjoining the store focus on engineering sound and projecting light and images in an empty
grey concrete space. The upstairs
“exhibit” plays a clicking sound with a bright white, blank projection, and the
ground floor one projects the images of a
white building and a snow-capped mountain while blasting the sound of a dump
truck unloading heavy objects. The
neighbors already cope with the noise of jackhammers and trucks at the surrounding construction sites on a daily
basis. Why amplify the stressful, disorienting noise pollution for conceptual "art"?