Experiencing the City with Art and Art with the City: The Case of the 17th Istanbul Biennial

Abstract

In this article, the contribution of art to the experience of urban public space is investigated. The focus is on the 17th Istanbul Biennial, which was held between 17 September and 20 November 2022, which spread throughout the city and thus provides a strong sample for research. The case study method was adopted in the research. Therefore, the data used in the research are the biennial venues, the relations of the artworks in these spaces with the city, the experiences of the participants, and the observations of the researchers. The findings of the research reveal that art activity can have the power to reproduce/reconstruct both the past and the future in the city with the encounters it creates on both an individual and social scale. The example of the 17th Istanbul Biennial has shown that art events have an important potential for establishing connections between the parts of the city. With these activities, it has been observed that the hidden areas, streets, and places in the city, that are hidden, unexplored, and left on the coast, that is, the hidden potentials and hidden power of the city, can be revealed.