The event has, as in previous years, become one of the major art events around the world. This year it includes eight other projects from Turkey, along with Can Altay’s involving a total of eighty-five artists from forty-two different countries. The İstanbul Biennial continues to receive major media coverage from all over the world, and to attract large audiences, including artists and curators.
Altay has been participating in various other art events, including the 2nd Tirana Biennial in Albania, which took place in September; he has also exhibited his work under the title “Making Space”, along with five other international artists, in the Platform Contemporary Arts Center in July. We have had the opportunity to talk with Altay about the events he has recently been participating in, and discovered that being both an undergraduate and graduate student at Bilkent has contributed greatly to his success. Altay has referred to Bilkent as a highly stimulative environment that provides students with a wider perspective to view the world. He especially emphasized the importance of the library in terms of including an enormous number of sources which he claimed to be a “major source of inspiration and an opportunity that very few have”.
Altay’s success continues to grow, as he has recently been invited to participate in the 8th Havana Biennial taking place in November. Future plans also include projects in Sweden and Germany, along with writing his thesis. Altay strongly suggests that fellow Bilkent students take advantage of the sources that are provided here, highlighting the importance of keeping up with events around the world through periodicals at the Bilkent Library.
Further information on Can Altay’s projects can be obtained at www.istfest.org

Merve Yeşilada (COMD/II)