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5th Istanbul Design Biennial

Empathy Revisited: Designs for more than one

October 15 - November 15, 2020

Pera Museum hosted the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial, organized by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). For the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial, organised with the support of Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the sponsorship of VitrA, curator Mariana Pestana teamed up with Sumitra Upham (Curator of Programmes) and Billie Muraben (Assistant Curator & Deputy Editor).

Today, we understand empathy to be a way of connecting with other people. But empathy’s original meaning encompassed the transference of feelings into objects and the natural world. The 5th Istanbul Design Biennial took empathy back to its roots to explore how design might equip us to feel into territories, landscapes, microorganisms, other species, and also one another.

With the aim of carving out a space of responsibility and developing a culture of attachment towards the more-than-human, this Biennial put forward a proposition: designs for more than one. Working collaboratively with designers, artists, architects, activists and thinkers, the biennial explored designs for multiple bodies, dimensions, and perspectives. The projects that the biennial presented encourage us to rethink practices of care and civility at this critical moment in time, and to collectively build new systems and structures for re-connecting.

Pera Museum hosted a part of the biennial’s generative programme comprising three main axes: two projects from the series of interventions titled New Civic Rituals, and a video series titled Critical Cooking Show. Kyriaki Goni’s Networks of Trust and the design studio The Rodina’s Map of Empathic Society could be experienced on the collection floors as part of the series of interventions titled New Civic Rituals. A parallel film program titled Empathy Sessions could be watched at the auditorium.

Top image
Hammam, Jawa El Khash

Right Hand Images
object*oriented*magic, Ayşenaz Toker and Merve Tuna
The Map of Empathic Society, The Rodina
Mush Rooms, BUREAU (Daniel Zamarbide) with Chef Walter El Nagar with Filipe Felizardo

Video

Empathy Sessions
5th Istanbul Design Biennial

Presented in the scope of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial, which is organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Empathy Sessions is a selection of film works that expand the notion of empathy.


Pera Learning

Learning Programs for Kids
5th Istanbul Design Biennial

Pera Museum’s Learning Programs and İKSV Alt Kat are hosting, in parallel to the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), colorful online workshops for school groups and ages of 7-12 from October 20th through November 14th, 2020.

The adventure of the Big ‘K’

The adventure of the Big ‘K’

In a bid to review the International System of Units (SI), the International Bureau of Weights and Measures gathered at the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures on November 16, 2018. Sixty member states have voted for changing four out of seven basic units of measurement. The kilogram is among the modified. Before describing the key points, let us have a closer look into the kilogram and its history.

Mark Požlep

Mark Požlep

Our Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition focuses on different generations of artists and art groups from the Balkan region. Throughout the exhibition, we keep sharing detailed information about the artworks. Take a look at Mark Požlep’s “Stranger than Paradise” video installation. Also you can check our interview with the artist on our YouTube channel! 

The Captive Sultan

The Captive Sultan

The war fought by the Greeks to shake off the Turkish yoke was closely observed around Europe and, this being the era of romanticism, the events taking place around Greece between 1821 and 1832 became a symbol for national liberation struggle.