The Mardin Biennial has announced Çelenk Bafra as curator of its 7th Edition, due to take place in May 2026.
The 7th edition of the Mardin Biennial will take place near the Biennial’s fifteenth anniversary, hosted by the Mardin Cinema Association and directed by Döne Otyam and Hakan Irmak. The Biennial, established in 2010, aims to bridge the gap between art from Türkiye’s western to the eastern parts in Mardin, a city with a rich historical, cultural and geographical legacy. With an aim to foster dialogue, the Biennial brings together artists, academics, students and local communities, creating a new centre for artistic discovery and exchange.
Çelenk Bafra, who is the current Artistic Director of Istanbul Modern, has worked extensively on projects with museums and art institutions in Turkey, as well as in Europe. She was also previously the director of the Istanbul Biennial from 2004 to 2008. Throughout her career, she was instrumental in facilitating the representation of Turkish artists at recent international art events, such as the Venice Biennale, Athens Biennale, Havana Biennial, Lyon Biennaleand São Paulo Biennial.
With a curatorial approach focusing on production and research in group exhibitions, Bafra has put in place support programmes for both artists and curators while working with SAHA and Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), while also founding SAHA Studio and the Turkey Atelier at Paris Cité des Arts, and being invited by the French Ministry of Culture and AICA Turkey to serve on the board of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM) in Marseille.
Bafra’s first contact with the Mardin Biennial was in 2005, when she led a research trip with a group of artists and curators from the Istanbul Biennial. Furthermore, she has been engaged in projects and a collaboration with the Mardin Cinema Association, such as the Güneş Sineması, as well as leading widely published interviews and writing critical essays on the Biennial.
