18th Istanbul Biennial: The Three-Legged Cat
The 18th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Christine Tohmé and titled “The Three-Legged Cat”, unfolds its first chapter from 20 September to 23 November 2025. This opening stage takes place across eight venues in the historic Beyoğlu–Karaköy district, all within walking distance of one another, and brings together 47 artists from more than 30 countries. Their works reflect on shared urgencies, tracing political, cultural, and ecological entanglements through a wide range of media and approaches.
The exhibition is accompanied by a vibrant public programme in the opening week, featuring performances, film screenings, and DJ sets, all free of charge though with limited capacity. Among them are works by Selma Selman, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins and Ahmad Ghossein, alongside films by Maxime Hourani, Samar Al Summary, Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Suneil Sanzgiri. DJ performances by Jtamul, Urok Shirhan, GLVRE and LOKA extend the biennial’s spirit of gathering into the night.
A shared hub at Zihni Han Floor Two functions as a space for pause and collective activity, open to workshops, conversations, and events proposed by visitors and local initiatives. This participatory approach reflects the biennial’s desire to act as a living infrastructure for exchange and reflection, not only during its exhibitions but across time.
“The Three-Legged Cat” is conceived as a three-year cycle extending to 2027. After this first leg of exhibitions and public programmes, the biennial will continue in 2026 with the establishment of a permanent educational structure and a quarterly programme co-developed with local partners. It will culminate between 18 September and 14 November 2027 with a constellation of exhibitions, performances, publications, and discursive gatherings.
Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and supported by Koç Holding and international partners, the 18th edition builds on the city’s role as a crossroads of cultures and histories. It seeks to create a space where art questions forms of belonging and displacement, and where collective imagination offers possible routes towards a more open, interconnected future.
