Hale Tenger, We didn't go outside; We were always on the outside/ We didn't go inside; We were always on the inside, 1995
Installation view at Arter, Istanbul, 2019
Curated by Çağla Ilk, Assaf Kimmel, and Misal Adnan Yıldız, Thinking Hands, Touching Each Other, the main project of the 6th Ural Industrial Biennial, will feature 52 artists and collectives from 23 countries and regions, who will present 76 works, including 24 new commissions. The project will take place at four main venues in Yekaterinburg: The Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant (part of Rostec state corporation), The Yekaterinburg State Circus, the former Salute Cinema, and the Main Post Office, as well as three additional locations. The show will run from October 2 until December 5, 2021.
The curatorial trio refers to the making of the biennial’s main show as hausgemacht (“homemade” in German), alluding to how social distancing and pandemic-era border politics complicated research trips and studio visits. Logging an overwhelming amount of screen time, the curators carried on long-distance conversations with artists in cities in which they were previously based, including Berlin, Istanbul, Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Auckland. Like tracking the migration routes of birds, they reconnected these studios to each other using the tools of digital communication.