The Young Curators Group will be formed of young curators based in Istanbul, working as part of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial.
This group will be responsible for contextualizing the theme of the biennial locally by connecting to practitioners, thinkers and makers in the city, and establishing links between the programme and historical approaches in Turkey. It is hoped that, as representatives of a younger generation, they may put forward a particular perspective to complement that of the other curators. As part of the curatorial team of the biennial, they will actively suggest, select and set forward projects which they believe add to the narrative and positioning of this edition. They will also be invited to contribute to the biennial’s publication.
The Young Curators Group will consist of the following names.
Nur Horsanalı
Nur Horsanalı graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University, Industrial Product Design department and holds an MA in Product and Spatial Design from Aalto University in Finland. After her studies, she continued to work as a research assistant at Aalto University, and contributed to the Finnish Pavilion in XXII Triennale di Milano as a curatorial assistant. Horsanalı’s interests revolve around material culture, vernacular design and crafts. Her research Halletmek was a part of the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial.
Ulya Soley
Ulya Soley works at Pera Museum as a collection supervisor and contributes to the Museum’s exhibitions and publications as a curator and editor. She completed her MA in Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central Saint Martins, and her BA in Art History and Psychology at McGill University. Recently, she curated the exhibition How shall we dress for the occasion? organised by Protocinema at 601 Artspace in New York. Her past curatorial projects include You Look Familiar as part of the British Council’s Curatorial Residency Program, Katherine Behar: Data’s Entry and Bring Your Own Beamer at Pera Museum, and Stereo-Reality as part of Proto5533’s emerging curators programme. Her writing appeared in printed and online publications such as Pine Magazine, UQ, The Believer Logger, The Rationale, Istanbul Art News, Art Unlimited, K24 and Borderless. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA).
Eylül Şenses
Eylül Şenses was born in Istanbul in 1991. She graduated from Kabataş High School and completed her undergraduate studies in 2015 at METU, Department of Architecture. She participated in various projects as part of the design collective Plankton Project. She worked in Design Atelier Kartal between 2016 and 2018 as a programme coordinator. In 2020, she completed the M.Sc. Programme in Architectural and Urban Studies at Kadir Has University. She was the operations associate at the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, and was a part of various research projects within SALT and KHAS. She is currently working as the public programme associate for the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial.
