"The Biennial is a questioning of learning mechanics and we are not trying to search specific answers" said curator Jan Boelen at a press conference held this morning at the Yapı Kredi Culture Centre in Istanbul.

"We are interested in design as pedagogy and in what can we learn from design and designing. We would like to start a discussion on design, education and design education. We would like it to generate more questions than answers," Boelen continued.

The 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, titled A School of Schools and curated by Jan Boelen with associate curators Vera Sacchetti and Nadine Botha, has been opened with a press conference held in Istanbul. The Biennial will be opened to the public on September 22 and will be on view until November 4, 2018.

Peter Zin's installation at the Istanbul Design Biennial 2018. Image © Kayhan Kaygusuz, courtesy of Istanbul Design Biennial.

Organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), the biennial brings together projects from more than 200 interdisciplinary practitioners from across the globe. 

World Architecture Community is Magazine Sponsor of the Biennial and will bring to you the hottest installations, discussions and updated news from the event.

This year's Istanbul Design Biennial will explore different norms of design education as a transdisciplinary and experimental base, testing and revising a variety of educational strategies to reflect on the role of design, knowledge, and global connectedness in contemporary Istanbul and beyond.

For six weeks, designers, architects, artists, theoreticians and several others will converge in Turkey's cultural capital to explore the many dimensions of design and learning. 

IKSV Chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı has opened the biennial and stated that "today from the economy to culture and the arts, sustainable development to technology, design has a key role, to play in many areas."

"It's possible to say that the future will be shaped by people and institutions that effectively use design-focused methods and tools."

"We truly believe that the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial will also contribute to raising design awareness in our country," Eczacıbaşı added.

Emphasizing the notion of design as "a pedagogical approach", Jan Boelen explained that "by naming the design biennial "A School of Schools", we sought to go beyond the traditional "school-as-institution" connotation."

"Everything and everywhere is a school, and every single interaction we have with design is pedagogical, "Boelen added.

"Ninety-nine years after the Bauhaus, the design discipline and the world are very different places, while design education has mostly remained the same. And yet, education rationally allowed for spaces of exception where experimentation and new ideas can be tried and tested."

"Can a biennial emulate these spaces? A School of Schools manifests a set of dynamic learning formats encouraging creative production, sustainable collaboration, and social connection."

"We are interested in design as pedagogy and in what can we learn from design and designing," Boelen continued. "We would like to start a discussion on design, education and design education. We would like it to generate more questions than answers. This places the responsibility on each of us to become agents of our own education," added Boelen. 

The press conference was followed by the experiential performance by designer and researcher Vivien Tauchman. The biennial is presented at the six of the city's most iconic cultural institutions in the Beyoğlu District - Akbank Sanat, Arter, Yapı Kredi Culture Centre, Pera Museum, SALT Galata and Studio-X Istanbul.

Each venue focuses on a different theme which is spread like: Yapı Kredi Culture Centre - Currents School, Pera Museum - Scales School, Arter - the Earth School, SALT Galata - Time School, Studio-X Istanbul - Digestion School and Akbank Sanat - the Unmaking School. 

The venues will be transformed into "schools" where new ideas in relation to expanded notions of design and its role in contemporary culture are explored. 

All images © World Architecture Community, unless otherwise stated. 

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