The Belkin Art Gallery is pleased to present a talk by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “The 14th Istanbul Biennial: On Annie Besant, thought forms, mad science, love and politics,” as part of the Curatorial Lecture Series. This lecture will explore the relationship between the 14th Istanbul Biennial titled Saltwater. A Theory of Thought Forms and 19th and early 20th century theosophist Annie Besant’s notion of thought forms and their impact on action and the world today, at a critical moment for Turkey and the region.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is the Edith Kreeger Wolf Distinguished Visiting Professor in Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University (2013–15), Getty Visiting Research Scholar (2015), and was recently appointed as Director of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, commencing on January 1, 2016. She drafted the 14th Istanbul Biennial, titled SALTWATER. A Theory of Thought Forms (5th September – 1st November 2015). Previously, she was the artistic director of dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); the artistic director of the 16th Biennale of Sydney, Revolutions—Forms That Turn (2008); and senior curator at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, a MoMA affiliate in New York, from 1999 to 2001.
For more information about Annie Besant’s work, download THOUGHT-FORMS by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater.
The Curatorial Lecture Series presents lectures on contemporary curatorial practice. The series is organized by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in collaboration with the UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory with the support of the Audain Endowment for Curatorial Studies.
For further information please contact: Jana Tyner at jana.tyner@ubc.ca,
tel: (604) 822-1389, or fax: (604) 822-6689
Photo: Giorgio Perrottino, Courtesy of Castello di Rivoli-GAM and Fondazione Torino Musei
