Turkey’s Contribution to the 1^st London Design Biennale is organised by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ÝKSV).

Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ÝKSV)

Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (ÝKSV) is a non-profit cultural institution that was founded in 1973. The general objectives of the Foundation are: to make Istanbul one of the world's foremost capitals of culture and the arts; to create continuous interaction between national and universal values and traditional and contemporary values via culture and the arts; and to contribute actively to the development of cultural policies. With these objectives, ÝKSV organises the Istanbul Festivals of Music, Film, Theatre and Jazz, as well as the Istanbul Biennial, the Istanbul Design Biennial, Leyla Gencer Voice Competition, autumn film week Filmekimi and one-off events throughout the year. The Foundation hosts cultural and artistic events at its performance venue Salon, located at the Nejat Eczacýbaþý Building. ÝKSV also organises the Pavilion of Turkey at la Biennale di Venezia and coordinates an artist residency programme at Cité International des Arts, France. Furthermore, ÝKSV conducts studies and drafts reports with the aim of contributing to cultural policy development.

The foundation also supports artistic and cultural production through presenting awards at its festivals, commissioning works and taking part in international and local co-productions, as well as the Aydýn Gün Encouragement Award, presented annually to a young musician working in the field of classical music, and Talât Sait Halman Translation Award, presented to the translator of an outstanding literary translation into Turkish.

London Design Biennale

The inaugural London Design Biennale will be held at Somerset House from 7 to 27 September 2016, bringing installations, artworks and design proposals from 37 countries and territories to the heart of the capital. The exhibits address the Biennale’s 2016 theme, ‘Utopia by Design’, and explore questions and ideas about sustainability, migration, pollution, cities, social equality and much more, on the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s classic, Utopia (1516). It will provide a prestigious, global stage for the world’s leading contemporary design and design-led innovation, creativity and research. The presentations will occupy the entirety of Somerset House. (Further information at: www.londondesignbiennale.com)