Glenn Ligon: James Baldwin: From Another Place
16th Istanbul Biennial – THE SEVENTH CONTINENT
September 14 – November 10, 2019
Production | Exhibition Grant
For the 16th edition of the Istanbul Biennial, Glenn Ligon created a new body of work inspired by African American writer and activist James Baldwin. Baldwin spent ten years in Istanbul between 1961-1970, where he was active in the local intellectual community. Installed in the Mizzi Palace, a 19th century mansion on Büyükada island—a historic site where political prisoners were once exiled and where social outcasts later took refuge—Ligon’s installation explored Baldwin’s historic connection to Istanbul. The short film James Baldwin: From Another Place (1970) is at the core of Ligon’s presentation. Shown on a loop and subtitled for the first time in Turkish, the only film documenting Baldwin’s life in Istanbul was made legible to Turkish-speaking audiences. Ligon extended his portrait of Baldwin into the surrounding rooms of the mansion. Replacing the neon tubing in his signature “America” sculptures with Turkish mahyas—strings of lights traditionally hung between minarets on mosques during Ramadan—Ligon used a foreign lexicon to explore the grip of America on Baldwin’s imagination while he was in exile. As Baldwin himself put it, you can often see issues at home “better from a distance, from another country, from another place.”
The 16th Istanbul Biennial was curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, whose vision for the exhibition marries anthropology with art history in order to acknowledge the interconnectedness of human, animal, and technological systems in the creation of “a multiverse that can be visited by the beholder / explorer.” Ligon’s work was presented alongside contributions by over fifty international artists whose artworks contribute to urgent debates on social, cultural, and environmental issues in a highly polarized global context.
For more information, visit the Istanbul Biennial.
Images: James Baldwin: From Another Place, 1973; a film by Sedat Pakay, 16mm film transferred to digital video, black-and-white, 11′ 30”. Courtesy © Hudson Film Works II and sedatpakay.com. Remastering and subtitling produced and presented with the support of VIA Art Fund.
Untitled (31 Mart 2019), 2019; Neon and paint, 10.79 x 85.72 cm. Courtesy Glenn Ligon. Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Produced and presented with the support of VIA Art Fund.
Untitled (America), 2019; Mahya (light bulbs, paint and wire) on metal stands, dimensions variable. Courtesy Glenn Ligon. Commissioned by the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Produced and presented with the support of VIA Art Fund.
