Reader with texts by the curators and many thinkers such as Brian Holmes, Süreyyya Erven, Keti Chukhrov, Mladen Dolar, Stephen Wright, etc. accompanying What Keeps Mankind Alive?, the 11th International Istanbul Biennial, curated by collective What, How & for Whom (WHW) (members: Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović), Antrepo, Tobacco Warehouse, and other venues, Istanbul, 12.09–08.11.2009. The Biennial, which took its title from a Bertolt Brecht work, made use of an explicitly politicized concept in terms of both the format of the biennial and the exhibited works (‘What Keeps Mankind Alive? seeks to rethink the biennial as a meta-device with the potential to facilitate the renewal of critical thinking’). Exhibition was praised for including many compelling works and excellent installation; criticized for its polemical stance, questions about neoliberal co-optation of critical artistic
positions, etc. Exhibited artists included: Mounira Al Solh, Yüksel Arslan, KP Brehmer, Chto delat, Danica Dakić, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Igor Grubić, Nilbar Güreş, Sharon Hayes, Vlatka Horvat, Sanja Iveković, KwieKulik, Avi Mograbi, Rabih Mroué, Aydan Murtezaoğlu & Bülent Şangar, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Trevor Paglen, Marko Peljhan, Société Réaliste, Mladen Stilinović, Artur Żmijewski, etc.