Istanbul Biennale 2007 Rejection

Arther C. Withernee, Correspondent for WEMW
Report 03 May 2007

NPP are again left disappointed and reply to the Istanbul Biennale 2007 curator.......

Mr Hanru,

we acknowledge your letter of rejection. We remain confident that the Rainbow Bridge project would fulfill your international and domestic aims as well as anything else in your portfolio. We continue to wait for a governing authority and collaborators with the required vision to implement such a project.

Of the 3 projects we submitted to you, we have secured finance for the Learning Turkish project and will gladly document our Biennale application and rejection within the film.

As for our Peace @ Home, Peace in the World exhibition - what could be more appropriate for the the theme "Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary: Optimism in the Age of Global War" ?

For 10 years the Istanbul Biennale has ignored NPP and does so again in 2007. Meanwhile, other artists known to us consistently receive invitation year in year out. Why is that we wonder? Bos ver, never mind, it's your gig and your choice.

Yours sincerely, Ned Pamphilon
Peace @ Home, Peace in the World

Indeed, I understand it was very tempting for NPP to just say go forth and multiply! We received this reply from the oh so efficient Biennale:
"Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mail.iksv.org. I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses. This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out."

Useless idiots! This was the rejection letter NPP received:

Dear Ned Pamphilon

As the curator of the 10th International Istanbul Biennial, our team has been continuing its hard work for one and half years in Istanbul. I’d like to mention with pleasure that the title of the Biennial, “Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary: Optimism in the Age of Global War” draws attention both on the international scene and in Turkey.

I’ve completed the selection of the artists participating in the exhibition. This work required a really long and attentive process in which I had the privilege to get to know the work of many artists, including yourself after examining their proposals and portfolios sent to our office. This process helped me to understand how the concept of this biennial included so many possibilities and diverse interpretations. At this point, I’d like to present my greatest thanks to all of the artists who showed interest to the Istanbul Biennial via their proposals and portfolios that reveals various perspectives for the Biennial.

Determining the invitations of the artists to the exhibition was enormously enjoyable, but at the same time an extremely difficult process due to the variety of valuable alternatives. However considering the numerical and spatial restrictions as well as the necessities of the integrity of the exhibition, I regret to tell you that I was unable to integrate your work in the exhibition.

Thanking you once again for your interest.

I’d be delightful to see you at the Opening Ceremony of the Istanbul Biennial, scheduled to be on 07 September 2007.

Best Regards
Hou Hanru Curator
10th International Istanbul Biennial
www.iksv.org