the 3rd istanbul design biennial will take place from 22 october to 20 november 2016. entitled are we human? : the design of the species: 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years, the biennial will explore the intimate relationship between the concepts of “design” and “human.”

curated by beatriz colomina and mark wigley, the biennial will present more than 70 projects by designers, architects, artists, historians, archaeologists and scientists from 13 countries in 5 main venues; galata greek primary school, studio-x istanbul and depo in karaköy, alt in bomonti and istanbul archaeological museums. 

aimed at rethinking design for an age in which design has gone viral, the biennial is organized in 4 overlapping “clouds” of projects: designing the body, designing the planet, designing life, and designing time.

designing the body explores all the different ways in which the human body itself is a highly unstable artifact that is continually reconstructed, from the unique way our hands work to the latest research on the brain. every dimension of the human is continuously adjusted, augmented or replaced. designing the planet asks us to rethink the human design of vast territories and ecologies. the human radiates design in all directions and encrusts the planet in layer upon layer of artifacts as a kind of geology. designing life looks at the new forms of mechanical, electronic and biological life that are being crafted. a fusion of machines, organisms, computation, and genetics is moving from the laboratory into everyday life, the land, the air, and the oceans. designing time presents a unique archaeology ranging from the deep time of the very first human tools and ornaments to the ways in which social media allows humans to redesign themselves and their artifacts in as little as 2 seconds.

for the curatorial manifesto and participants list: http://arewehuman.iksv.org/exhibition/