Text by Hou Hanru (extract from the catalogue of 10th Istanbul Biennial, 2007)

ENTRE-POLIS
Antrepo No.3

To use Antrepo No.3 as a site for the 10th International Istanbul Biennial is inevitably to deal with its urban/geopolitical position and implication. The Antrepo is a condensed “Entre-Polis”. It is a site for artists to investigate and experiment with the intensity of today’s metropolitan life, always in-between and on the move. To function like a real city, the Antrepo space is designed as a kind of urban maze to reflect the labyrinth structure of Istanbul. It will host works by more than 50 artists from different parts of the world. Like the urban multitude, these artists are highly different personalities using different languages. They are committed to explore a wide range of issues decisive for the making of our condensed “Entre-Polis”: urban transformation, global communication, migration, border-crossing travels, geopolitical conflicts, cultural memory, ethnic and religious differences, urban rebellion, manifestations and actions for social solidarity and even, love. Their artistic visions and gestures are always dynamic, performative and open to the participation of the public. Together, they make the maze really urban. This urban maze, informed by the reality of the city outside, is envisioned and organized into a scenario of street life, growing and oscillating between the most intensive overlapping and mixture of light, darkness, images, sounds, actions, traffic and accidents. It unfolds in all directions — up and down, right and left, disorientates, chaotic, spectacular but is full of mysteries and surprises.

It is a collective action to claim for the total dissolution of the borders between art and urban life.