Naomi Rincón-Gallardo’s video installation, Resilience Tiacuache\Opposum Resilience (2019), perfectly encapsulates the hopes of the 18th Istanbul Biennial, a space where “self-preservation and futurity are interdependent”, according to curator Christine Tohmé. The show would appear to be a bid for stability by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), the private foundation that administers the biennial, following a rocky period of reorganisation. In February 2023, the Istanbul Biennial’s advisory board unanimously chose Defne Ayas, now the director of The Van Abbemuseum, to oversee the 18th edition. Despite this, her biennial favours futurity over futility, leaving the door open for fantasy, playfulness and even a cautious optimism. Censorship and queer beautyMeanwhile Akram Zaatari’s contributions, Olive Green (2020) and Crimson Red (2021), portray scenes of wrestlers, a sport practiced in Turkey since ancient times.