August 7, 2014 - 15:12 AMT
Venice Biennale to showcase artist Sarkis Zabunyan's works

The 56th Venice Biennale will showcase Turkish- Armenian conceptual artist Sarkis Zabunyan's new artwork at Turkey’s pavilion.

The international art exhibition will run from May 9 to Nov 22 in 2015 at various locations around Venice. Organized by the initiative of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and with the gracious contribution of 21 supporters, Turkey has a long-term venue in the Venice Biennale, Daily Sabah reports.

Zabunyan's works will be on display at the Pavilion of Turkey at the Arsenale, one of the main event venues recently secured for the duration of 20 years from 2014 to 2034.

Graduating from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Zabunyan introduced his first exhibition in 1960 at the Istanbul Art Gallery. He started his professional career as a painter, yet performed different forms of art including sculpture and interdisciplinary (visual and audio) installations. The master artist's works were previously presented at many art centers, museums and galleries from the Paris-based Centre Georges Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art and the Louvre Museum; the New York-based Guggenheim Museum, the Bonnbased Art and Exhibition hall of Germany, the Berlin-based Bode Museum and the Kuntshalle Dusseldorf. He also participated in prestigious exhibitions including, "When attitudes become form" (Kuntshalle Bern, 1969), "Documenta VI," "Documenta VII" (Kassel, 1977 and 1982) and the biennales of Sidney, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Moscow and Istanbul.

His recent solo shows were displayed at the Gallery Mana (Istanbul, 2013), the Arter (Istanbul, 2013), the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam, 2012), the Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, 2011 and 2014) and the Centre Pompidou Contemporary Art Center (Paris, 2010); Contemporary Art Museum (Geneva, 2011) and the Istanbul Modern. Zabunyan has been residing in France since 1964.

Photo: Marc Nolte