Emre Baykal is a curator and art manager born in Istanbul in 1965. He is known for the positions he undertook in institutions such as the Istanbul Biennial, รรถzรผmistanbul and Arter during the more than thirty years during which contemporary art was institutionalized in Tรผrkiye. He has been the director of Arter, an art institution affiliated with the Vehbi Koรง Foundation, since 2024.
He completed his undergraduate education at Boฤaziรงi University, Department of English Language and Literature. The first major stop of his professional life was the Istanbul Biennial: He served as the assistant director of the biennial between 1995-2000 and its director between 2000-2005. During this period, the biennial became an event with a regular place in the international art calendar.
Tatilistanbul and public space projects
In 2005, he prepared the second edition of the Istanbul Pedestrian Exhibitions together with Fulya Erdemci. The exhibition, spread out on the streets between Tรผnel and Karakรถy, aimed to bring works of art outside the gallery and into daily urban life. In the same year, he became the exhibitions director at Tatilistanbul and remained in this position until 2008.
Organized as the opening exhibition of the institution, "Modern and Beyond" presented a historical overview of modern and contemporary art in Tรผrkiye with a wide selection ranging from the 1950s to the 2000s. Baykal also wrote a monograph on the artist Kutluฤ Ataman, published by Yapฤฑ Kredi Publications in 2008; In 2009, he served as the artistic director of Depo for a short time.
Artery and Venice
He joined Arter in 2008 as exhibitions director and curator. Here he curated group exhibitions such as "Second Exhibition" and "Invisibility Tactics". In 2013, he was selected as the curator of the 55th Venice Biennale Tรผrkiye Pavilion by the advisory board formed by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. Ali Kazma's video series called "Resistance", based on controlling the body and exceeding its limits, was exhibited in the pavilion at Arsenale.
He was appointed chief curator of Arter in 2016. He took over the directorship of Arter on January 1, 2024, after the founding director of the institution, Melih Fereli, resigned at the end of 2023. He continued his curatorial work during his directorship; "Velvet Look" (2025-2026), Nilbar Gรผreล's first institutional solo exhibition in Tรผrkiye, is one of them.
Baykal's career makes it possible to closely follow the institutionalization process of contemporary art in Tรผrkiye in different forms such as biennials, private museums and public space projects. Today, with his management, Arter stands out as one of the most influential institutional managers in Istanbul's art scene.
