INTERVIEW: MARI SPIRITO

Installation by Hale Tenger "We didn't go outside; we were always on the outside. We didnt go inside; we were always on the inside 1995-2015", Galeri Nev, Istanbul, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, Protocinema, New York / photo © Vehbi Dileksiz

American Curator and art manager Mari Spirito is one of Istanbul's most active persons in art world, always organising different projects at the same time and traveling to a other countries frequently. Dedicated to encouraging careers for emerging artists and curators, she is currently the consultant for Art Basel's "Talks Program" and has previously lived in New York, where she was director at 303 Gallery. In 2011, Mari initiated her own project Protocinema – an art organisation that connects cities such as New York and İstanbul, through educational programs, exhibitions and various collaborations. One of her newest, self-initiated endeavours is the temporary exhibition series Proto5533: A collaboration between Protocinema and the Istanbul-based artist-run-space 5533, displaying emerging curators and artists. I met Mari in Istanbul's district Çukurcuma, where we had coffee on the rooftop of a historical building. She told me about Protocinema, its goals and why she chose Istanbul as a base.

INTERVIEW: BILLY RENNEKAMP

all works © Billy Rennekamp

Visting the Neukölln-studio of 1988-born US artist Billy Rennekamp reveals his intense passion for sports, rules and any kind of game, which he integrates and manipulates in every work that he produces. Balls, sticks, boards and countless props are spread all over the place. The space smells of rubber and leather. I talked to him about material fetishism, the shift from digital to physical art and, obviously, why he is playing games.

INTERVIEW: YVONNE REINERS AND TINA SAUERLÄNDER

What's hot? A question that we might hope to find resolved at every biennial, art fair or art week that we attend. But what's hot today might be over by tomorrow. And: who decides what's hot, anyway? Yvonne Reiners, a curator and researcher running the performance series Performing Encounters that re-imagines formats of encounter and discussion; and Tina Sauerländer, a curator and writer, who has been organising numerous exhibitions under the label peer to space, jointly organised the upcoming Pecha Kucha Art Night at Haus am Lützowplatz in Berlin. The event will ask this very question amidst a couple of professionals from different disciplines, such as the art historian Annika von Taube, the art dealer Volker Diehl or the publisher Uta Grosenick. I asked the two organisers, why they felt the need to pose this question.