Ali Güreli is an entrepreneur, cultural leader and founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, one of the region’s leading contemporary art fairs. For over two decades, he has championed Istanbul as a global hub for artistic exchange, bringing together artists, institutions, collectors and international audiences. Working at the intersection of art, culture and urban development, Güreli brings valuable insight into the role of creativity in fostering dialogue, shaping cultural identity and building connections across borders.
Anders Petterson is the founder and CEO of ArtTactic Ltd, a London-based art market research and analysis company established in 2001. A pioneer in using crowd-sourcing techniques to gather art market intelligence, ArtTactic publishes global reports in collaboration with partners including Deloitte, Hiscox, Mishcon de Reya, Sophie Macpherson SML, and Sotheby’s. Anders regularly lectures on art market topics at Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s Education, and ESA Beirut, and served as a founding board member of PAIAM from 2011 to 2021.
Chimere Cissé is an art collector and founder with over a decade of experience in the cultural sector. She launched ArtKōrero in 2021 to connect commercial engagement with the arts and recently founded STELLA Alliance to increase the visibility of women art collectors. Previously, she represented the United Nations International Trade Centre and held senior roles at Burberry, Hearst UK, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Dedicated to philanthropy, she actively supports global charities including the British Council and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where she is a long-standing committee chair.
Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. She was recently awarded the Visual Artists Association International Scholarship Award for 2025. She has conceived and curated five shows as founder of The Neulinge Collective and the Post-Colonials Collective. She is also the founder and host of the ARTiculate podcast and broadcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Dr. Shwetal Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and development studies. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he played a key role in launching the initiative and building its international partnerships. He holds a practice-based PhD from the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and lectures internationally at institutions such as the Zürich University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Exeter. He also serves as trustee for the Milton Keynes Museum, Coventry Biennial, and the Kakar Centre of Psychoanalysis & Culture.
Jeffrey Boloten is Director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He co-founded and serves as Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the educational partner of art market research firm ArtTactic. With a background in law, publishing (including Penguin Books), and institutional roles at the Tate and a London art college, Jeffrey is a frequent speaker on the global art, photography, and art investment markets. He also co-directs Sotheby’s Enterprise Studio and is a founding member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).
Leo Crane is a producer, artist and educator with over 25 years of experience across physical and digital creative industries. He has founded three creative studios and in 2024, established the AI Film Academy, focusing on innovation in contemporary moving image practice. He leads courses in art and art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and serves on the board of Animate Projects. His artistic practice spans animated film, figurative painting and experimental digital works, and his work has been widely exhibited, screened and awarded internationally. He is currently producing his debut feature film The Masterpiece of Tamagata, and is the author of Contemporary Figures in Watercolour (2021).
Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a multidisciplinary agency dedicated to culture-driven placemaking. He has led private sector investment in major art projects including the Crossrail Culture Line, the Illuminated River Project, and the cultural strategy for Wembley Park. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and contributes to several boards and panels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Advisory Panel, Hypha Studios, the Land Economic Society, the NLA Expert Panel for Culture, and the National Trust Regional Advisory Group.
Marta Orsola Sironi is a curator and critic based between Milan and London. She is co-founder and curator of MEGA Art Fair, which reimagines the art fair as an immersive, curated experience activating regenerated urban spaces with exhibitions, performances, talks, and music. Together with Mauro Mattei, she co-directs BeAdvisors Art Department, producing curated shows, cultural events, and collectors’ programmes across international art calendars. Her research focuses on decolonial feminism, identity, language, and memory, with a strong interest in urban space as a site of resistance.
Nicole Schoeni is an art dealer, collector, patron, and founder of Schoeni Projects. Previously, Nicole was the director of Schoeni Art Gallery, one of Asia's most influential art venues. Nicole has since curated the Hong Kong section of the China 8 exhibition and has consulted on arts projects such as for the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau. She is an active patron of numerous foundations, is on the advisory team for Arts for Good Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors of Asian Art in London.
Portuguese visual artist Paulo Arraiano explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and technology through a multidisciplinary practice. He is co-founder of Re_Act Contemporary, an international art laboratory and residency programme based in the Azores that fosters dialogue between artists, researchers, and communities around pressing ecological, social, and cultural issues. Arraiano offers a distinctive perspective on the role of art in shaping how we understand and engage with a rapidly changing world. Portfolio
Rena Neville is Director of Corinth Consulting Ltd and Head of FCS Compliance Art Division. With over 30 years at Sotheby’s, she was the company’s first Global Compliance Director and previously served as European General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation. Today, she advises the art market on anti-money laundering compliance and is a frequent speaker on the subject, including recent talks at Harvard Law School and the Art Business Conference in Maastricht during TEFAF.
Roxane Zand is a Harvard and Oxford educated specialist in Middle Eastern art and culture. After three years at UNESCO and roles at the Iran Heritage Foundation and Asia House, she joined Sotheby’s in 2006 as Director for the Middle East and Gulf, rising to Deputy Chairman and Senior Director, before stepping down in 2020 to lead her own art advisory consultancy. She continues to serve as Arts Editor for the Encyclopaedia Islamica, advises through the Pictet Art Prize Advisory Council, and has authored several publications, including Geometry and Art: In the Modern Middle East.
Sigrid Kirk is a curator, adviser, and strategist who co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in 2016. AWITA brings together women working across the arts sector through mentoring, collaboration, and a shared community. In addition, each year Kirk and her husband collaborate with Te Tuhi Gallery in Auckland to help fund an artist residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for Māori and Pacific Island artists. The couple are also patrons of Dundee Contemporary Arts,  Fruitmarket Gallery, Gasworks, Studio Voltaire, Iniva, and Goldsmiths CCA.
Sylwia Krason is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx Magazine, an international arts publication and organisation based in London. Since 2013, she has connected bold artistic voices with global audiences, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and emerging markets. She is also President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw and regularly serves as a juror and panel moderator at major international art events, including Art Basel. Trained in art history and arts management in Kraków, Berlin, and London, she is currently based in Paris.
Ulrich Schrauth is a curator, artist, and creative director of UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg. Schrauth is also the founder of VRHAM! Biennale, shaping new ways of presenting and experiencing digital Art. Working between Hamburg and London, he also heads the Immersive Programme at the British Film Institute (BFI) and serves on the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Economy. In addition, he curates the digital section of Art Dubai, the premier international art fair for digital media. Ulrich is a jury member for prestigious awards such as the Lumen Prize and the Fedora Digital Art Prize, and is a regular speaker at major events including the Venice Biennale, SXSW, and the Cannes Film Festival. Portfolio

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Symbolic Vault: Panel Discussion & Curated Tour

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Go beyond Symbolic Vault during a special evening of compelling conversation and up-close encounters with the exhibition. 

Panel Discussion and Curated Tour

🗓️ Dates: 20 October 2026

⏰ Time: 16:00 – 18:00

📍Location: Kasa Gallery, Istanbul

 

Open to Public

🗓️ Dates: 19 September – 24 October 2026

📍Location: Kasa Gallery, Istanbul

The evening begins with a thought-provoking panel discussion  exploring art, technology and future ecologies. The panel is chaired by Kasa Gallery’s Derya Yücel and features Art Voyage Biennial’s Tima Jam, exhibiting artist Ecem Dilan Köse, and artist, curator and researcher İpek Yeğinsü.

Join us afterwards for an intimate artist- and curator-led tour through Kasa Gallery’s underground vaults, bringing you up close to with the ideas and concpets shaping Symbolic Vault.

The evening will conclude with and exclusive drinks reception.

Panel Discussion

Art, technology, and the Post-Human

What happens when the boundaries between human, machine and nature begin to dissolve?

Coinciding with Symbolic Vault, this special panel at KASA Gallery Istanbul brings together artists, curators and cultural practitioners to explore contemporary art at the intersection of technology, ecology and the post-human.

From artificial intelligence and digital systems to ecological processes and the body, the discussion asks how these practices challenge established ideas of authorship, originality and value. What happens when an artwork is no longer simply a unique object, but a system, process, environment or evolving relationship?

The conversation considers how the art world might value, collect, preserve and engage with these new forms of practice, while asking a wider question: what does it mean to make and experience art in a world increasingly shaped by human, technological and non-human agency?

The Speakers

Derya Yücel (Moderator) – Curator & Director, Kasa Gallery

Derya Yücel is an Istanbul-based curator, art writer and lecturer. She has served as curator of Sabancı University Kasa Gallery since 2015 and is a Board Member of AICA Turkey. Her practice spans contemporary art, curatorial research and education, and she has curated numerous exhibitions in Turkey and internationally.

Tima Jam – Curator & Founder, Art Voyage Biennial

Tima Jam is an Iranian-born British curator and cultural strategist, and the founder of Art Voyage. Her curatorial practice centres on contemporary art as a space for dialogue, cultural exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together artists, institutions and audiences across international contexts.
 

İpek Yeğinsü – Artist, Curator, Researcher

İpek Yeğinsü is an independent curator, writer and researcher specialising in Media Arts. She has worked with Borusan Culture and Arts, including as Director of the Borusan Art Collection and as part of the founding team of Borusan Contemporary. She holds a PhD in Design, Technology and Society from Özyeğin University and continues to teach, research and pursue her artistic practice in Istanbul.

Ecem Dilan Köse – Artist

Istanbul-based artist Ecem Dilan Köse works across generative art, digital installation, AI, VR and audiovisual performance. Drawing connections between organic textures and digital systems, her practice explores the relationship between nature, technology and human experience, imagining new possibilities for their coexistence.

Curated Exhibition Tour

Step away from the pace of Contemporary Istanbul and descend into Kasa Gallery’s historic underground vaults for an intimate encounter with Symbolic Vault.

Designed for a small group of invited collectors, curators, museum professionals, cultural attachés, Contemporary Istanbul VIP guests and Art Voyage Patrons, this special tour offers a rare opportunity to experience the exhibition alongside the people who created it.

Beginning with a curatorial introduction, guests will move through the Vault with exhibiting artists Paulo Arraiano, Rebecca Najdowski and Ecem Dilan Köse, hearing first-hand about the ideas, research and processes behind their works.

More than a guided tour, it is an opportunity to look closer, ask questions and engage directly with the artists and curator while exploring some of the defining questions shaping contemporary art today: our changing relationships with technology, ecology and the more-than-human world.

Located moments from Istanbul’s historic Galata district, the experience offers a quieter and more considered encounter during one of the city’s busiest weeks for contemporary art.

Drinks reception – Continue the Conversation

A drinks reception follows the panel, inviting guests to continue the conversation in a relaxed setting and connect with participating artists, curators and Istanbul’s wider creative community. 

An evening of ideas, exchange and conversation during Istanbul’s September art season. 

About Symbolic Vault

Symbolic Vault: Entanglements of Human, Nature, Machine brings together Paulo Arraiano, Rebecca Najdowski and Ecem Dilan Köse within Kasa Gallery’s historic underground vaults.

Through moving image, sound, installation, performance and digital media, the exhibition explores how technology, ecology and memory are reshaping the ways we perceive, understand and inhabit the world.

18 September – 24 October 2026
Kasa Gallery, Istanbul 

Join us for the Opening Reception

Be among the first to experience Symbolic Vault. Join us on 18 September 2026 for the exhibition’s opening reception at Kasa Gallery’s historic underground vaults, and celebrate the opening alongside the artists, curator and Istanbul’s creative community.

18 September 2026
Kasa Gallery Vaults

Explore Symbolic Vault

Be inspired, consider new ways of sensing and thinking.

Reflect on the meanings and implications of interdependence, ecology, and technology. Gain new understandings about climate, AI, and post-human futures; through empathy, awareness, and new forms of entangled thinking rooted in interdependence and symbiosis. 

Join the Symbolic Vault public programme for thought-provoking conversation and an intimate journey through the exhibition, encountering new perspectives on the evolving relationships between human, nature and machine.

Visit Kasa Gallery

Our Partners & Collaborators

We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable support of our collaborators and partners. Their foundational contributions play a vital role in the realisation and continued sucess of this initiative. We are proud to collaborate with these distinguished organisations.

Hospitality Partner

We extend our sincere appreciation to our official hospitality partner for providing catering services for our event. Renowned for their dedication to culinary artistry and high-calibre service, they will ensure an exceptional dining experience for all delegates, speakers, and guests.

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If you are an artist interested in collaborating with us, or if you would like to learn more about the work we do at Art Voyage, email us at info@artvoyagebiennial.org.uk

Become a Patron of Art Voyage

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By donating, you’re not just funding a project, you’re becoming part of a movement that celebrates and empowers artists, and transforms public spaces into places of memory, creativity, and pride.

Together, we can ensure that all stories matter.

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