Yedinci Kıta at the 16th Istanbul Biennial, 14 September–10 November 2019

Many scientists agree that the world we inhabit is entering a new geological age. The most distinctive feature of this new age, called the Anthropocene, is that it has been brought about by human activities rather than geological processes. In the Anthropocene, the untouched corners of the planet are diminishing, while the culture-nature divide believed to exist between settlements and the countryside shared with other living beings is disappearing. The Earth is transforming into a completely human-made space, decentralized, where cities merge into a single megapolis. In this age where living beings and machines, natural and artificial intelligence are intertwined, art is increasingly moving away from placing humans at its center, turning its attention instead to exploring a world where the boundary between human and non-human is becoming permeable. Seventh Continent defines art as an anthropology that investigates human impact, the paths humans take, the traces they leave, and their interaction with non-humans. The Biennial's main theme is drawn from what is popularly known in science as the "Seventh Continent"—a massive waste accumulation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, one of the most visible consequences of the Anthropocene era alongside global warming. The "Seventh Continent," in popular science, consists of a plastic mass spanning 3.4 million square kilometers and weighing 7 million tons. This event, in which human waste has created a new continent for the world in the middle of the ocean, serves as a starting point for the 16th Istanbul Biennial to explore, together with many artists, thinkers, anthropologists and environmentalists, the current state of art in the face of ecological problems.