The 5th Istanbul Design Biennial, curated by Mariana Pestana with Sumitra Upham and Billie Muraben, will open its doors the 15th of October 2020, instead of the initially scheduled date of September, a postponement due, like many other international events, to social distancing measures.

This year's event will take the title of Empathy Revisited and, in light of current events, will focus on “care practices, localism and new models of living together”. It presents a program that is divided into three main themes: an online series entitled Critical Cooking Show, a set of research projects on the Mediterranean basin contained in the Library of Land and Sea, and a series of interventions in the city, entitled New Civic Rituals.

Along with these mostly outdoor events, the Biennale will present a series of films around the concept of empathy, entitled Empathy Sessions, and a series of satellite projects developed in collaboration with partner cultural institutions, including The New Infinity in collaboration with Berliner Festspiele / Immersion.