Ground Floor America is the title of a travel book by Soviet writer duo Ilf and Petrov, written in 1936. Ground floor America takes Ilf’s and Petrov’s approach as a starting point for questioning the notion of “curatorial research“ within the broader field of cultural translation, looking at the parallels between the burgeoning liberal economy’s capacity to erode a hitherto existing social consensus—both in the crisis era of the 1930s and at present.

The show is a reflection on the research undertaken by the curatorial collective, WHW, in the course of the two-year-long preparation for the 11th International Istanbul Biennale (2009).

Exhibition leaflet is available here.