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Sümer Sayın is an interdisciplinary artist, working mostly with sculpture and installation. She makes interventions into found objects, using geometric elements, reflections, repetitions and loops, altering their composition and function. By re-constructing some of the elements they are composed of, she assigns them new contexts and layers of meanings. Her work incorporates the investigation of how our knowledge and perception is constructed and often have conceptual layers that relate with philosophical, scientific or social themes such as reality and illusion, the perception of time and space, subjectivity, freedom, borders and power. 

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CV

1985, Istanbul

Education

2008-2010 Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHIO), Master of Fine Arts

2005-2006 Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts de Lyon, Erasmus

2003-2007 Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Painting Department, Istanbul

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 While The Earth is Cooling Down / Dünya Soğurken, PASAJ @ Barin Han, Istanbul, Turkey

2018 An Inventory of Reflections, Reiter Berlin Prospect Gallery, Germany

2017 Oyunbozan / Deal-Breaker, DEPO, Istanbul, Turkey

2017 Passages, Ex14 Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Dresden, Germany

2016 Duo Show: Distance from Horizon, in collaboration with Miriam Hamann, Apartment Project, Berlin

2013 ONE, Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery, Madrid

2012 For A Moment, Art ON, Istanbul

2010 Reverse Angle, Akershus Kunstsenter, Oslo

2010 2,5 D, Soapbox Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 Upcoming, The Tower, Projektraum im Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin

2024 Critical Shifts, Barin Han, Istanbul

2024 #2270ff, BWH Temporaum, RAW-Gelände, Berlin

2023 Is There Another Chance? / Bir Şans Daha Var mı?, Milli Reasürans Galerisi, Istanbul

2023 Change: transition, innovation or revolution?, Green Hill Gallery, Berlin

2023 Beyond Home, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin

2023 Bir Işık Hüzmesi Üzerine, Taksim Sanat, Istanbul

2022 Sinopale 8

2020 Reset. Instructions to begin in a new present, TACA, la Palma, Mallorca

2020 20|20 -100 Jahre Großberlin, Schoeler Gallery, Berlin

2019 Condition Room, Apartment Project Berlin

2017 Neighboring Galaxies, GaleriBu, Istanbul

2017 Rotary Club Art Prize Exhibition, Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul

2017 YARIN, Gaia Gallery, Istanbul

2017 House of Wisdom, Dzialdov, Berlin

2017 The Fragility of Now, 42 Maslak Art!Space, Istanbul

2017 The Beauty of Concept, Plato Sanat, Istanbul

2016 International Artist Space Agency, Dzialdov, Berlin

2016 O’Art Prize Exhibition, O’Art, Istanbul

2016 Mahal, Versus Art Project, Istanbul

2015 Nonlinear Future, Mixer Gallery, Istanbul

2015 Rendez-Vous, Jeune Création Internationale / 13e Biennale de Lyon, France

2015 Stay With Me, Lloydhof, Bremen, Germany

2015 Stay With Me, DEPO, Istanbul

2015 Mamut Art Project'15, Istanbul

2014 Stay With Me, Apartment Project Berlin

2014 Nights of Museums and Galleries, Plovdiv

2014 Technical Extasy, Kuad Gallery, Istanbul

2014 Focus 1: Serbest Cagrisim, Daire Galeri, Istanbul

2014 Ruptures and Convergences, Kuad Gallery, Istanbul and OKiS, Wroclaw, Poland

2014 31 Kilo, Dortmund-Istanbul exchange project, The Space Istanbul and Künstlerhaus Dortmund

2013 Bufferzone: Checkpoint, Depo, Istanbul

2013 Sketching the Bufferzone, Polistar, Istanbul

2013 …with all the changes that loomed far behind the horizon, Mars Istanbul

2013 Penelopolis: Women’s Mapping of Mediterranean Town / Podgorica, Ribnica River, Montenegro

2012 Sinopale 4, Turkey

2012 Encounters: Turkish Contemporary Art in Korea, Seoul

2012 Coca-Cola Red Gallery, Istanbul

2011 Crossroads, Art ON, Istanbul

2011 The Knowledge Series 1 / Production, Plato Sanat, Istanbul

2011 Kat/Fold, Proje 4L, Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul

2010 Gittikce, Simotas Building, Istanbul

2010 The Bibliotheca Alexandrina 4th International Biennale for the Artists Book, Egypt

2009 Sympathy for the Devil, Contemporary Art Museum, Oslo

2009 Herre I Eget Hus, Galleri BOA, Oslo

2009 Skopje Biennale 0909

2008 Athens Video Art Festival, Greece

2007 Borders and Orbits Contest Exhibition, Siemens Art Gallery, Istanbul

2007 Nothing Is Alright, Apartment Project, Istanbul

2006 Everything Is Gonna Be Alright, Apartment Project, Istanbul

Awards, Prizes and Artist Residencies

2024 Kunstfonds Stipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds

2023 Recherchestipendium, Berliner Kulturförderung

2022 NEUSTART KULTUR-Stipendium, Stiftung Kunstfonds

2022 ISCP New York Artist-in-Residency Program, supported by SAHA Association

2020 NEUSTART KULTUR-Stipendium für bildende Künstler*innen mit Kindern unter 7 Jahren, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn

2017 Istanbul Rotary Club Art Prize

2016 O’Art Prize

2016 January, Dos Mares Residency, Marseilles, France

2015 IKSV grant, Artist in Residency at Cité International des Arts, Paris

2014 Turkish Cultural Foundation Stipend, for my project in Nights of Museums and Galleries Plovdiv

2013 Bufferzone workshop in Istanbul and Nicosia, by Apartment Project, funded by Anna Lindh Foundation

2013 Penelopolis project workshop in Podgorica, Montenegro, funded by Anna Lindh Foundation

2010 Bolu International Artist in Residence Program by Among Other Things, Turkey

2009 Res Artis Award in Skopje Biennial 2009, Artist in Residence program in New York by freeDimensional

2009 Artist in Residency in Wasan Island, Canada, by freeDimensional

2008 KUNO grant, workshop at Valand School of Art, Gothenburg

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