Ahmet Öğüt

︎ biography

︎ texts and interviews

︎ exhibition views

︎ editions

︎ contact






























© All images on this site and their copyrights owned by Ahmet Öğüt unless otherwise stated.
Images are not to be reprinted or reused without the expressed permission of Ahmet Ögüt.





Education

1999 - 2003   BA, Hacettepe University, Fine Art Faculty, Painting Department, Ankara, TR
2003 - 2006   MA, Yildiz Teknik University, Art and Design Faculty, Istanbul, TR
2007 - 2008   Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten / Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Amsterdam, NL

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 Labour after Pay, Love before Work, State of Concept, Athens, GR
2022 Jump up!, MoCA Skopje – Museum of Contemporary Art, MK
2021  It can and has been, Dirimart, Istanbul, TR
2020 History Otherwise, Wei-Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur, MY
2019 Happy Together: Collaborators Collaborating, La Galerie de l'Universite du Quebec en Outaouais (GUQO), Quebec, CA
2019 The Missing T, Merdiven Art Space, Istanbul, TR
2018 Bakunin's Barricade, Kunstverein Dresden, DE
2017 Hotel Resistance, KOW, Berlin, DE
2017 Ahmet Öğüt, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK
2017 Goshka Macuga & Ahmet Öğüt, Kunstinstituut Melly (formely known as The Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art) Rotterdam, NL
2016 Round-the-clock, ALT Bomonti, Istanbul, TR
2016 Studio Öğüt, Galerie Wedding, Berlin, DE
2015 Forward! Vooruit!, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2015 Happy Together: Collaborators Collaborating, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK
2014 We Won’t Leave, Parking Gallery VANSA , Johannesburg, ZA
2014 Ljubljana Express: 10 Years of Distance, Galeri Siyah Beyaz, Ankara, TR
2014 Apparatuses of Subversion, Horst-Janssen-Museum, Oldenburg, DE
2014 Strategies for Radical Democracy, The Blackwood Gallery at University of Toronto, CA
2013 Fahrenheit 451: Reprinted, Checkpoint Helsinki, Helsinki, FI
2013 When the axis of the Hamster's wheel is lodged inside Sisyphus' boulder, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, KV
2012 This exhibition’s factual accuracy may be compromised due to its practical nature, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, DE
2012 Ahmet Öğüt, Protocinema/Itinerant, New York, US
2012 Or whistle spontaneously, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2011 Modern Essays 1: Across the Slope, SALT Beyoglu, Istanbul, TR
2011 Once upon a time a clock-watcher during overtime hours, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, IT
2011 Stones to throw, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, PT
2011 Speculative Social Fantasies, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA), Adelaide, AU
2010 Exploded City / MATRIX 231, The MATRIX Program at the UC Berkeley Art Museum, US
2010 Black Diamond - Het Oog 3, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2010 Informal Incidents, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), NL
2010 alpha 2000 - Art Prize „Europas Zukunft“, Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) Leipzig, DE
2010 Speculative Social Fantasies, Artspace Visual Arts Centre in Sydney, AU
2010 Ricochet # 4, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, DE
2010 Underestimated Zones, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, US
2009 Mind The Gap, Peep-Hole, Milan, IT
2009 Things we count, Kuenstlerhaus Bremen, DE
2008 Mutual Issues, Inventive Acts, Kunsthalle Basel, CH
2008 Across the Slope, Centre d'Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, ES
2007 Softly But Firmly, Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic, Zagreb, HR
2006 Ahmet Öğüt and Borga Kantürk, Platform Garanti CAC, Istanbul, TR
2005 Ahmet Öğüt, Mala Galerija / The Museum of Modern Art of Ljubljana, SI

Works in Collections

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
Kadist, San Francisco, US - Paris, FR
Rennie Collection, Vancouver, CA
Sammlung Goetz, Munich, DE
Frans Hals Museum, NL
FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkerque, FR
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, US
KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Hesinki, FI
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, IT
MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, US
Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul, TR
MoCA Skopje – Museum of Contemporary Art, MK
Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, DE
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, US
Collezione Taurisano, Naples, IT
Isabelle & Jean-Conrad Lemaitre Collection, Paris, FR
Eduardo & Camilla Barella Collection, São Paulo, BR
Haro & Bilge Cumbusyan Collection, Zurich, CH
The Agah Ugur Collection, Istanbul, TR
Lim Wei-Ling and Yohan Rajana Collection, Kuala Lumpur, MY
Collezione Valentini, IT
and other privite collections.


Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Sense of Safety, Yermilov Centre Kharkiv, UA
Forgive Us Our Trespasses, HKW | Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE

6th Mardin Biennial, Mardin, TR
Allegory of public happiness, Galleria Civica di Trento, IT
Double Take, A plus A Gallery, Venice, IT
Work Work Work - works on labour. Frascati, Amsterdam, NL
Acquisitions – Donations 2022 – 2023, Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje,  MK



2023

Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, BD 
Very Small Feelings, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi, IND
Rebels with a cause*. Overcoming crisis, Kunsthalle Bremen, DE
El centro ha muerto, viva el centro, Goethe-Institut Buenos Aires, AR
Extended Structures, CCS Bard Collage, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York, US
Dans l'air, les machines volantes, Hangar Y, Meudon, Paris, FR 
Picasso: Sin título, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES 
Just As We Are, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, DE
Monuments of the Disclosed, Bilsar, Istanbul, TR
Never Cross The Same River Twice, Troy House Foundation, London, UK

Primary Forms, The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, PL
Hello Lübeck , Kunsthalle St. Annen, DE

The International Coalition of Cultural Workers in Solidarity with Ukraine, Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv, UA


2022

17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
FRONT International 2022, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Ohio, US
Survival Kit 13: The Little Bird Must be Caught, The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA), Riga, LV
Beyond Homogeneity, Syker Vorwerk - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Syke, DE
Delinking and Relinking, New collection display, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
Sick Architecture, CIVA, Brussels, BE
Never Cross The Same River Twice, Kunstverein Kärnten, Carinthia, AT
51 @ 51: Collected Works, Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada
Your Body is a Battleground, works from Agah Ugur Collection, Istanbul, TR
XXVII. Rohkunstbau: Zukunft. Ins Offene, Rohkunstbau, Altdöbern, DE
What is the Proper Way to Display a Flag?, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, DE
Tagesschau, MOUNTAINS, Berlin, DE


2021

Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone,New York, US
So Wie Wir Sind 3.0, Weserburg Museum fur moderne Kunst, Bremen, DE
Never Cross the Same River Twice, Space52, Athens, GR
100 Years of Conviviality, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
Not Standing in Place, Zurcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, CH
THE CATALYST, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, DE
Never Cross the Same River Twice, HANGAR - Artistic Research Center, Lisbon, PT
The Museum’s Anatomy, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, NL

2020

In the Presence of Absence, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
steirischer herbst '20: Paranoia TV, Graz, AT
Floating Utopias, Lunds konsthall, Lund, SE
A Million Roses for Angela Davis, Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau, Dresden, DE
Time for Outrage! Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, DE
Viral Self-Portraits, Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, SI
SO WIE WIR SIND 2.0, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, DE
La rivoluzione siamo noi. Collezionismo italiano contemporaneo, XNL Piacenza Contemporanea, Piacenza, IT
GRANDI COLLEZIONI | 01 Collezione Valentini, Galleria civica d'arte contemporanea "Osvaldo Licini", Ascoli Piceno, IT
Living the City, Tempelhof Berlin, DE
Citizenship: A practice of society, The Museum of Contemporary Art: MCA Denver, Colorado, US

2019

All that We Have in Common, MOMUS, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, GR
Art Encounters Biennial 2019, Timisoara, RO
YOU ARE, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg, SE
La rue. Où le monde se cree, La Panacee, Contemporary Art Center, Montpellier, FR
Zero Gravity, Nam SeMA, Seoul Museum of Art, KR
Take My Money / Take My Body, LACE, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, California, US
Real Positive, Leben in Tieren, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne, DE
Floating Utopias, ArtScience Museum, Singapore, SG
use from below, Blitz, Valletta, MT
Grandi Collezioni: 01 Collezione Valentini, Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea Osvaldo Licini, Ascoli Piceno Marche, IT

2018

Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale 2018, Niigata Prefecture, JP
All That We Have in Common, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje
Power to the People, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, DE
Seen, Wei-Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur, MY
Move on Asia, Alternative Space Loop, Daegu Art Factory, Seoul, KR
How Will The Weather Be Tomorrow?, Between Bridges, Berlin, DE
Floating Utopias, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) Berlin, DE
In Transition,whiteBOX e.V. Munich, DE
Memory Matters, Skissernas Museum - Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art, Lund, SE
The Street. Where the World Is Made, MAXXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, IT
The Sensation of the Sea, De Mesdag Collectie, Den Haag, NL

2017

Savvy Funk, documenta 14 radio, DE
Life a User's Manual, Art Encounters Biennial, Timisoara, RO
Extra Citizen, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, BE
Talking Pictures: Camera-Phone Conversations Between Artists, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, US
Apology for Modernity, NSK State Pavilion, Venice, IT
Dejima. Concepts of In- and Exclusion, GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen, DE
The Conundrum of Imagination. On the Paradigm of Exploration and Discovery, Performeum, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna, AT
Action!, Kunsthaus Zürich, CH
Io sono qui, MACRO - The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, IT
Schreibtischuhr, the Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna, AT

2016

11th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, KR
Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, Mumbai, IN
British Art Show 8, Edinburgh, Norwich, UK
Museum On/OFF, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Reset Modernity! , ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, DE
Okayama Art Summit , Okayama, JP
We Call it Ludwig, 40th anniversary of Museum Ludwig, Cologne, DE
Precarity: Contingency in Artmaking and Academia, Gallery 400, UIC College of Architecture & the Arts, Chicago, US
De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs, 10th year anniversary show, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, NL
Hacking Habitat, Former prison at Utrecht Wolvenplein, NL
Take Position, 100th anniversary of Kestnergesellschaf, Hannover, DE
Manifesta 11, Zurich, CH

2015

13th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, FR
British Art Show 8, Leeds Art Gallery, UK
Political Populism, Kunsthalle Wien, AT
Don't Folow The Wind, Non-Visitor Center - Watari-Um - Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
The School of Kyiv – Kyiv Biennial 2015, Kiev, UA
Every Inclusion is an Exclusion of Other Possibilities, SALT BeyoÄŸlu, Istanbul, TR
Fairy Tales, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
Im Inneren Der Stadt. Öffentlicher Raum Und Frei-Raum, GAK - Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst e.V. Bremen, DE
The City Rises - Bid Project, Milan, IT
Project 35: The Last Act - Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, RU
Are you talking to me?, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum Ludwigshafen, DE
Istanbul: Passion, Joy, Fury, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, IT

2014

8th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT), Shenzhen, CN
Afterimage. Images of conflict, MART- Galleria Civica di Trento, IT
Permanent Playfulness, Galeria Mendes Wood, São Paulo, BR
The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
Journal, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
19th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, AU
You can only think about something if you think of something else, Times Museum, Guangzhou, CN
Giving Contours to Shadows, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin, DE
The Day After Debt, The Broad Art Museum, Michigan and Protocinema, New York, US
Book Works: The Artist’s Library, Whitechapel Library, London, UK
The Rebel City, ADN Platform, Barcelona, ES

2013

Performa 13, The Fifth Biennial of Visual Art Performance, New York, US
The Museum of Arte Útil , Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
Nouvelles Vagues - A History of Inspiration, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
Signs Taken in Wonder: Searching for Contemporary Istanbul, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna, AT
Future Generation Art Prize@Venice, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice, IT
Tensta Museum: Reports from new Sweden, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
Near, closer, together, Sofia Contemporary, Sofia, BG
Victory Obsessed, ZAMEK Centre for Culture, Poznan, PL
Chambres des Caneaux: The Tolerant Home, 400-year anniversary of the Canal Ring, Amsterdam, NL
Identifying Europe, Twente Biennale 2013, Rijksmuseum Twente, in Enschede, NL
Signs Taken in Wonder: Searching for Contemporary Istanbul, Kunstverein Hannover, DE       
Unknown Forces, Tophane i-Amire, Istanbul, TR      
0 Perfomance – The fragile beauty of crisis, Moscow State Exhibition Hall "New Manege", Moscow, RU   
Within the World - the World within, Landskrona Konsthall, Landskrona, SE
Berliner Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorkri Theater, Berlin, DE
Iskele 2. The Unanswered Question, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein(NBK), TANAS, Berlin, DE

2012

7th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
53rd October Salon, Belgrade, RS
Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kyiv, UA
Unrest, Apexart, New York, US
The Mediterranean Region: Bonding or Fighting?, Gagliano del Capo (Lecce), IT
Moving for Wards Counting Back Wards, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC), Mexico City, MX
TRACK, S.M.A.K., Ghent, BE
Our Work is Never Over, Matadero Madrid, ES
Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, US       
Bucharest Biennale 5, Bucharest, RO     
Beautiful game, City Art Gallery of Ljubljana, SI   
Cross-time Stories: Global Subjectivities After 1989, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery - Columbia University, New York, US
Mind the System, Find the Gap, Z33, house for contemporary art, Hasselt, BE
Chkoun Ahna: On the Track of History, Musée National de Carthage, Tunisia
iRonic. Die feinsinnige Ironie der Kunst, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, DE
Untimely Stories, Muzeum Sztuki in Lodz, PL
Hools, Zacheta - National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL
Fragments of Unspoken Thoughts, Jakopic Gallery, Ljubljana, SI

2011

12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
4th Moscow Biennial, "Rewriting Worlds", Moscow, RU
SCAPE Public Art. Christchurch Biennial, New Zealand
The Walls That Divide Us, Apexart, New York, US       
Commercial Break, Garage Projects, Venice, IT         
2011 Asian Art Biennial, Taichung, Taiwan
Run, Comrade, the old world is behind you, Kunsthall Oslo, NO
Ahmet Cevdet Bey presents Tunnel of Fear, Overgaden, Copenhagen, DK
Pimp your collection: cars you drive me art, Landesgalerie Linz, AT
iRonic. Die feinsinnige Ironie der Kunst, Kunstpalais Erlangen, DE         
De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, NL
Yes, we don’t, Institut d'art contemporain - Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, FR
Fetisch Auto. Ich fahre, also bin ich, Museum Tinguely, Basel, CH
ECHT? based on a true story, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, DE
Survival Kit 3, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art – LCCA, Riga, LV
Tolerabilis, Toskanische Saulenhalle / Zeughaus, Augsburg, DE

2010

Trickster Makes This World, Nam June Paik Art Center, KR
To the Arts, Citizens!, Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, PT
MANIF D'ART 5, Manifestation internationale d’art de Québec, CA
When Ideas Become Crime, Depo, Istanbul, TR
Blind Dates, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, US
Starter, ARTER- Space for Art, Istanbul, TR
It’s a Set-up, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FI
Nicht einfach, die Welt in 90 Tagen zu retten, Kunstforeningen 44 Moen, DK
DWELLING-IN-TRAVEL, Art Today Association - Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv, BG
FAQ Serbia, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, US
Destroying Public Harmony, The National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, RO
(Istanbul) Transit, Passage de Retz, Paris, FR
Tactics of Invisibility, Tanas, Berlin, DE
Tactics of Invisibility, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, AT
Critical Complicity, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, AT
Arrangements, Sextant et plus, LA FRICHE LA BELLE DE MAI, Marseille, FR

2009

53rd Venice Biennial, The Pavilion of Turkey, Venice, IT
Performa 09, the third biennial of visual art performance, New York, US
Warsaw in Construction, Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, PL
Happy Together - Critical Reflection on Collective Identities, Tallinn Art Hall, EE
28th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, SI
Take the Money and Run, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, New Museum, New York, US
The Malady of Writing, Museu d´Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, ES
Not easy to save the world in 90 days, Tanas, Berlin, DE
Socially Disorganised Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, AU
In The Between, First Floor, Passage Petit Champs, Istanbul, TR
Today in History, Centre for Visual Introspection, Bucharest, RO
Auto, Dream and Matter, LABoral, Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijon, ES
Auto, Dream and Matter, Dos de Mayo Art Centre, Madrid, ES

2008          

5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE
Auto-Stop, Malmo Konsthall, SE
Alphabetical Order, Index, Stockholm, SE
Candid Stories, Insa Art Space, Seoul, KR
The Salon of the Revolution, 29th Youth Salon, HDLU, Zagreb, HR
Be[com]ing Dutch, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
Scenes du Sud-Volet 2, Carre d'Art Museum, Nimes, FR
Lucky Number Seven: SITE Santa Fe Biennial 2008, New Mexico, US
Car Culture, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona, US
10th Anniversary Exhibition: Fuild Street, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FI
3rd Guangzhou Triennial; Middle East Channel, Guangzhou, China
The Use of Every Sunbeam, Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, DE
SPAPORT, Banja Luka, BA
Home Works IV, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, LB

2007          

Stalking with Stories, Apexart, New York, US
The Emergency Biennial, wourld tour / stop 9 / 10th Istanbul Biennial, TR
Pensa, Piensa, Think, Centre d'Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, ES
Open Ateliers, The Rijksaklademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL
Every Wind That Blows, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, NL
Heterotopias, First Contemporary Art Biennale of Thessaloniki, GR
Be a realist, demand the impossible!, Karsi Sanat, istanbul, TR
A Forest and A Tree, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, AT
Petroliana, Moscow Museum of Modern Art at Petrovka, RU

2006           

Home and Away, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, SI
EurHope 1153, Contemporary Art from the Bosphorus, VILLA MANIN Centre for Contemporary Art, Passariano, Codroipo (UDINE), IT
Art Without Borders, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, AM
LISTE 06, Performance Project, Basel, CH
Check-in Europe / P2P, European Patent Office, Munich, DE
Ethnic Maketting, Azad Gallery, Tahran, IR
Normalization, Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmo, SE
SHIFTSCALE; Sculpture at the Extended Field, KUMU Tallinn Museum of Modern Art, EE

2005          

9th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR
Free Kick, Antrepo No: 5, Istanbul, TR
Posit 9B, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
SCHADENFREUDE, The Artists Cinema, Frieze Art Fair, London, UK
Situated Self,  Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, YU / Tennis Palace Art  Museum, Helsinki, FI
Others' Chance, K2 Art Center, Izmir, TR

2004                       

Placebo effect, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin, DE
5th Cetinje Biennial, National Museum Montenegro, YU
Yugoslav Biennial of Young Artists, Vrsac & Belgrade, YU
I need a radical change! Gallery Nova, Zagreb, HR

2003           

Force of the Language Keci Burcu, Diyarbakir, TR
I am too sad to kill you! Proje4L Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, TR

2002           

The Pavement; Under the Beach Proje4L Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, TR
I am bad and I am proud! Refika, Istanbul, TR

Teaching

2024- 2020; Advisor at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL
2023 - Visiting Faculty, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Somerset County, Maine, USA
2021- 2022 Guest Professor at Universitat der Kunste Berlin, Institute forArt in Context, DE
2019- 2017 External Examiner at Radical Cut-Up, Sandberg Instituut, Temporary Master's programme, Amsterdam, NL
2019 Guest Tutor at The Werkplaats Typografie master program, ArtEZ, University of the Arts, Arnhem, NL
2018 - 2017 Guest Mentor at BPA // Berlin program for artists, Berlin, DE
2017 - 2015 Mentor at Kuvataideakatemia / Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, FI
2016 Visiting Tutor, Master in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University, UK
2015 Workshop at TransArts - Transdisziplinäre Kunst Institut für Bildende und Mediale Kunst Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, AT
2014 Visiting Professor at Kuvataideakatemia / Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, FI
2013 -2011 Guest Teacher at KUVA, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, department of Scultpure, Helsinki, FI
2012 DAI (Dutch Art Institute) Project Leader together with Steven ten Thije, Arnhem, NL
2010 - 2008 Guest Lecturer, Bouwkunde Academie / Architecture Academy, NL
2003 - 2006 Research Assistant at Yildiz Teknik University, Art and Design Faculty, TR

Awards and Grants

2026-2023 The Mondriaan Fund Stipendium for Established Artists (2023-2026), NL
2020 Grant Recipient, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, New York, US
2019  The Mondriaan Fund Stipendium for Established Artists (2019-2021), NL
2019 Grant Recipient, Foundation for Arts Initiatives, New York, US
2013 The Visible Award (The Silent University), Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto & Fondazione Zegna, IT
2012 The Special Prize, Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, UA
2011 De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, NL
2010 Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK) Leipzig, DE

Selected Presentations and Lectures

2023, Lecture at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Somerset County, Maine, USA
2023, HYPE OR STRIKE?, Kunsthaus Zurich, CH
2022, How can an artwork (or its author) be one and many at the same time? e-flux Screening Room, New York, US
2022, Towards a Transversal Pedagogy: The Silent University, Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, Venice, IT
2022, Shifts, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2022, Life Lessons #11: School as Intervention, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, HK
2021 Artist Talk, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio, US
2021 “What Does a Stone Say” Lecture Performance, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
2021 Conversations | Public Art: Imagining Just Worlds, Art Basel, CH
2020 Artists Working with Museums Today, Art Basel Miami Beach, US
2019 Keynote Speech, Cultural Literacy in Europe, conference at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, PT
2019 miartalks 2019: The Common Good, Ahmet Öğüt, Gregory Castera, Beatrice Catanzaro, and Matteo Lucchetti, Milan, IT
2019 Keynote Speech, Radical Practices: Art School & Pedagogy, The Ruskin School of Art, The University of Oxford,UK
2018 Society, Politics and the Art System, Lauren Bon, Laura Raicovich, Ahmet Öğüt and Stephanie Bailey, Art Basel Conversations, CH
2018 short-term, long-term, life-time, Hochschule fur Bildende Künste Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2018 Conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, Ana Paula Cohen and Heloisa Espada, CONDO, Galeria Jaqueline Martin, BR
2018 Keynote Speech, Bimhuis, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Radical Cut-Up Lecture, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL
2015 What Is to Be Undone? Modernism in the 21st Century, Gallery Talk, Harvard Art Museums, US
2015 Keynote Speech, Witte de With and de Appel Arts Centre Benefit Event, Amsterdam, NL
2015 Assuming Boycott: Resistance, Agency, and Cultural Production, COLLOQUIUM, The New School, US
2014 Creative Time Summit, In a collaboration between Creative Time and Public Art Agency Sweden, Stockholm, SE
2014 Chus Martinez in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, Art Basel Salon program, Basel, CH
2014 Creative Time Summit discussion, Speigelsaal, Berlin, DE
2014 Why Biennial? Why Associate?, Conference and First General Assembly of the International Biennial Association (IBA), Berlin, DE
2014 Silent University Events, The Showroom, London and Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, UK
2014 Friday Lecture on Disruptive convictions, Konstfack, Stockholm, SE
2014 UNDER PRESSURE: Response and Responsibility of a Biennale, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
2014 Allegories of Good and Bad Government II: Beyond Allegories, together with We Are Here, Council chamber (raadzaal) Amsterdam, NL
2014 Proseminar, Masters of Visual Studies (MVS), University of Toronto, CA
2013 Art, School, Society, Open School East, London, UK
2013 Keynote speaker at KUNO 20th anniversary Teachers seminar, Konstfack, Stockholm, SE
2013 Define and Use: Silent University Student ID Card, FORMER WEST, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE
2013 Conversation; Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ahmet Ögüt at Intern VIP Lounge, Art Dubai, UAE
2013 WANDER WONDERS#1: a symposium how to re-interpret the classical residency model, Wander, The Hague, NL
2012 Alternative to What?, organized by The Silent University, Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern, UK
2012 Public Dialog: Krzysztof Wodiczko and Ahmet Öğüt: Provocative Design and Antagonistic Public Space, Istanbul Design Biennial,TR
2012 Staging Knowledge, organized by CICA in collaboration with SALT, Istanbul, TR
2012 Sam Thorne in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2012 Huib Haye van der Werf  in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, NICC, Antwerp, BE
2011 Bruce Ferguson in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, SALT, Istanbul, TR
2011 Artist talk, Apexart, New York, US
2010 Roderich Fabian in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, DE
2009 Tim Griffin in conversation with Ahmet Öğüt and Liam Gillick, Making Worlds Conversation, 53rd Venice Biennial, IT
2009 Loss & Melancholic Possiblilities, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, US
2009 Everyday to Hiatus and Back, Hosted by the Contemporary Art Society, Cezayir, Istanbul, TR
2008 Presentation, Future Arts Research @ ASU, Arizona, US
2007 Eindhoven Caucus, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2007 Gatherings, (with Esra Sarigedik) Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2006 Borga Kanturk and Ahmet Öğüt, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Centre, Istanbul, TR

Selected film/video screenings

2022, How can an artwork (or its author) be one and many at the same time? e-flux Screening Room, New York, US
2021 Videoart at Midnight #116, Ahmet Öğüt, Kino Babylon, Berlin, DE
2020 IDFA x Stedelijk: Video Club with Ahmet Öğüt, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
2019 Of Our Own Making, Sculpture Center, New York, US
2019 IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Cinephemere, FIAC, Paris, FR
2014 Journal: Artists' Film Club, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
2013 Artists' Film Club: Collective Action, ICA, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
2013 Market Screening guest: SALT, 59th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, DE
2013 Screening: Ahmet Ögüt and Pilvi Takala, LA><ART, Los Angeles, US
2011 POP-UP. Veure és afegir, Fundació "la Caixa", Barcelona, ES
2010 2010 War, Literature & the Arts Conference, the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado, US
2009 The first Brick + Mortar International Video Art Festival, Massachusetts, US
2009 Istanbul International Film Festival, Ankara, TR
2009 Ankara International Film Festival, Ankara, TR
2008 She does not think so but she is dressed for the h-bomb, Tate Modern, London, UK
2007 The Shadow Cabinet, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
2006 SCHADENFREUDE, The Artists Cinema, LUX Touring Project, FACT, Liverpool, UK, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, DE, Phoenix Arts, Leicester, Espacio Fundacion Telefonica, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2005  This May Be What Parallel Play Looks Like, Sculpture Center, New York, US

Selected Publications

2022 Museums from the Inside. 60 years of CIMAM, Hatje Cantz, DE
2022 The Art of Critique, Co-published by Lens Press and Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, NL
2021 The Art of Protest: Political Art and Activism, ed. F. Gavin, A.Bieber, gestalten, DE
2020 Don't Follow The Wind, ed. Hirsch, Nikolaus, Waite, Jason, Sternberg Press, DE
2019 It Speaks to Me; Art That Inspires Artists, ed. Jori Finkel, Prestel Verlag, US
2019 Seven Years: The Rematerialisation of Art From 2011-2017, by Maria Lind, Sternberg Press, DE
2017 School: A Recent History of Self-Organized Art Education, ed. S. Thorne, Sternberg Press, DE
2017 The Work, ed. F. Sigler, published by Whitechapel Gallery, London, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachussets
2016 Silent University: Towards a Transversal Pedagogy, Sternberg Press, DE
2014 Tips and Tricks, ed. C. Erdem, published by Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Mousse Publishing, Umur Printing, DE, TR
2013 The Market, ed. N. Degen, published by Whitechapel Gallery, London, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachussets
2013 Silent University Tensta Reader No.1, published by Tensta Konsthall, SE
2013 Art Cities of the Future: 21st Century Avant-Gardes, Phaidon Press LTD, UKh
2013 The Market (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art), Edr. N. Degen, The MIT Press, UK
2012 Silent University Reader No.1, published by Tate, UK
2012 Stones to Throw, published by Künsterhaus Stuttgart and Lost Books, DE
2011 Once upon a time a clock-watcher during overtime hours, published by Fondazione Giuliani and NERO, Rome, IT
2010 Ahmet Öğüt; Underestimated Zones, Edr. M. Knode, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, US
2010 Ricochet # 4 - Ahmet Öğüt, Edr. V. Hein, published by Museum Villa Stuck and Kerber, Munich, DE
2010 Urban Interventions, Edr: R. Klanten, M. Hübner, published by Gestalten, Berlin
2009 Lapses/*1, Editor: Basak Senova, published by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts
2008 Ahmet Öğüt: Informal Incidents, Editor: Halil Altindere, art-ist contemporary Art Series-9, Artist Book - 1
2008 On The Road to Other Lands, published by A Prior and 5th Berlin Biennial
2007 Today in History, published by Book Works, UK and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, TR
2007 Softly but Firmly, Catalogue published by Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic, Zagreb, HR

Selected Reviews, writings and interviews

2024 ‘Sanat, Is Birligi ve Sosyal Etki’, interview, Soydemir, B., Mercado Magazine, Feb Issue 9
2024 ‘The more we confuse the algorithm, the better,’ Art Unlimited Magazine, A. Ögüt, Jan-Feb Issue
2023 ‘Ahmet Öğüt and iLiana Fokianaki’ interview, Canvas Magazine, Sep Issue 109
2023 ‘Can Art Save Your Life?’ Los Angeles Review of Books, A. Levett, April
2023  ‘Ahmet Öğüt’ TANK Magazine, Spring Issue
2022, ‘Ahmet Öğüt: The Artist Reimagining What An Art Institution Is and Can Be’, interview, Sleek Magazine (Online)
2021 'Ahmet Öğüt', R. Kelleci, Sanat Dünyamiz, Issue 184, Sep.
2021 'Brief aan Jonge Kunstenaars - Letter to Young Artists', A. Ögüt, Mister Motley Magazine, Mar.
2020 'Poetry Amid Crisis', Interview by Lesley Ann Gray, Art Asia Pacific Magazine, Jul
2019 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’, Interview by H. Burke, King Kong Magazine, Issue 8, Sep.
2019 ‘From Self-Design to Algorithmic-Design', A. Ögüt, e-flux journal No.98
2019  'Ahmet Öğüt‘, Guest Editor Hussein Chalayan, writer E. McDermott, Wallpaper, Oct.
2018  'Ahmet Öğüt‘, A. Bogart, Artforum, March Issue.
2016 ‘After The Third End’, A. Ögüt, e-flux Architecture, Superhumanity: special issue of e-flux journal
2016 ‘Obscure Sorrows: Thoughts around the 9th Berlin Biennale ’, A. Ögüt, e-flux journal No.75
2015 ‘CCC: Currency of Collective Consciousness’, A. Ögüt, e-flux journal No.62
2015 ‘All Together', interview by S. Thorne, Frieze Magazine, Issue 173, Sep.
2015 ‘Things Based on Real-Life Events', A. Ögüt, e-flux journal Supercommunity: special issue of e-flux journal at the 56th Venice Biennale.
2014 ‘Editor’s Letter’, Marisa Mazria Katz in conversation with A. Ögüt, Creative Time Report, Apr.
2014 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’, D. Demir, Broadsheet Magazine, Mar.
2014 'A question of ethics—The Biennale of Sydney' A, Ögüt & Z. Begg, Broadsheet Magazine, Jun.
2013 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’, Wallpaper* Nov. Issue
2013 ‘Ahmet Öğüt‘, D. Bayar, Artforum, April Issue.
2013 ‘The Pitfalls of Institutional Pedagogy.’ A. Öğüt, World Policy Blog, Jun.
2013 ‘Artifact (hereafter referred to as the work of art)’ A. Ögüt, SFMOMA Blog, Jan.
2012 ‘New Schools: The Silent University’ A. Öğüt, Frieze Magazine, Issue 149, Sep.
2012 ‘Media Study: This area is under 23 Hour ...’ A. Öğüt, Artforum, Anniversary Issue, Sep.
2012 ‘The Silent University: Time to get involved’ A. Öğüt, Independent Editor’s choice Blogs, 21 Nov.
2012 ‘The Rise of Turkey: a Survey’ G.Politi andH. Kontava, Flash Art, Oct.
2012 ‘23 Skidoo’ A. Ögüt, A Prior Magazine #23, BE
2012 ‘The curious case of Silence’ A. Öğüt, Tate blog, Aug.
2012 ‘When Adhocracy Meets Education’ A. Öğüt, Tate blog, Oct.
2012 ‘Interview on Let it be known to all persons here gathered’ L. Davis, Liverpool Daily Post, Aug. 2
2012 ‘on Bas Jan Ader’ A. Öğüt, Flash Art, July-Aug-Sep.
2012‘Ahmet Ögüt’ R. Clemie, Frieze Magazine (online), July
2012 ‘on Tunc Ali Cam’. Öğüt, Art Asia Pacific Magazine, May-Jun.
2011 ‘Strategic Diagram for Non-hierarchical Participatory Radical Democracy’ A. Öğüt, Gagarin Magazine, Volume 12#2, Nov.
2011 ‘Top 100 Artists’ Flash Art, Nov/Dec.
2011 ‘Öğüt & Erek’ Mark Rappolt, Art Review, Bd. 206, Jan-Feb.
2011 ‘Beste kunstenaars van 2011’ Kunstbeeld, NR 12/1.
2011 'Interview; Between the Scaffold and the Ruin', B. Golonu, Fillip Magazine, isssue No 14, Summer
2011 ‘Getting Around’ HG Masters, Art Asia Pacific Magazine, Issue 72, Mar/Apr 2011
2011 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’ C. Gockel, Kunstforum, Bd. 206, Jan-Feb.
2011 ‘Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs’ M. de Vries, De Volkskrant, 18 Feb.
2010 ‘Plus one for 2010’ Art Asia Pacific Magazine, Almanac 2010, Jan.
2010 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’ M. Tagliafierro, Flash Art Italy, March
2010 'Terror in Poetischen Bildern', S.Altmann, ART Das Kunstmagazin, Sep.
2010 'Cities in Miniature', P. Ellis, Rhizome, Feb.
2010 ‘Ahmet Öğüt’ B. Casavecchia, Frieze Magazine (online), Jan.
2010 ‘Cities and memory’ San Francisco Bay Guardian, M. Sussman, Volume 44/19
2010 ‘Rewind and Replay’ G. Fee, ArtSlant San Francisco, Jan.
2009 ‘Report From Venice: The Wrap’ B. Golonu, Art in America online, June
2009 No Peace in the Huts, Georg-Christof Bertsch, Style Park.com, Aug.
2009 Turkije | Ahmet Öğüt, R. Perrée, Kunstbeeld, Jun.
2009 Interruzione delle trasmissioni al Padiglione Turco, E.d. Prete, ArteeCritica 59
2009 ‘Turchia, Ahmet Öğüt’ A. Corrado, L’UOMO Vogue, May-June
2009 ‘Turkije Paviljoen’ P.Tan, Metropolis M, June/July
2009 Kuntsmarkt-Kompass: Meister von Morgen’, K. Michel, Capital, May-June
2009 A Small Point of Visibility, Remco de Blaaij, thekitchen.vanabbe.nl, January
2008 Ahmet Ögüt and Aleana Egan, E. V. Bovino, Artforum.com / critics picks, June
2008 Introducing Ahmet Öğüt, Steven Henry Madoff, Modern Painters, October
2008 Interview; Mind the gap, V. de Bellis, Mousse Magazine, Sep.
2008 Interview; Ahmet Öğüt, P. Laster, Artkrush, Aug.
2008 Automobile Passion, A. Tuzunoglu, art-ist magazine, Jan.
2008 Informal Incidents, B. Baydar, Trendsetter, May
2008 Ein explosiver Kunstler, A. Marzahn,  Baz Kultur Magazine-Basel, 19 April
2007 Speculative Social Fantasies, P. Tan, Art Papers, July/Aug.
2007 Crno-bijeli Istanbul, L. Topic, Vjesnik-Zagreb, 14 March
2007 Wie manipuleert nu eigenlijk wie, Sandra Jongenelen, Het Financieele Dagblad, (10 November)
2006 Kanturk and Öğüt at Platform Garanti, D. Belasco, Art in America, May
2006 Borga Kanturk and Ahmet Öğüt, E. Kosova, Bidoun, Spring
2006 The Politics of Small Gestures: Chances and Challenges for Contemporary Art, Mika Hannula, art-ist produksiyon
2006 Ahmet Öğüt, C. Hong-Jun, Monthy Photo, Aug.
2006 Leading Lights of The New Generation, G. Kohne, Mini International #19
2005 Istanbul Fragmente, P. Lang, Spike Art Quarterly, Winter
2005 Ahmet Öğüt, N. Paynter, Metropolis M, No.3 June/July

Residencies

2023 Kulturakademie Tarabya Cultural Academy, Istanbul, TR
2018 AKI AORA, Tulum, Quintana Roo, MX (Feb)                                                                          
2017 Para Site, Hong Kong, HK (Jan-Feb)                                                                           
2016 Luma Foundation, The Luma Arles residency, FR (fall 2016)                                                                        
2013 IASPIS, Stockholm, SE (May)                                                                            
2012 Delfina Foundation and Tate Modern, London, UK                                                                           
2011 IASPIS, Stockholm, SE (January - March)                                                                           
2010 De Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL (January - March)                                                                            
2009 Cité internationale des arts Paris, FR (July -August)                                     
2008 Future Arts Research at Arizona State University, US  (July)                                                                             
2007-2008  Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten / Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Amsterdam, NL
2005  IAAB, Basel, CH (June-September)


Fellowships

2008 ABN AMRO


biography                                                         

Ahmet Öğüt born in Diyarbakır, is a sociocultural initiator, artist, and lecturer. Working across a variety of media, including photography, video, and installation, Öğüt often uses humor and small gestures to offer his commentary on rather serious or pressing social and political issues. Öğüt is regularly collaborating with people from outside of the art world to create shifts in the perception of common. He has exhibited widely, more recently with solo presentations at Kunstverein Dresden, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Chisenhale Gallery, and Van Abbemuseum. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including 17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, (2022); FRONT International 2022, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Ohio (2022); Asia Society Triennial: We Do Not Dream Alone (2021); In the Presence of Absence, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2020); Zero Gravity at Nam SeMA, Seoul Museum of Art (2019); Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale (2018); the British Art Show 8 (2015-2017); 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016); the 13th Biennale de Lyon (2015); 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); Performa 13, the Fifth Biennial of Visual Art Performance, New York (2013); the 7th Liverpool Biennial (2012); the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011); the New Museum Triennial, New York (2009); and the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008). Öğüt has been a guest professor, mentor, tutor, advisor, research teacher at several schools. Among the schools are Institut für Kunst im Kontext at Universität der Künste Berlin; Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht; Sandberg Institute Amsterdam; Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki; TransArts - Transdisziplinäre Kunst, Institut für Bildende und Mediale Kunst Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien; and DAI (Dutch Art Institute) Arnhem. Öğüt was awarded the Visible Award for the Silent University (2013); the special prize of the Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Ukraine (2012); the De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011, Netherlands; and the Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Contemporary Art, Germany (2010). He co-represented Turkey at the 53rdVenice Biennale (2009).












contact





ao.projectcoordinator@gmail.com

It can and has been

2021
mixed media installation
intercity bus with moving sits inside, and moving pavement with water under outside
gif: Nazli Erdemirel
An intercity bus, having once served as a vehicle for 24-hour long journeys across Turkey, welcomes the visitors at the main entrance with an unexpected setting inside which offers a journey with no distance covered. The viewers are directed to leave the gallery space and re-enter it fromback door to see the rest of the installation. 


.    

Ground Control 

2007-2008
400 sqm of asphalt
Installation view at Kunst Werke
5th Berlin Biennial
photo by Uwe Walter


Ahmet Öğüts artistic practice is many-faceted and reflected in the wide range of media he uses, extending from the artist book and drawing to video and photography, installation and performance. According to Öğüt, the artistic idea determines the choice of medium. His own flexible use of media thus corresponds to the diversity of issues he wishes to address. Many of his projects take a humorous look at everyday phenomena and actions, which the artist ties to a larger political context by thematizing history and its impact on social conditions.

At KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Öğüt presents Ground Control, a major installation first developed in Istanbul in 2007. Combining elements of sculpture and installation, it reduces KW s vast main hall on the ground floor to two dimensions by covering the 400-square-meter floor in thick, outdoor asphalt. Destabilizing expectations by bringing the materials of the street indoors, Ground Control puts exhibition visitors on unfamiliar terrain. And while formally the work might at first seem reminiscent of Minimal or Conceptual Art, for Öğüt his gesture looks less toward these artistic movements than toward the possibility of his own brand of political critique. In Turkey, asphalt laying was a means of homogenizing the country in its rapid quest to modernize, metaphorically covering over some of its diverse history in the process. Today, road building in rural areas still serves not only to open up the remoter parts of the country, but also to bring them under government control, purportedly to improve security. Asphalt thus becomes a political tool for the demonstration of government power. Öğüt transfers this inscription of power in public space onto the exhibition hall, highlighting the political dimension of a seemingly innocuous substance like asphalt and raising awareness of how power is displayed and maintained.

Silke Baumann






This area is under 23 hour video and audio surveillance

2009
printed on an aluminum plate
20,5x29cm
collection of Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, US
Photo: Mike Venso
The work is a set of large photos showing Ögüt placing official-looking signs in several outdoor locations around St. Louis. The signs say "Warning this area is under 23 hour video and audio surveillance." In the photos, he stops with his tools at various places, mostly public, and hangs the signs without being bothered. It may reference the way that we accept the constant surveillance under which a city dweller lives, or else point out the privacy or mischief that can be achieved outside of the modern grid, in that one precious hour, whenever that might be. (Miriam Moynihan)