Curatorial Essay/Statement: Audiovisual Elements in Nezaket Ekici’s Dimensions of Discovery

As Assistant Curator and Exhibition Designer for Nezaket Ekici’s third solo exhibition Dimensions of Discovery at Pi Artworks Istanbul (6 April - 29 June 2024), I contributed to the conceptual framing and spatial planning of a show bridging live performance, sculpture and video installation. My primary role involved designing the gallery layout and installation strategies for Ekici’s video and object based works, ensuring the durational qualities of her performances translated effectively into the static exhibition space.

Ekici’s practice draws on the Gesamtkunstwerk tradition, uniting body, action, material, space and audience. In Dimensions of Discovery, this was realised through three consecutive live performances (Essence, Cohesion Patterns Egg and Panta Rhei), each producing unique sculptures as intentional outcomes rather than relics, alongside the video installation of her seminal Pars Pro Toto (2019). My curatorial strategy created a spatial dialogue between live events, sculptural remains and archival video, guiding viewers through a chronological and conceptual progression that amplified themes of time, transience, creation and socio-cultural ritual.

A key challenge was the organisation of the audience during the performances, allowing viewers to observe without disrupting the artist’s movement, while at times deliberately sharing the same space. Care was taken to visually document the performances. After the performances, remaining materials were exhibited together with the performance videos, keeping the space activated. This arrangement positioned video as an archive, sculpture as material trace and space as a site of memory, engaging with debates on identity, migration and cultural transmission.

Ekici’s Turkish/German background enriched the framing, with themes of dignity, communal binding and flux resonating with diaspora and transgenerational memory. The spatial design encouraged prolonged engagement, allowing performance duration to linger post event. Working under Gallery Director Eda Derala and collaborating with photographers Andreas Dammertz and Branka Pavlovic, I gained insight into translating performance intensity into accessible, intellectually rigorous formats.

Dimensions of Discovery showed how thoughtful curation of audiovisual components can transform documentation into a living archive and future of performance heritage.

Curatorial Essay/Statement: Spatial Installation in Osman Dinc’s Göz Kuşak’ı Altında

As a key member of the production team for Osman Dinc’s solo exhibition Göz Kuşak’ı Altında (under the Eye’s Hold) at Pi Artworks Istanbul (3 February - 23 March 2024), I was responsible for the technical execution and precise spatial placement of the artist’s large scale sculptures and installations. Drawing on my background in interior architecture, I focused on optimizing viewer flow and spatial dialogue, ensuring that the works minimalist forms primarily in steel exhibited  dynamically with the gallery environment. 

Osman Dinc’s practice operates at the intersection of Minimalism and Arte Povera, abstracting universal concerns of time, space, humanity and cosmic thought through intuitive material interventions. The exhibition’s title, derived from a series of ink drop photographs resembling both the human pupil and cosmic black holes, framed a conceptual exploration of light absorption, knowledge transformation and the continuity of information. Dinc posits that light entering the eye or a black hole undergoes an unknowable metamorphosis paralleling how information, once absorbed, generates new realities or even contributes to galactic formation in other dimensions. His works, characterised by deliberate restraint and minimal alteration of raw materials and material integrity while functioning as “archaeological” recoveries of forgotten collective emotions and knowledge.

My contribution centred on spatial strategies that amplified these ideas. By carefully positioning sculptures such as Sıra Selviler and Yarım Aylar against coloured walls and in relation to the ink photographs, the layout created visual and conceptual pathways: viewers moved from micro (pupil/ink drop) to macro (black hole/cosmos), experiencing balance, transience and existential inquiry through shifting perspectives. This practise mirrored Dinc’s emphasis on the transformation of information-raw material into sculpture, light into knowledge.

The exhibition highlighted Dinc’s view of art as an investigation into immutable cosmic knowledge (exemplified by hydrogen’s unchanging behaviour) versus human forgetfulness. Sculptures, often using iron a material with a 5,000 year history of both life giving and destructive roles served as metaphors for enduring yet transformed information. Spatial planning brought this creating moments of pause and reflection, allowing the apparent simplicity of the works to act as mirrors for contemporary associations and philosophical questions.

Curatorial Note:

Garden of the Mind explored Özer Toraman's distinctive painterly practice, which delves into memory, nostalgia, and the subjective reconstruction of personal landscapes. My contribution focused on the thematic organization of the artworks, clustering paintings to create narrative arcs within the exhibition space. I played an integral part in drafting initial wall texts and exhibition flow, ensuring that the emotional and conceptual layers of Toraman’s work were accessible to the viewer. This project highlighted my ability to articulate complex visual concepts into clear and engaging curatorial narratives.

Curatorial Note:

This solo exhibition showcased Mehmet Ali Uysal’s mixed media sculptures, which explore the fragility and imperfection of life through diverse and often contradictory materials. Uysal’s practice is renowned for its ability to challenge space and reveal hidden imperfections. I actively supported to contributing to the drafting of the press release and social media posts. Furthermore, Uysal's background as an architect allowed me to establish my own curatorial and research goals.

DTU Comic Con 2025 is one of the largest creative community events on campus, bringing together students, artists, and pop culture enthusiasts. The event features over 35 booth holders, keynote talks, panel discussion, workshops, and performances. This year’s guest list includes names such as Max Danger, Peter Madsen, Gunnar Wille and Christian Faber. We partnered with +20 Cosplayers and PF Orchestra for a live performance and hosted two exclusive sketching/crafting workshops. The event is actively promoted both on campus and online, attracted over 250 sign-ups. 

DTU Student Theatre Productions 2025 are a series of interdisciplinary performances organized under the Students Culture Hub (ACT) at the Technical University of Denmark. Throughout the year, two major theatre events were held, bringing together international students from various creative backgrounds and attracting over 300 participants. As the stage and costume designer, I played an active role in shaping the visual and spatial identity of the performances, while also serving as the main communication and logistics coordinator, managing production processes, backstage organization, and artist coordination. 

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