Aykan Safoğlu

* 1984 in Istanbul (TR), lives and works in Vienna (AT) & Berlin (DE).

Education

2019 – ongoing

PhD in Practice, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT

2011-2013

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Photography, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts

at Bard College, NY, US

2008-2010

M.A. in “Art in Context”, UdK Berlin, DE

2003-2007

B.A. in “Film and TV”, Istanbul Bilgi University, TR

Stipends, Fellowships and Residencies

2020

The Practitioners Program, online residency of L’Internationale Online and PARSE

2019

Work-stipend of Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn, DE

Tarabya Cultural Academy, Istanbul, TR

2018

Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE

Research-stipend of the Senate of Berlin (CityTax)

2016

Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, LB

Research-stipend of the Senate of Berlin (CityTax)

2014-2015

SAHA studio at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, NL

2013

SAHA, Supporting Contemporary Art from Turkey, Istanbul, TR

2011-2013

Vehbi Koç Foundation, Stipend during the studies at Bard College, Istanbul,TR

Solo exhibitions

2020

Revolving Dreams, Kıraathane Istanbul Literature House, TR

weekend, The Pill, Istanbul,TR

2019

ziyaret/visit, Kevin Space, Vienna, AT

2016

Off-White Tulips, Ystads Konstmuseum, Ystad, SE

2013

Off-White Tulips, Uqbar, Berlin, DE

Upcoming group exhibitions

2021

39th EVA International, second phase, Limerick, IE

Group exhibitions (selection)

2020

11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE

Porous City, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, DE

2019

States of Sensing, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE

Picture This. Selected pasts, subverted facts, Budapest Gallery, HU

21st Contemporary Art Biennial – Secs Videobrasil, São Paulo, BR

50 Years New Society, nGbK, Berlin, DE

2018

Blooming Signals, Kunstraum Munich, DE

Postcards from a Human Landscape, Akademie Schloss Solitude, DE

2017

3rd Berliner Herbstsalon, Crown Prince’s Palace, Berlin, DE

Class Languages, District Berlin, DE

2016

Father Figures are Hard to Find, nGbK, Berlin, DE

THE BILL: For Collective Unconscious, Artspace, NZ

2015

Home Works 7, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, LB

Sights and Sounds: Turkey, Jewish Museum New York, NY, US

2014

what is queer today is not queer tomorrow, nGbK, Berlin, DE

2013

Berliner Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin, DE

2012

3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, RU

2011

Station, Konsthall C, Stockholm, SE

Screenings (selection)

2020

Message to Man International Film Festival, Saint Petersburg, RU

How Do We See (Each Other)?, bi’bak at Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE

Rushes of Time, State of Sensind, Asian Film Archive, Singapore, SG

2019

Belonging and Comradeship, curated by Gizem Bayıksel, Pera Museum, Istanbul,TR

65th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, DE

2018

Queer Migrations & Diasporic Intimacies, New York University, NYC, US

Moving Stills – Affective Archives, mumok, Vienna, AT

2017

Precarious Homes, Bétonsalon – Center for Art and Research, Paris, FR

2016

62nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, DE

Dhaka Art Summit, film program curated by Shanay Jhaveri, Dhaka, BD

2015

Outfest, REDCAT, LA, US

Dirty Looks LA, Ghebaly Gallery, US

Dirty Looks NYC, Microscope Gallery, US

2014

Montreal International Documentary Festival, Quebec, CA

Stockholm Literature, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE

52nd New York Film Festival, NYC, US

52nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, MI, US

33rd Istanbul Film Festival, Istanbul, TR

Images Festival, Toronto, CA

2013

59th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, DE

Bucharest Experimental Film Festival, Bucharest, RO

Artist Talks & Lectures & Performances

2020

Artist talk moderated by Dr. Elif Akçalı, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, TR

2019

Lecture as part of Folgendes, at University of Fine Arts Hamburg, DE

Belonging and Comradeship (artist talk), moderated by Bilge Taş, Pera Museum, Istanbul, TR

Given Your Convenient Absence, with Masha Godovannaya, Kevin Space, Vienna, AT

2017

Identity and Appropriation, (panel) with  Christina von Braun, Juliane Rebentisch, and Susanne M. Winterling, Kunstverein Nürnberg, DE

Borderless and Brazen, (public talk) with Gülşen Aktaş, 15th Istanbul Biennial’s public program, Pera Museum, Istanbul, TR

An imaginary conversation between Paul Thek and Aykan Safoğlu (correspondence), for the 10th March Meeting at the Sharjah Biennial 13, UAE

2016

Gülşen & Hüseyin: Screen Tests for Gender, Labor & Migration, (public talk) with Ceren Erdem, Alt – Space for art, Istanbul, TR

To Art is a Reciprocal Verb, (lecture), Ashkal Alwan,Beirut, LB

2014

My Sorrow Nightingale (performance), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, DE

Edmund White & Aykan Safoğlu (public talk), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE

Camp and Queer in Turkish Cinema (panel), Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, TR

2013

Enthusiasm (a lecture performance), KAT1, Istanbul, TR

Publications

2019

Berlin Interviews, ed. by Birgit Rieger and Claudia Wahjudi, Argo Books, Berlin, DE

QUEER?! Visual Arts in Europe 1969-2019, edited by Anton Anthonissen and Evert van Straaten, Waanders Publishers, Zwolle, NL

I Wanted to Photograph You, at Schlosspost – Solitude Network, Stuttgart, DE

2018

BLOOMING SIGNALS (exh. catalog), Kunstraum Munich & Icon Verlag, Munich, DE

An Idiosyncratic Statue of Friendship, an image essay published in the third issue of  QALQALAH, an editorial project by Kadist Art Foundation and Bétonsalon – Centre for  Art and Research, Paris, FR

2017

Class Languages Magazine, Issue 0, Berlin, DE

2016

Looking After Sedat Looking After Jimmy, in Post-Election Artists Dossier, Grey Room Fall 2016 issue, NYC, USA

Borderless and Brazen, interview with Gülşen Aktaş by Aykan Safoğlu, for Makhzin Magazine, Feminisms Issue (Fall 2016), online

Interview by Nanna Heidenreich (in German), Frauen und Film magazine  (67th issue)

2015

Pink Labour on Golden Streets.Queer Arts Practices, edited by Christiane Erharter, Dietmar Schwärzler, Ruby Sircar, Hans Scheirl. Sternberg Press. Vienna, AT

USER’S MANUAL 2.0. Contemporary Art from Turkey 1975-2015. Ed. Halil Altındere, Süreyyya Evren. Revolver Publishing, Berlin, DE

Prizes & Awards

2019

Honorable Mention, 21st Contemporary Art Biennial – Secs Videobrasil, São Paulo, BR

2014

On Screen Award,  Images Festival, Toronto, CA

Kinetta Archival Film Award, 52nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, US

2013

Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen, 59th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, DE