CEM ORGEN

With a background in industrial design, Cem Örgen’s interest in material processes, functions and standards oriented his practice towards subjective and situated movements instead of mass circulation. The artist examines the moral dilemma and nausea caused by the acceleration of everyday stimuli, online and offline social interactions and desires. He values the search for shared and collective memory in hidden, rushed, and isolated settings, using installation, found objects, photography, sculpture, video and painting. Often starting from his own writing and carrying subtle references to the artist’s personal memory and experience, his exhibitions explore the intertwined materialities of natural elements and artefacts, love and heartbreak, digital infrastructures, gaming culture and material production processes. Often taking the form of installations and sculptures, his works operate as embodiments of affective states and processes, expressed through a meticulous material control: they appear at once as organic and artificial, spanning sculpture, drawing, assemblage, text and sound.

Cem Örgen (b. 1996, Istanbul), holds a BA in Industrial Design from Istanbul Bilgi University. His selected solo shows include the following: ”No Entry” (with Can Küçük), IMALAT-HANE (Bursa, 2022); “You Can’t Hide In The Sky”, 5533 (Istanbul, 2021); “Next Blood is Just a Fresh One” Pose (Istanbul, 2019). He has participated in group shows such as the 4th Capriola Art Week, Circolo Cittadino (Lecce, 2023); IST-BLN, Pose A, Pose B, HOTO (Berlin, 2022); Last Minutes, Untitled (1-4), THE POOL Heybeliada (Istanbul, 2021); “Ceremony” - Young Fresh Different, Zilberman Gallery (Istanbul, 2018); Mamut Art Project (Istanbul, 2018); The New Domesticity, Bender no.9, Salt Galata (Istanbul, 2017) & Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven, 2016). In 2020 he was a resident at Garp Sessions, Çanakkale in the program “Fictional Protocols and Desirable Futures” moderated by Guilia Civardi and Ekin Can Göksoy. 

Cem Örgen lives and works in Istanbul.