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    GOZDE ILKIN

    GOZDE ILKIN

    Using mainly stitching, drawing, and painting as well as video and sound installations, İlkin constructs forms of confrontational interactions within the motifs of found domestic fabrics. In the process, she refers to social and political relationships/manipulation, borders, power issues, gender attitudes, and urban transformation.

    Gözde ĺlkin was born in 1981 in Kütahya (Turkey). She studied painting at the Fine Arts Faculty of Mimar Sinan University and is pursuing a master’s degree at Marmara University in Istanbul. She lives and works in Istanbul.

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      Gözde ĺlkin

      Born in 1981 in Kütahya, Turkey
      Lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey

      SOLO EXHIBITIONS

      2019
      Stand Alone and All Together, artSümer Gallery, Istanbul
      Organized Habitation, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France
      « Comme les racines parlent, les fissures se creusent », MAC VAL Garden, Vitry-sur-Seine,France
      Cruise of Endless Confession, François Heitsch Gallery, Munich, Germany

      2018
      Found Landscape, Condo 2018, Gypsum Gallery hosted by Franklin Parrasch Gallery,
      New York, USA

      2017
      Absent Demonstration, artSümer Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
      Reverie of Space 15th Istanbul Biennial Neighbouring Events, French Institute of İzmir, Curated by Caroline David, Izmir, Turkey
      Tiny Office Project Organized by Suzi Erşahin, Consulate General of Sweden, Istanbul, Turkey

      2016
      The Trap, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo, Egypte

      2015
      Stained Estate Françoise Heitsch Gallery, Munich, Germany

      2013
      Triplestar Inside Out Art Museum, Beijing, China

      2012
      Methodical Inquiries #4 Gözde İlkin, working group: Özge Ersoy, Ahmet Öğüt, in collaboration with Adnan Yıldız and Övül Durmuşoğlu, Polistar, Istanbul, Turkey

      2011
      Refuge: Chorus of Voices from Inside, artSümer Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

      2010
      Please Clear the Dance Floor, artSümer, Istanbul, Turkey

      2004
      Body on Body Wearable Art Karşı Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

      GROUP EXHIBITIONS

      2021
      UnNatural History, curated by Invisible dust, hereby Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, UK
      Minds Rising, Spirits Tuning, 13th Gwangju Biennial, curated by Defne Ayas and Natasha Ginwala, South Korea
      All Else is Far, curated bu Ceren Erdem, Dirimart, Istanbul

      2020
      Up above was fog, down below was a cloud of dust, DEPO, Istanbul

      2019
      Gaia has a Thousand names, curated by Tara Lundi, Elgiz Museum, Istanbul
      Journey To The Spirit of Place, Halka Art Project, Istanbul
      Unspeakable Home, Enchanting Companions, curated by Derya Bayraktaroğlu, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
      The Event of a Thread: Global Narratives in Textiles, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul
      Artist Pick Artist, artSumer Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey

      2018
      «S-tched & Drawn» Gözde İlkin / Siwa Mgoboza, MaPer Gallery, Toronto, Canada
      Home is where the he(art) is curated by Yann Perreau, Galerie Paris-B, Paris

      2017
      A Good Neighbour on the Move, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
      “A Good Neighbor” 15th Istanbul Biennial Curated by Elmgreen and Dragset, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
      Sana Ghobbeh (Iran) | Gözde İlkin (Turkey) Curated by Zorana Đaković Minniti, Gallery PODROOM, Cultural Centre of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia “Muscle Memory” Curated by Ece Pazarbaşı, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

      2016
      Inverse Greyscale -­  Wider den Grautönen Curator: Ceren Erdem, Galerieräume der Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, Germany
      zeigedeine Wunde 2016 / Teil 2 – Das Environment Maximilians Forum, Munich, Germany

      2015
      Future Queer Curated by Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu, ARK Kültür, Istanbul, Turkey
      Stay With Me Artists~Books on the Gezi Park Demonstrations, Center for Artists’Publications,  Weserburg Museum, Bremen, Germany
      Spaceliner Curated by Barbara Heinrich, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey

      2013
      No one belongs here more than you Curated by Red Min(e)d, 54th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia

      2012
      Journey Wanderings in Contemporary Turkey , Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, France

      2011
      If you’re trapped in the dream of the other, you’re fucked! Curated by Katja Kobolt,SkucGallery,Ljubljana, Slovenia
      Dream and Reality ,Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey

      2010
      Hyper Real: The Passion of the Real in Painting and Photography Curated by Susanne Neuburger and BrigiPe Franzen, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria
      New Talents’ Biennale Artistic Director / Curator (Art and Media): Jochen Heufelder DEG, Cologne, Germany

      2009
      Under my feet I want the world, not heaven in ‘Istanbul Next Wave’, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
      Seriously Ironic Positions in Turkish Contemporary Art Scene, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland

      RESIDENCIES
      2019
      MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
      2018
      Pioneer Works, New York

      2017
      Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

      2014
      Artist Residency Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen, Germany

      2006
      Topkapı German-­‐Turkish Cultural Exchange Project residency & group exhibition, Spedituon, Bremen, Germany

      COLLECTIVES & PERFORMANCES

      AtlKunst (2013 – 2006) Member of AylKunst with Gülçin Aksoy & Yasemin Nur atilkunst.blogspot.com/ gundemfazlasi.blogspot.com
      Garip Bir Pandik Performans No-­‐I 2011 AylKunst, Halı Atölyesi, Ha Za Vu Zu, Cevdet Erek MSGSÜ, Fındıklı Kampüsü, Istanbul,Turkey
      Tatbikat / Field Exercise I-­‐II 2009, Hafriyat Karaköy, Istanbul, Turkey

      WORKSHOPS & TALKS

      2017
      6th Feminist Forum -­ Workshop: Bring Our Utopias Together with Art! Organized by Kaos GL, Ankara, Turkey

      2016
      Kunstgespräch Wundbehandlung – Kunst als Sozialraum Maximilians Forum, Munich, Germany`

      2015
      Workshop: Lost & Found Salt Galata, Istanbul, Turkey

      2013
      Discussion with artist collectives: h.arta, ff, a7.außeneinsatz and artists Gozde Ilkin & Margareta Kern, 54th October Salon – ‘No one belongs here more than You’, Belgrade, Serbia

      2012
      The Artist’s Rights in scope of the exhibition “In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity i Art” Guest Speakers: Eda Çataklar (Lawyer, Istanbul Bilgi University Intellectual Property Law Research Center), Volkan Aslan (Artist), Seda Hepsev (Artist), Gözde İlki (Artist), İz Öztat (Artist), Salz Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey

      2010
      Sampler -­ Cultureclash, Workshop: Sound and Stitching MNAC, Bucharest, Roumania

      2009
      Experimental Workshop Project ‘Reciprocal Visit’ by Apartment Project, Route: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran

      As The Roots Speak, the Cracks Deepen
      Text of 13th Gwangju Biennale

      Who am I Gaia? I am a place.
      I am a piece of you where the winged don’t fly,
      Where the bones don’t crumble,
      Where the clawed don’t scratch.
      And I am many things that have witnessed the awakening of seeds within some feminine passage.
      I am the emerald at the root of stone, and I am the thread in the tissue of ginger

      —Sema Kaygusuz

      Gözde Ilkin collects used textiles from domestic environments and transforms them into tools for memory and material archives of their social processes and cultural contexts. Combining embroidery, painting, collage, natural dyes, and audiovisual components, the artist considers the fabrics “stages” for her elusive visions of fantastic beings that transcend human, animal, and plant categories and allow her to question power relations, gender attitudes, and urban transformations. Suspended from the ceiling of the Biennale Hall, As the Roots Spoke, the Cracks Deepen (2019–20) continues Ilkin’s engagement with plant intelligence, an acknowledgment of symbiotic forms of interspecies coexistence.

      The project began in Vitry-sur-Seine, an ethnically diverse neighborhood in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, where the artist sought the fleeting presence of plants in urban isolation. Transplanted to Jungoe Park, the largest leisure and cultural area in Gwangju, new site-responsive works turn the focus to the power of healing and transformation that plants assume as integral parts of shamanic rituals. The installation is accompanied by verses from Sema Kaygusuz, an ecofeminist author known for her critiques of the Turkish politics of ethnic and religious homogenization. Both Ilkin and Kaygusuz challenge the concept of roots as defined by national and religious affiliations and interpret them as natural and imaginary bonds passed down through generations. Evoking the refuge of rural environments, the politics of land in Anatolia and Mesopotamia, and theories of the migration of souls in the service of the reclamation of culture, Kaygusuz’s verses suffuse the work with an underlying political dimension.

      The bed sheets, curtains, and tablecloths—sewn, stitched, and collaged by Ilkin and her mother—blend various ancestral knowledges of materials and techniques. The radiant colors are extracts of medicinal and ceremonial plants, like the blue woad, one of the first known natural dyes, or the yellowish brown of peganum harmala, valued for its hallucinogenic effects. In Gwangju, the hibiscus that leaves its deep pink mark on The Entrustment Shaman (2020) is more commonly referred to as the Korean rose, a symbol of the South Korean people and their land. By weaving together meanings from different cultures, each piece becomes a story, dwelling in the interstitial spaces between plants and humans, mourning and birth, the dead and the living.

      Kökler konuştukça çatlaklar derinleşir “ (As The Roots Spoke, the Cracks Deepen), 2019–2020. Commissioned by the 13th Gwangju Biennale.
      Installation: Painting and stitching on found fabrics hand-dyed with plant extracts; 3-channel audio installation with a prayer by Sema Kaygusuz “The Cracks Deepen as the Roots Speak”.