"Always Here" Exhibition Event

Performative Practices

Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 18.00

Istanbul Modern Auditorium

Moderator: Melodi Gülbaba

Speakers: Mehtap Baydu, Zeynep Kayan

A series of talks will be held on the occasion of the exhibition "Always Here", which consists of works included in the collection with the support of the Women Artists Fund, established in 2016 as part of Istanbul Modern with the aim of supporting the work of women artists in Türkiye, increasing their recognition and strengthening the representation of women artists by adding new works to the museum's collection. The second event of the series will be a talk titled "Performative Practices", moderated by assistant curator of the exhibition, Melodi Gülbaba, with Mehtap Baydu and Zeynep Kayan, whose artworks are displayed in the exhibition. On the talk, the artists will discuss about their artistic practices in general terms and in the context of their works in the exhibition, and discuss the role of performance and performative concepts in their production styles.

Mehtap Baydu

Born in Bingöl in 1972, Mehtap Baydu graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts in Ankara. In 2005 she started her studies at Kassel University, Germany and received her BA from this institution. In her performances and installations, Baydu often directly relates to the space she is working in and involves the audience in the process, challenging them by using symbolic objects and situations. Her works deal with gender roles and political issues in multi-cultural contexts, feeding from her experience of living in different geographies. She uses sculpture and photography as media in addition to performance and installation, to best express and convey her artistic concerns. Baydu lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Mehtap Baydu’s recent solo exhibitions were held at Galeri Nev, Istanbul (2022); Edition Block, Berlin (2018). Recent group exhibitions she participated in were held at Zitadelle, Berlin (2023); Meşher, Istanbul (2022); STUK, Leuven (2020), 4. Berliner Herbstsalon, Berlin (2019); Arter, Istanbul, (2019); Istanbul Modern (2018); Depo, Istanbul, (2017); Bröhan Museum, Berlin (2017); Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2014); and Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2009).

Zeynep Kayan

Zeynep Kayan was born in 1986 in Ankara. She graduated from the Department of Communication and Design at Bilkent University and earned her MA from the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU) in the Netherlands. She is a cofounder of the independent art space Torun in Ankara. Zeynep Kayan deconstructs the image and she works on it employing an experimental method based on repetition. In addition to photography, which is often her medium of choice, Kayan works with performance, video and audio. Zeynep Kayan lives and works in Ankara and Amsterdam.

Kayan’s solo exhibitions were held at Zilberman Gallery, Berlin (2022); Zona Maco Foto, Mexico (2022); UNSEEN Amsterdam (2019); and Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul (2019 and 2016). She has participated in group exhibitions in institutions including Foto Wien, Vienna (2022); Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2021); Helsinki Contemporary Gallery (2020); Mixer, Istanbul (2019); Galeri Nev, Ankara (2018); Kasa Galeri, Istanbul (2018); and tete, Berlin, (2017).

The event is free of charge.

The conversation will be held in Turkish.