Defne Ayas
Defne Ayas (b. 1976) is a curator, lecturer, and editor. Raised in Istanbul and now based between Berlin and New York, Ayas currently serves as Senior Program Advisor and Curator-at-Large for Performa. She has held leadership positions at various cultural institutions, notably serving as Director and Curator of Melly in Rotterdam (FKA Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art) from 2012 to 2017. Her curatorial work often interrogates the relationship between art and political processes, with a particular emphasis on reimagining cultural platforms such as biennales and research initiatives in diverse contexts.
In 2021, Ayas was the Artistic Director of the 13th Gwangju Biennale alongside Natasha Ginwala, and she has co-curated the 6th Moscow Biennale (2015), Respiro by Sarkis at the Pavilion of Turkey for the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), and the 11th Baltic Triennale (2012). Recently at Performa in New York, she co-presented Protest and Performance: A Way of Life with Kathy Noble, featuring performances by artists such as Gregg Bordowitz, Pamela Sneed, Rana Hamadeh, and Göksu Kunak. She also co-curated Sonic Tonic Assembly with AGF, Tony Cokes, HxH, and Lamin Fofana, in collaboration with Paul O'Neill (2023). Ayas' guest-curated the exhibition 7 Days, 7 Nights by artist Sarkis was on view at Kunsthalle Baden-Baden until February 2024 (staged together with Cagla Ilk and Adnan Yildiz).
Işıl Eğrikavuk
Dr. Işıl Eğrikavuk is a Turkish-born international performance artist and academic based in Berlin, Germany. She received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and a Ph.D. in Communication from Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey. Eğrikavuk lives in Berlin and works as a faculty member at Berlin University of Arts (UdK), Media and Communication Department since 2017.
Her work utilizes storytelling, journalism and dialogue-based practices and examines critical themes including protest, feminism, identity politics, nature, and universal interconnectedness. These works take the form of temporary and permanent installations, interactive events and performances, photographic and video documentation, and text-based work.
She earned her PhD degree in 2021 from Istanbul Bilgi University, with her thesis titled "From A Political Protest To An Art Exhibition: Building Interconnectedness Through Dialogue-Based Art".
Eğrikavuk is the co-winner of Turkey’s first contemporary art prize, Full Art Prize in 2012. She is also awarded for 2022 Borderless Book Fund for publishing her PhD research. Eğrikavuk has participated in numerous international exhibitions, residencies, and her work has been published in both local and international journals. Recent exhibitions and venues include, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Photography (2022), Arnis Residency, Germany (2021), Chicago Architecture Biennial (2021), Die Büehne, Berlin (2019), Art Souterrain, Montreal (2019), Pluto’s Kitchen, Block Universe, London (2017), Every Kind of Myth is Written With Care, Propaganda in 21st Century, Lenbachhaus Museum, Munich (2017), Art of Disagreement, Salt Galata&Ulus, İstanbul& Ankara (2016-2015), 11th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah (2013), Reverse Corner, Solo exhibition, Egeran Gallery, Istanbul (2013), Change Will Be Terrific, Salt Istanbul (2012), 11th Istanbul Biennial (2009), Endgame, South Korea (2009).
