Gökçen Dilek Acay

ACC Galerie Weimar | Germany

SAHA supports Gökçen Dilek Acay’s solo show titled Have you ever touched a bug’s belly? on Galerie Weimar between 1 February – 13 April 2025. Gökçen Dilek Acay poses this rather unusual question at the beginning of her most comprehensive solo exhibition to date, with 70 works, in which she not only returns to her beginnings as an artist, but also combines the artistic-content, aesthetic-critical and practical craft experiences she has gained around the world over the last decade.Acay addresses topics such as the destruction of historical and social values, power strategies in geopolitical world events and prevailing social problems. She explores the complex interface between power, identity and human existence, places concepts such as fragility, isolation and displacement at the center of her exhibition, and is skeptical about the values​​of the time in which we live.

Gökcen Dilek Acay (1983, Istanbul), studied violin at the Music Department of Yıldız Technical University (Istanbul) and completed her masters in Fine Arts at the Bauhaus University, Weimar. Acay collaborates with the dancers, musicians and visual artist internationally during her practice. She was a performer at Watermill Center, in a project developed for Robert Wilson in 2013. Acay received the 3rd Mansion Prize for Young Generation Turkish Artists organised by Maçka Art Gallery and Sainte Pulchérie Highschool, Istanbul in 2015 and she participated the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (BJCEM) in Milan the same year. She went to the artist residency, Cité des Arts in Paris in 2015 and Yarat Artist Program in Baku in 2016. Acay participated in Artist Residency Program at Taipei Artist Village 2020 same year she was invited to Bauhaus100 Edition, which was presented in Eigenheim Gallery, Berlin and Positions Berlin Art Fair. Her solo shows include Galeri Nev İstanbul and Eigenheim Gallery, Weimar. She works as an independent artist through AIR Programs and independent projects. Acay lives and works in Weimar.

About Galerie Weimar

The ACC (originally Autonomous Cultural Center ) was founded in 1987 in the center of Weimar. In 1988, events for the public were organized for the first time.The ACC is a center for interdisciplinary exchange and a critically practicing communication and production platform. For its committed and innovative work, the ACC received the first Thuringian Culture Prize in 1995, the Weimar Prize in 1998 and the first ADKV-ART COLOGNE Prize in 2006.