Osman Bozkurt

Bozkurt’s productions focus as much on the socio-geography and architecture of the city as they do on the dynamics of remembering-forgetting and acceptance-rejection within the context of identity and collective memory, alongside public creativity, paradoxes, and the realities lying behind them. While the spaces, ambiguities, and boundaries between the public and private spheres lie at the center of the artist's field of inquiry, ordinary places, moments, and situations that often go unnoticed and which we pass by every day frequently become the subject of his works. Shaping his practice within the framework of neoliberal transformations, history, and sociology, Bozkurt creates a new space of memory in his installations through photography and video, utilizing archives, found objects, sounds, and remains that are excluded from official collective memory.

Graduating from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Photography, the artist has produced editorial projects for publications, collaborated with designers on joint projects, and worked as a lecturer at various universities. Producing in the field of contemporary art since the early 2000s, Bozkurt is also the co-founder and co-director of PiST/// Interdisciplinary Project Space, an independent artist initiative founded in 2006. He lives and works in Istanbul.

Bozkurt’s works have been exhibited in numerous prestigious international institutions and museums, including Palais Populaire (Berlin, 2026), Merdiven Art Space (Istanbul, 2024), Pera Museum (Istanbul, 2023), YARAT Contemporary Art Center (Baku, 2022), SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE (Frankfurt, 2018), Daire Sanat (Istanbul, 2018), MAXXI Museum (Rome, 2015), PRATT Manhattan Gallery (New York, 2015), Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich, 2015), ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, 2013), Arrow Factory (Beijing, 2012), Asia Triennial Manchester’11 / Castlefield Gallery (Manchester, 2011), MASS MoCA (Massachusetts, 2011), Museo Madre (Naples, 2009), FRIEZE Art Fair (London, 2008), Insa Art Space (Seoul, 2008), TATE Modern (London, 2007), and Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center (Istanbul, 2006).

The artist's works have been featured in books such as “Urban Mirrors-Reflections From the Artists of Istanbul” Alistair Hicks (YKY), “101 Artworks-Forty Years of Turkish Contemporary Art” (art-ist/Revolver), “Art Works” (Deutsche Bank Collection), “Global Activism and Art, Conflict in the 21st Century” (MIT Press), “The Future of History” (Neu Zürcher Zeitung Publishing), “Szene Türkei: Abseits, aber Tor!” Vasıf Kortun and Erden Kosova (Walter König), and “Triennial City: Localising Asian Art” (Cornerhouse Publication). His photographs have been published in numerous periodicals, most notably Nafas Art Magazine, Camera Austria, The Independent, IMAGES / Le Magazine de la Photographie, and Sanat Dünyamız (YKY).

www.osmanbozkurt.com