Ahmet Öğüt

Ahmet Öğüt (b. 1981, Diyarbakır, Turkey) is a Turkish artist based in Amsterdam and Berlin who works in installation, video and photography. His subjects include modernisation, protest movements, surveillance and forced migration, often treated with humour, and the workings of art institutions. Alongside installations, videos and photographs, he sets up social initiatives and collaborative projects.

Across the Slope (2008) was first shown at the Centre d'Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, in 2008. It is a 131 Mirafiori car, lengthened and placed across a slope built over the gallery floor. At the top of the ramp its wheels hang just clear of the ground. In the 1970s this was a popular car of the Turkish middle class, built locally as the Murat 131. The piece returned in Modern Essays 1: Across the Slope at SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul (2011). Exploded City was his MATRIX 231 project at the UC Berkeley Art Museum (2010). Bakunin's Barricade was his solo show at the Kunstverein Dresden (2018). The Silent University received The Visible Award in 2013.

Öğüt took a BA in painting at Hacettepe University, Ankara (1999 to 2003) and an MA at Yildiz Teknik University, Istanbul (2003 to 2006). He then joined the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2007 to 2008). Solo shows followed at Kunsthalle Basel (2008), the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2010 and 2015) and Chisenhale Gallery, London (2015). He showed at the 53rd Venice Biennale in the Pavilion of Turkey (2009), the 5th Berlin Biennial (2008) and the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022). He held residencies at IASPIS, Stockholm (2011 and 2013), and LUMA Arles (2016). He received the Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft (2010) and the Special Prize of the Future Generation Art Prize (2012). His work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kiasma, Helsinki, and Arter, Istanbul.