Özlem Günyol

Özlem Günyol (b. 1977, Ankara, Turkey) is an artist based in Frankfurt am Main who works in installation, video and sound. She has made work as a duo with Mustafa Kunt since 2005. Their subjects are personal and shared belonging, what language means, symbols of power and authority, and information carried by the media. The pieces use political symbols, words, residue, found objects and measurements taken from geography and architecture. They take the form of sound installations, videos, inkjet prints, books and paintings in metallic powder.

Hullabaloo (2009) is a multimedia sound installation that plays the world's national anthems through 266 loudspeakers. At its midpoint every anthem can be heard at the same moment. In 2019 the duo showed Ses-li Harfler | Ses-siz Harfler at Dirimart Dolapdere, Istanbul. Its video Prohibited Letters draws on slogans the Istanbul Governorate banned at May Day 2018. M is a 365-page diary book assembled from the headlines of 2018. In the Materialistic Paintings series, each square of metallic powder is sized by the metal content of a coin.

Günyol studied sculpture at Hacettepe University, Ankara, graduating in 2001. She then studied under Ayşe Erkmen at the Städelschule, Frankfurt (2006). Two-person exhibitions with Kunt include Vier at the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2008), and the Dortmunder Kunstverein (2014). The pair showed minute by minute at Dirimart, Istanbul, in 2015. Group shows include the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011) and Lines of Thought at Parasol Unit, London (2012). They took part in ars viva 12/13 at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2013). The duo received the Städel-Preis (2005) and the ars viva Prize for Fine Arts (2012). The HAP Grieshaber Preis der VG Bild-Kunst followed in 2017. Residencies include Residency Unlimited, New York (2011), and a fellowship at the Tarabya Cultural Academy, Istanbul (2022).