As a visual artist, Didem Erk uses performance, video, installation and text as tools in her works and explores the relationship of space with concepts such as language, memory and border/frontiers. Examining the possible flaws and fictional elements of personal and social memory, the artist focuses on the performative aspects of the act of remembering.
Didem Erk (b. 1986, Istanbul) lives and works in Istanbul. She completed her graduate and postgraduate studies in the Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design department at Sabancı University.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
2027
WHEN ALL THE BOOKS BURN, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
The Blue Ballad, Zilberman Gallery, İstanbul, Turkey
2021
AS BOTH REMEDY AND POISON/ Hem Zehir Hem Pan-Zehir,
BilsART, Istanbul
2017
“ Home is a Place Called Never”| “Ev İmkansız Denen Yerdir”,
x-ist, Istanbul, Turkey
2012
“IFEELIAMEATINGMEMORIES | SANKİANILARIYİYORUM”,
M.A. thesis graduation exhibition, Fassart Gallery, Sabancı University, İstanbul, Turkey
COLLECTIONS
Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, MOCAK
Arter Museum of Contemporary Art Vehbi Koç Foundation
Agah Uğur
Saruhan Doğan
Leyla Pekin
Ayşe Umur
Pulver Kimya / Metin Mizraklı
Hatice Marx
Ekin Kohen
PUBLICATION / BOOK
Erk, Didem. I Feel I Am Eating Memories: The Boundary Between. Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013.
ISBN:978-3-659-34001-7
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
II. FOUR-LEGGED EXHIBITION, Berze Gallery , Istanbul
2025
FROM ARTEMIS TO DARA: REMEMBER THE UTOPIA, Pakistan Pavilion, Izmir
FOR THE RECORD, BarınHan, İstanbul
2024
SENSE OF EARTH, Barbare Vineyards, Tekirdağ/Turkey
2023
“FREEDOM”, Journalist Association Press Museum, Istanbul
2022
IVY, curator: Başak Şenova, Zilberman Selected, Istanbul, Türkiye
2021
Vekâleten, Zilberman Selected, İstanbul, Türkiye
2020
Balconnection, A.R.T & M.S., İzmir, Türkiye
Kelimeler Pek Yetersiz/WORDS ARE VERY UNNECESSARY, ARTER, (curated by SELEN ANSEN) İstanbul, Türkiye
2019
A Room of One’s Own, Megaron Annex M, Athens
The Unwritten Library: An Exhibition Trilogy, "AFTER BABEL", Megaron Annex M, Athens
2018
" House of Wisdom", Bonington Gallery, Nottingham
5x5x5, Manifesta 12, Palermo
VIDEO ECHOES: WAVES FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, Counihan Gallery, Australia
The Unwritten Library: An Exhibition Trilogy “THE LAST READER”, Megaron Annex M, Athens
Kök | Root, Santral İstanbul Enerji Müzesi, Istanbul
GECE | NIGHT, Collaborative Performance Proposal, Réalisateur / Gerçekleştiren: Didem ERK, Datça
"Nonlinear Histories: Transgenerational Memory of Trauma",
Los Angeles, ReflectSpace Gallery, Los Angeles
2017
House of Wisdom, Framer Framed, Amsterdam
Black Noise, Aksanat, Istanbul
TarraWarra International 2017: All that is solid, TarraWarra Museum, Melbourne, Australia
House of Wisdom | Bilgelik Evi, IKSV Building, Istanbul
Survival Kit, Space Debris Art, Istanbul
Survival Kit, 4th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Kuşla Göz Arasında | In a Blink of a Bird, DEPO, Istanbul
House of Wisdom, Dzialdov, Berlin
"Are You Still Alive? – Voices of Conscience at a Time of Silencing", Steirische Kulturinitiative, Graz, Austria
“Imago Mundi – Mediterranean Routes”, Zona Arti Contemporanee, Palermo, Italy
Blow Up: Kavunu Gördüm, SALT Galata, Istanbul
2016
“Stay with Me”, Belvedere Museum, Vienna
"Bir Zar atımı Asla Ortadan Kaldırmayacak Rastlantıyı | Un Coup de DéS Jamais N'Abolira Le Hasard", Pilot, Istanbul
"On Paper" | "Kağıt Üzerine", Mixer, İstanbul
"Three Legged Table: An Organism" | "Üç Ayaklı Masa: Bir Organizma", REM Art Space, İstanbul
"Stay with Me", De Kijkdoos Project space, Amsterdam
2015
30 Years of Biennale “ Through the Barricades”, Fabbrica Del Vapore, Milan
"Stay With Me", Museum Weserburg, Bremen
"Every inclusion is an exclusion of other possibilities" | "Her tercih diğer ihtimaller için bir dışlamadır”, SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul
“Performans Belleği”| “Performing Memory”, Plato Sanat, Istanbul
"Uyuma Dayan!" | "Stay with me!", DEPO, Istanbul
“Pop-up Exhibition" | "Pop-up Sergi”, KARGART, Istanbul
2014
“La Sovversione Del Sensibile" | "Subversion of the Sensible”, Fabbrica Del Vapore, Milan
“Stay with me”, Apartment Project, Berlin
“Carte Blanche To Nil Yalter”, GALERIST, Istanbul
2013
13th Istanbul Biennial, “Mom, Am I a Barbarian? | Anne, Ben Barbar mıyım?”, ARTER, Istanbul (curated by FULYA ERDEMCİ)
“Bufferzone: Checkpoint | Bufferzone: Kontrol Noktası”, DEPO, Istanbul
“Sketching the Bufferzone” POLISTAR, Istanbul
“Taking Site”, 5533, Istanbul
2012
“OFFSIDE EFFECT” 1st Tbilisi Triennial, Center of Contemporary Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
2011
“SYMBIOSIS” XV Biennale de la Méditerranée | XV. Avrupalı ve Akdenizli Genç Sanatçılar Bienali, Port of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece