Biography
Ayşe Erkmen's work often takes the form of interventions in a space that are sometimes so subtle and minimal as to be almost unnoticed. For the 9th Sharjah Biennial she created Sindi Tamaam / Alright Now (2009), a geometrically ‘corrected’ room within a room, where the walls and ceiling of an exhibition space were rebuilt to reflect the slope of the ramp that leads viewers through the museum. The reconstructed space is Erkmen's work, but the subtle changes forced viewers to reconsider their expectations both of the museum space itself and the works of art that are contained within,
Erkmen has exhibited extensively throughout her career with solo shows at the Witte de With, Rotterdam (2010), Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine, France (2009), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2008/09) and the Yapi Kredi Art Gallery, Istanbul (2008). Her work has also featured in numerous international group exhibitions and biennials including at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2010), De Appel, Amsterdam (2010), Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna (2010), the Sharjah Biennial (2009), the Folkstone Triennial (2008), the Shanghai Biennale (2008) and at Ikon, Birmingham (2005).
Ayşe Erkmen was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1949 and graduated from the Sculpture Faculty of the State Academy of Fine Arts in 1977. She has held guest lectureships at the University of Kassel (1998) and the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main (2001-2005). In 2002 she was awarded the Maria Sibylla Merian Prize of the Ministry for Science and Art of the Hesse state government. Erkmen currently lives and works between Berlin and Istanbul.
October 2010
This person was part of Sharjah Biennial 9
