Egemen Demirci explores language as a tangible material, reconfiguring his works to investigate how meaning is shaped by spatial and material contexts. His practice extends beyond the gallery to site-specific public art works that use text—including billboards, flags, and light-dependent interventions—to challenge legibility and the certainty of information. By positioning these works to evade immediate visibility or reveal themselves only under specific conditions, Demirci transforms the act of reading into a performative encounter that fluctuates between assertion and doubt. Ultimately, his work uses the tension of the environment to encourage a critical questioning of the supposed "truths" within our visual landscape.
Egemen Demirci was born in 1983 in Izmir, Turkey; received his BA in Visual Arts program at Sabancı University, Istanbul (2005) and his MFA in “Public Art and New Artistic Strategies” program at Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany (2009). During 2014 – 2015, he took part as a researcher / artist at the Jan Van Eyck Academie Residency program in Maastricht, Netherlands. Demirci has shown his work in Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Italy. He is currently PhD candidate in the Binational Artistic Phd Program at HfK Bremen in cooperation with HDK- Valand, Gothenburg, Sweden. Demirci is based in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Exhibitions:
2025 "TEXT MATERIAL", Solo exhibition, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
2023 "Auditions For An Unwritten Opera / Around The Works By Mutlu Çerkez", Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
2022 “Tabula Rasa / Terrain Vague”, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn, Germany
2022 “Nature and State”, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
2021 “All and Nothing”, Galerie Van Gelder, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2021 “Thinking Hands, Touching Each Other”, The 6th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg, Russia
2021 “State and Nature”, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
2020 “Mutadis Mutandis”, Giardini Projects, Venice, Italy
2020 "Exclusive Incline“ – Collaboration with Sunette L. Viljoen, Die Raum, Berlin, Germany
2019 “Imaginary Bauhaus Museum”, Schiller Museum, Weimar, Germany
2019 “Mutterzunge”, Solo presentation, Uqbar, Berlin, Germany
2018 “The Influencing Machine”, NgbK, Berlin, Germany
2018 “There is nothing Left_Abstract!”, Screening , Gijon Film Festival, Gijon, Spain
2016 “Rooms / Räume”, Lindenstrasse 20, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Global Art Progamme, Waiting for Expo 2015”, Milano, Italy
2015 “Reunion” Sabanci Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 “Girl With the Sun in Her Head”, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2013 “future past – past future”, Transmediale Partner Exhibition, Berlin, Germany
2013 “Utopien Vermeiden“ , Werkleitz Festival 2013, Halle (Saale), Germany
2012 “Methodical Inquiries, #7”, Polistar, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 “Making Space”, Global Art Progamme, Waiting for Expo 2015 Residency, Milano, Italy (solo)
2011 “Registrierung / Kayit / Registration”, Soy Capitan, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2011 “Taksim 2010-2011”, yama, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 “Where is Now?”, Apartment Project, Istanbul, Turkey
2009 “This Side of Weimar” (Thesis Project), Tourist Info Office, Weimar, Germany
2008 “Wanderlust” ,(Temporary artistic interventions in the gardens and parks), Weimar, Germany
2007 “Wackelkontakt” , Jenoptik Gallery and Jena Kunstverein, Germany
Artist Talks & Presentations:
2018 “The Influencing Machine”, Artist Talk and Presentation at NgbK, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Reunion”, Artist Talk at Sabanci Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2013 “future past – past future”, Artist Talk at Supermarkt, Transmediale Partner Exhibition, Berlin, Germany
2013 “Utopien Vermeiden“ , Artist Talk, Werkleitz Festival 2013, Halle (Saale), Germany
2012 “Methodical Inquiries, #7”, Presentation at Polistar, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 “Where is Now?”, Artist Talk at Apartment Project, Istanbul, Turkey
Publications:
2018 “The Influencing Machine”, exhibition reader, NgbK, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Girl With the Sun in Her Head”, exhibition catalogue, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2013 “Utopien Vermeiden“ , exhibition catalogue, Werkleitz Festival 2013, Halle (Saale), Germany
2012 “Making Space”, Residency Diary, Global Art Progamme, Waiting for Expo 2015 Residency, Milano, Italy
2011 “Sketches”, XOXO Mag October Issue, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 “Correct Me If I'm Critical”, Berlin, Germany, exhibition map design, exhibition catalogue
Prizes and Fellowships:
2014- 15 Participant at Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2012 February- March, Global Art Programme, “Waiting for Expo 2015” Residency, Milano, Italy