about
2015 to Present
an alternative art education program
NESIN ART VILLAGE
Işın Önol
1977 Turkey, Lives and works in New York
contact: isin(at)isinonol.com
Photograph by: Tobias Nöbauer
Isin Önol is a curator and writer based in New York. She has been working as an independent curator (predominantly in the USA, Austria and Turkey) since 2009. Before that, she led the Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art Istanbul as its director and curator for three years. (2006-2009)
She is a research scholar at the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University, New York, and a visiting professor at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Her research focuses on interconnecting archival information with oral histories to create platforms for collective memory through collaborative art practices.
Önol co-founded the Nesin Art Village, an independent art school in Şirince, Turkey. Her recent exhibitions include Thinking Food Futures (New York), Women Mobilizing Memory (Istanbul, Vienna, New York, Madrid), and When Home Won’t Let You Stay (Vienna). She co-curated the Sinopale International Sinop Biennial 4 and 5 (2012-14). She has produced more than 50 exhibitions internationally, and published on the intersection of social justice and art.
Since September 2017, she has been working as a visiting professor at the MFA and BFA programs at Montclair State University, New Jersey. In 2016-17, she worked as a visiting curator and critic at the Social Design – Art as Urban Innovation MA Program at University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria. In 2014-15 Önol worked as a guest lecturer at the Department of Digital Art at University of Applied Arts and as a guest curator at the Schauraum-Angewandte, Quartier21, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna. Besides regular teaching appointments, she gave number of lectures at School of Visual Arts, NY; New York University, NY; Parson School of Arts and Columbia University as well as various programs at Vienna University of Applied Arts, Austria.
In 2014 she was a curator in residency at Residency Unlimited, New York. She is a member of AICA-TR and IKT among other cultural organizations and associations. Isin Önol has been elected to the Board of Directors of Roberto Cimetta Fund for the period 2018-2021 and 2021-2024.
Önol is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Cultural Studies, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria. She has completed her Master of Advance Studies on Curating at ZHdK, Zürcher Hochschule der Kunst, Zürich, Switzerland (2009-2011). She participated to Ecole du Magasin, International Curatorial Training Programme, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France and Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course, Gwangju, South Korea (2009). She received her MFA in Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design from Sabanci University (2003), and her BA in Art Education from Marmara University (2000), Istanbul, Turkey.
ASSOCIATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS:
- Board Member, Roberta Cimetta Fund (first term: 2018-2021; second term: 2021-2024)
- Steering Committee Member, Research Institute on Turkey (2020 to Present)
- Member, Columbia University Center for the Study of Social Difference (2014 to Present)
- Member, Roberto Cimetta Fund (2013-2018)
- Member, IKT—International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (2015 to Present)
- Curatorial Member, Artist Pension Trust (2015-2017)
- Curatorial Committee Member, TRIAD—Towards Regional Integration of Artistic Development (2013 to Present)
- Board Member, Apartment Project Istanbul (2008-2014)
Önol was a curator in residence, at Residency Unlimited, NY in October 2014.
JURIES AND PORTFOLIO REVIEWS:
- Member of the Selection Committee, Rotary Art Fund, Istanbul (2021-ongoing)
- Member of the Selection Committee, Rotary Art Competition, Istanbul (2016-2021)
- Member of the Selection Committee, “Food Futures“, Residency Unlimited, NY (2020)
- Expert of the Selection Committee, Roberta Cimetta Fund (2018-2021)
- Portfolio Reviews, Residency Unlimited, NY (2013-2019)
- Portfolio Review, Transart Institute, NY (2019)
- Member of the Selection Committee —Selection of the participants to ISCP, NY, University of Fine Arts, Helsinki (2018)
- Selection and Public Conservations with Artists, Open Studio Day —Vienna Art Week, Vienna (2017)
- Portfolio Review, Nars Foundation, NY (2017)
- Portfolio Review, TransArts Department, University of Applied Arts, Vienna (2016)
- Member of the Selection Committee, Siemens Borders and Orbits, Art Competition, Istanbul (2015)
- Head of the Selection Committee, Young Fresh Different, Gallery Zilberman, Istanbul (2015)
Other inviting residency programs for portfolio reviews include: ISCP – International Studio & Curatorial Program, NY; Pioneer Works, NY; Abrons Art Center, NY
PRIMARY RESEARCH INTERESTS:
- Narrating, communicating, and reactivating archives and oral histories through exhibitions.
- Generating effective strategies for audience engagement and active participation in exhibition projects.
- Creating artistic and political platforms for collective memory as alternative histories to official narratives.
- Communicating the problems around the notions of diversity, community engagement, participation, discrimination, and otherness.
- Developing platforms for interrogating and problematizing the existing forms of art education, seeking for innovative methods and tools that are relevant to art production and its problems today.
EXHIBITIONS:
| January 2021 | THINKING FOOD FUTURES Online Exhibition hosted by Residency Unlimited Co-curated with Livia Alexander |
| June 2019 | WOMEN MOBILIZING MEMORY: ARTS OF INTERVENTION Moncloa Campus, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Co-curated with Marianne Hirsch |
| June 2019 | PREMIO NEW YORK Italian Cultural Institute, New York |
| April 2019 | THE NEW HUMAN AGENDA Akbank Sanat, Istanbul Co-curated with Livia Alexander |
| April 2018 | UNLEASHING Columbia University, Teachers College, New York Co-curated with Livia Alexander |
| March 2018 | CONTINUITY AND RUPTURE: AN ARMENIAN FAMILY ODYSSEY REVISITED BRAND LIBRARY & ART CENTER, Glendale, California |
| March 2018 | NONLINEAR HISTORIES: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY OF TRAUMA ReflectSpace Gallery, Downtown Central Library, Glendale, California Co-curated with Ara Oshagan & Anahid Oshagan |
| March 2018 | PROSPERITY, LOSS, AND SURVIVAL: A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY fROM THE DILDILIAN FAMILY ARCHIVE PassageWay, Downtown Central Library, Glendale, California Co-curated with Armen T. Marsoobian |
| December 2017 | CONTINUITY AND RUPTURE: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE DILDILIAN FAMILY ARCHIVE Columbia University, International Affairs Building, 4th Floor Gallery |
| November 2017 | CULTIVATED MEMORY: ARCHAEOLOGIES OF THE IMAGINED Peninsula Art Space, 352 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY |
| September 2017 | BLACK NOISE AKSANAT, Istanbul, Turkey Co-curated with Ekmel Ertan |
| September 2017 | HOME IS A PLACE CALLED NEVER: DIDEM ERK Gallery X-ist, Istanbul, Turkey |
| March 2017 | ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? – VOICES OF CONSCIENCE AT TIME OF SILENCING Steirische Kultur Initiative, Graz, Austria |
| February 2017 | ONLINE TUESDAYS//PROJECT FORGIVENESS: VITA ERUHIMOVITZ & RONIT LEVIN DELGADO Chashama, New York |
| November 2016 | ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?: BERAT ISIK DEPO, Istanbul, Turkey |
| October 2016 | WORDS NUMBERS LINES: BILGE FRIEDLAENDER ARTER; Istanbul, Turkey Co-curated with Mira Firedlaender |
| September 2016 | A LIFE OVERFLOWING: AZIZ NESIN 1915-2015 Cankaya Municipality Center for Contemporary Art, Ankara, Turkey |
| May 2016 | WHEN HOME WON’T LET YOU STAY Angewandte, Heiligenkreuzer Hof, Vienna |
| April 2016 | SHADOW COMMUNITIES in der Kubatur des Kabinetts der Kunstsalon im Fluc, Vienna |
| December 2015 | A LIFE OVERFLOWING: AZIZ NESIN 1915-2015 Adnan Saygun Kültür Merkezi, Izmir, Turkey |
| November 2015 | A LIFE OVERFLOWING: AZIZ NESIN 1915-2015 Nazim Hikmet Kültürevi, Bursa, Turkey |
| September 2015 | COLLABORATIVE ARCHIVES: CONNECTIVE HISTORIES LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, USA Co-curated with Katherine Cohn |
| June 2015 | A LIFE OVERFLOWING: AZIZ NESIN 1915-2015 Depo, Istanbul, Turkey |
| March 2015 | MOBILIZING MEMORY – VIENNA Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria Co-curated with Ayse Gül Altinay |
| February 2015 | DISSONANCE: TRANSGRESSED BOUNDARIES BETWEEN DESIRE AND FEAR, Percept Art, Mumbai, India Co-curated with Jesal Thacker |
| December 2014 | FINALLY FEELING FINE? A solo exhibition by Pinar Yoldas Schauraum Angewandte, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria |
| September 2014 | MOBILIZING MEMORY: WOMEN WITNESSING Depo Istanbul, Turkey Co-curated with Ayse Gül Altinay |
| July 2014 | CLUSTERS AND CRYSTALS: OBSERVING AT POINT ZERO Sinopale 5,5th Edition of International Sinop Biennial co-curated with Aslı Çetinkaya| ElkeFalat | Melih Gorgun | Dimitrina Sevova |
| June 2014 | STROKE A solo exhibition by Ali Miharbi Schauraum Angewandte, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria |
| May 2014 | ELECTRICKLE A solo exhibition by Mirko Lazovic Schauraum Angewandte, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria |
| May 2014 | THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS A Solo exhibition by Olivier Hölzl Oben, Vienna, Austria |
| April 2014 | LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: ON AUTHORITY, OBEDIENCE, AND CONTROL Muse Istanbul, Turkey |
| January 2014 | OPEN SYSTEMS 1-01-04/13 GPL Contemporary, Vienna, Austria co-curated with Federica Bueti, Walter Seidl, and Aneta Stojnić |
| January 2014 | INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS, Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey |
| April 2013 | WITH/IN/SIGNIFICANT OTHER, Open Systems, Vienna, Austria |
| May 2013 | LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY DELETING…, GPL Contemporary, Vienna, Austria |
| September 2012 | TACTICAL TOPICS – TOPICAL TACTICS, Media-Scape Biennale, Zagreb, Croatia co-curated with Ingeborg Fülepp | Sibylle Hoessler | Iva Kovac | Dimitrina Sevova |
| August 2012 | WISDOM OF SHADOW: ART IN THE ERA OF CORRUPTED INFORMATION 4th Sinopale, International Sinop Biennale, Sinop, Turkey co-curated with Aslı Çetinkaya | ElkeFalat | Melih Gorgun | Dimitrina Sevova |
| June 2012 | IN GROWING UP AMID THE HISTORICAL MYSTERIES OF PROXIMITY: PROS & CONS OF BEING NEIGHBOURS, ITS-Z1, Belgrade, Serbia co-curated with Dimitrina Sevova |
| March 2012 | EMBEDDEDINVISIBLE Hu.fAk-off Space, Vienna, Austria |
| January 2012 | INVISIBLE CITY – TECHNOLOGIES OF THE BODY Wäsherei-Kunstverein Zurich, Switzerland co-curated with Dimitrina Sevova |
| June 2011 | FASCINATIONS WITH CAST SHADOWS: ARTISTIC AND CURATORIAL PERSPECTIVES RE-VISITED MAS Curating ZHdK, White Space, Zurich, Switzerland (A documentary research exhibition in participation with the program participants) |
| October 2010 | HANDLE WITH CARE Uni-Credit Studio, Milan, Italy co-curated with Maja Ciric and Vyara Mlechevska |
| June 2009 | SERIOUSLY IRONIC: POSITIONS IN TURKISH CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland co-curated with Dolores Denaro |
| May 2009 | GETTING EVEN Sabanci University Kasa Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey |
| December 2008 | PRIVACY La Giarina Arte Contemporanea, Verona, Italy co-curated with Elena Forin |
| October 2008 | ACUMMULATED: PUT ASIDE, LEFT ASIDE 5533, Istanbul, Turkey co-curated with Aslı Çetinkaya |
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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
| 2020 | |
| Maja Vukoje. On the Edge Paperback, November 2020 Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter und Franz König Editor: Luisa Ziaja |
Structures of Displacement Paperback, November 2020 Birkhäuser Basel Editors: Baerbel Mueller, Frida Robles |
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| 2019 | |
| Women Mobilizing Memory Paperback, August 2019, Columbia University Press Editors: Ayşe Gül Altınay, María José Contreras, Marianne Hirsch, Jean Howard, Banu Karaca, and Alisa Solomon |
Ne Oralı Ne Buralı (Turkish) Paperback, August 2019 Karakarga Publications Editor: Işıl Öz |
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| 2018 | |
| Authoritarianism and Resistance in Turkey: Conversations on Democratic and Social Challenges Hardcover – July 23, 2018, Springer Publishing Editors: Esra Özyürek, Gaye Özpınar, Emrah Altındis |
The Challenges of Mobility: Research, Debates and Practices Hardcover, July 01, 2105, Cambridge Scholars Publishing Editors: Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio, Serene Huleileh |
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| 2018 | |
| MEDIATIONS: SUSAN MEISELAS Hardcover, March 2018, Paris Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Jeu de Paume, Damiani, SFMOMA |
ENDLESS BODIES OF WORK: RICHARD JOCHUM September 2017 , Austrian Frederick and Lilian Kiesler Private Foundation |
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EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
| THE NEW HUMAN AGENDA (In Progress – 2019) April 2019 Akbank Sanat Istanbul |
NONLINEAR HISTORIES: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY OF TRAUMA March 2018 Reflect Art Space, Glandale, LA |
Fragility of _kin Montclair State University College of Arts MFA Program Studio Art Thesis Show American Medium Gallery, NY |
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| 2018 | ||
| UNLEASHING (In Progress – 2018) Columbia University Teachers College, NY |
BLACK NOISE September 2017 Akbank Sanat, Istanbul |
HOME IS A PLACE CALLED NEVER: DIDEM ERK September 2017 X-Ist, Istanbul |
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| 2016 | ||
| WORDS NUMBERS LINES BILGE FRIEDLAENDER October 2016 ARTER Istanbul, Turkey |
WHEN HOME WON’T LET YOU STAY Manuel Print, May 2016, Angewandte, Heiligenkreuzerhof Vienna, Austria |
MOTHER TONGUE A visual journey inside heritage, gender politics and war Hardcover , 2015 Oslo, Norway |
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| 2015 | ||
| A LIFE OVERFLOWING Aziz Nesin 1915 – 2015 UNWRITTEN AUTOBIOGRAPHY Hardcover, September 2015, Istanbul |
UNWRITTEN AUTOBIOGRAPHY AZIZ NESIN 1925 – 2015 June 2015 Depo Istanbul, Turkey |
YAZILMAMIS ÖZYASAMÖYKÜSÜ: AZIZ NESIN 1915-2015 June 2015 Depo Istanbul, Turkey |
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| 2014 | ||
| WOMEN MOBILIZING MEMORY COLLABORATIVE ARCHIVES: CONNECTIVE HISTORIES September 2015 LeRoy Neiman Gallery, NY |
MOBILIZING MEMORY – VIENNA March 2015 Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna, Austria |
MOBILIZING MEMORY – VIENNA (Booklet) March 2015 Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna, Austria |
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| 2014 | ||
| MOBILIZING MEMORY: WOMEN WITNESSING September 2014 Depo Istanbul, Turkey |
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: ON AUTHORITY, OBEDIENCE, AND CONTROL April 2014, Muse, Istanbul, Turkey |
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS January 2014 Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey |
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| 2014 | ||
| TACTICAL TOPICS TOPICAL TACTICS September 2012 Media-Scape Biennale, Zagreb, Croatia |
SERIOUSLY IRONIC: POSITIONS IN TURKISH CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE June 2009 Biel, Center Pasquart, Switzerland |
L’ALBA DI DOMANI / THE DOWN OF TOMORROW March 2008, Elgiz Museum Istanbul, Turkey |
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“Işın Önol”, “ışın önol” “Isin Önol” “Isin Onol”