Biography
Ergin Çavuşoğlu was born in 1968 in Targovishte, Bulgaria and studied at the National School of Fine Arts Iliya Petrov in Sofia in the early 1980s. He received a BA from the University of Marmara, Istanbul, an MA from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth. Çavuşoğlu co-represented Turkey at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. He was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures Prize in 2004, and in 2010 for Artes Mundi 4 – the UK's largest art prize. Çavuşoğlu lives and works in London, where he is currently Professor of Contemporary Art at Middlesex University.
Solo exhibitions include, Which Sun Gazed Down on Your Last Dream?, Rampa, Istanbul (2016); Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2016); Liquid Breeding, YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Baku (2015); Dust Breeding, The Pavilion, Dubai (2011); Alterity, Rampa, Istanbul (2011); Crystal & Flame, PEER, London (2010); Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2009); Place after Place, Kunstverein Freiburg (2008). Group exhibitions include But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano (GAM) (2018); On Anam? Where are we going?, Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma (2018); Your Story! Geschichten von Flucht und Migration, Kunsthalle Emden (2017); But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016); Artists in Their Time, Istanbul Modern (2015); 4th International Canakkale Biennial (2014); First Kiev International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2012); Paradise Lost, Istanbul Modern Art Museum (2011); Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010); fast forward 2 The Power of Motion, Media Art Sammlung Goetz, ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe (2010); All Inclusive – A Tourist World, Schirn Kunsthalle (2008), Frankfurt; the British Art Show 6 (2005); the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003); and the 3rd Berlin Biennial (2003).
About
Central to Çavuşoğlu’s practice are concepts and themes that probe the notions of place, liminality and the conditions of cultural production, which he has been exploring in a diversity of media, including film, video and sound installations, sculpture, painting and drawing. The explorations of these ideas have manifested themselves in architecturally and sonically complex types of video and sound installations and sculptures such as, Percé Rock (2016), Desire Lines /Tarot & Chess/ (2016), Lundy, Louis, Barge and Troy (2014), And I Awoke (2012), Crystal & Flame (2010), Backbench (2010), Mountain Bike (2010), Liminal Crossing (2009), Voyage of no Return (2009), Silent Glide (2008-09), Point of Departure (2006) and Poised in the Infinite Ocean (2004) among others.
With several contrasting elements at play Çavuşoğlu’s practice displays a complex process of cultural translation, which ultimately creates its own temporality and spatial dynamics. This is mostly evident in the construct of exhibitions and site-specific projects, such as the recent presentations of the anamorphic drawing Dust Breeding (2011-18) and the video installation Crystal & Flame (2010) at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2016 and Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano (GAM) in 2018, and the installation of Liquid Breeding (2015) at a historic public square in Baku. Furthermore, his last solo exhibition at Rampa Istanbul entitled Which Sun Gazed Down on Your Last Dream? (2016), brought together disparate elements from multitude of historical art and literary references to weave a tableau largely critical of current modes of artistic production and conceptual thinking. This new body of work acted as a critical discourse around representability, and a manipulation of perspective, space and time. Furthermore, the works on display reiterated his interest in the Bretonian surrealism and Duchampian thinking by probing the notions of ‘post-object’ and earlier forms of ‘post-minimalism’. Overall Ergin Çavuşoğlu’s works broadly consider the human impulse to see patterns and meanings in otherwise random everyday events, objects and images. The fragmentation of his practice is ostensible, as Çavuşoğlu sees his expansive practice as accumulative yet inquisitively reductive rather than linearly progressive. Çavuşoğlu’s expansive video and film practice frequently alludes to themes in reflective relationships positioning them within geo-political, philosophical and literary contexts.
Gallery
Ergin Cavusoglu
Lundy, Louis, Barge and Troy, 2014.
Video installation
Details
- Photographer: Chroma (André Carvalho & Tuğba Karatop)
- Material: Two channel synchronised (1080x1920) HD video, sound, MDF. Duration: 6:31 min
- Width: 2600.00 mm Height: 3220.00 mm Depth: 453.00 mm
- Sizes: Dimensions: H260 cm x W322 cm x D45.3 cm
- Property of: Chroma (André Carvalho & Tuğba Karatop)
- Description: Installation view RAMPA, Istanbul, 2016
- Copyright: Courtesy the artist, the 4th International Çanakkale Biennial and Büro Sarıgedik, Istanbul
- References: Installation view the 4th International Çanakkale Biennial
Ergin Cavusoglu
Dust Breeding, 2016.
Installation
Details
- Photographer: David Heald©SRGF, NY and Will Ragozzino©SRGF, NY
- Material: Vinyl, closed-circuit video camera, and monitor
- Sizes: Dimensions variable
- Property of: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Description: Installation views: But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, April 29-October 5, 2016, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Copyright: Courtesy the artist and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
- References: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano (GAM)
UBS
Ergin Cavusoglu
Desire Lines /Tarot & Chess/, 2016.
Video installation
Details
- Photographer: Tomas Uyttendaele
- Material: Single channel HD (2048 x 853) video, audio. Duration: 29:11 min
- Sizes: Dimensions variable
- Property of: Extra City Kunsthal
- Description: Installation view Extra City Kunsthal, 2016
- Copyright: Courtesy the artist, Extra City Kunsthal, Platform 0090 and FLACC
- References: Extra City Kunsthal, Platform 0090 and FLACC, Belgium. SAHA, Istanbul.
Ergin Cavusoglu
Crystal & Flame, 2010.
Video installation
Details
- Photographer: C. Dorley-Brown
- Material: Four channel synchronised (1920x1080) HD video installation, sound. Duration: total 38:15 min
- Sizes: Dimensions variable
- Property of: C. Dorley-Brown
- Description: Installation view PEER, London, 2010
- Copyright: Courtesy the artist, Film and Video Umbrella, London and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
- References: Film and Video Umbrella, London
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
PEER, London
Ergin Cavusoglu
Percé Rock, 2016.
Sculpture
Details
- Photographer: Chroma (André Carvalho & Tuğba Karatop)
- Material: Cast polyurethane resin, MDF
- Width: 30.00 mm Height: 200.00 mm Depth: 35.00 mm
- Sizes: 30 x 200 x 35 cm (without plinth), 100 x 230 x 70 cm (with plinth)
- Property of: Ergin Cavusoglu
- Description: Installation view Rampa Istanbul, 2016
- Copyright: Courtesy the artist and Büro Sarıgedik, Istanbul
- References: Büro Sarıgedik, Istanbul