I graduated with a bachelor degree in Art-Literature-Media from the University of Constance and finished my Master studies in European politics at the Viadrina University of Europe and the Bilgi University Istanbul. Currently I am a doctoral candidate at Newcastle University in the department of Media-Culture-Heritage. As a Northern Bridge DTP / AHRC funded PhD student I write my thesis on dynamics of exclusion and belonging in Berlin’s art scene with a focus on contemporary artists from Turkey, which I plan to finish in February 2024.
From 2017 until 2019 I have been living in Istanbul, where I completed my Master thesis with the title ‚Manufacturing Culture. Cultural Agents from Turkey arriving in Berlin‘ (published 2019) at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/ Oder. I extended my stay to work as a media advisor for the German Orient-Institute Istanbul, which undertakes research in turcology and regional studies for the Max Weber Foundation and supports the scholarly exchange between Turkey and Germany.
For my PhD I moved to Newcastle in North England in 2019. There I felt well supported to conduct my research on art and migration, which I am approaching with an interdisciplinary perspective. I am particularly interested in anthropology, historiography, art history, urban studies, visual culture and methods as well as emotion studies. Guiding questions are: How do artists from abroad experience institutions in Germany? How do such experiences translate into artworks? Does a specific historical context matter? Against this background I focus at the moment on the relationships between Turkey and Germany and dedicated much of my previous publications to this topic as an academic and a freelance journalist for various online media, such as Süddeutsche Zeitung, Selbstdarstellungssucht and taz.gazete.
My research also helped me disentangle the cultural funding landscape in Germany (Berlin). I applied this knowledge working for the Kulturförderpunkt, a platform for artists, and cultural associations, in Berlin.
Further, I follow my interest in design and technology learning more about generative AI applied in the cultural domain and strengthening my expertise in web-design which I applied in my previous role as a media developer for the EDU-werkstatt.
Amongst my recent publications is a book review of Banu Karaca’s ‚The National Frame. Art and State Violence in Turkey and Germany‘ (2021), an article on immersive exhibitions ‚Immerse Yourselves!‘ and my research paper ‚Women in Leadership positions in Germany and Turkey – a comparison‘ (2018), for which I received the Student Paper Award “Gender Equality in the Labour Market in Europe and Turkey“.