Artist Walk​​ with Artistic Director, Umut Azad Akkel | THE PATH

Artistic director of THE PATH, Umut Azad Akkel, will give a guided tour of the exhibiton at Oyoun and talk about the process of the project and the outcomes. After visiting the indoor exhibition, there will be a walk to the public installation in Tempelhofer Feld.

Umut Azad Akkel was born in 1991 in Izmir, Turkey. Between 2010-2015 he lived in Istanbul and studied industrial product design. Since 2015 he has been living and working in Berlin. Since 2016 he has been studying at the Berlin University of the Arts, in the Weber class. He has practiced visual art, product design and curated cultural seminars (such as 'Fava Connection' and 'Iran 101' ). He is one of the co-founders of the initiative I.D.A. (Intersectionality / Diversity / Antidiscrimination) at the Berlin University of the Arts. He is a member of the Soltity Collectives (Experimental Group Visual Arts) and the BBK Berlin (Professional Association of Visual Artists). In 2020 he was awarded the DAAD Prize.

Photo: © Ilyas Hayta

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What do we experience in the metropoles of today’s world and what do the metropoles experience? Amidst all the flux of migration, gentrification and rapid urban change is the metropole able to contain us and vice versa? What if the paths we take every day start from nowhere and lead nowhere? Is it a togetherness that we experience or is it an 'otherness´' with a potential? What are the results, alternatives, solutions and what can art´'s role be in this process?

THE PATH is a multidisciplinary art project that problematises the relationship between the metropole and the individual from a queer, feminist point of view. Inspired by the pedestrian bridges over the highways in İstanbul, the participatory public installation at Tempelhofer Feld by Umut Azad Akkel invites the participants to an experience simulating the complex character of our co-existence with/within/despite the metropole.

Similarly, the events designed and planned around the conceptual basis of the installation, that will take place at Tempelhofer Feld and at Oyoun will create an experiential and intellectual hub for analyzing our complex being within/with/despite the metropole. The overall perspective of the series of events will be approaching the theme from multiple views and raising critical questions about all its complexity. The focus will be Berlin and Istanbul as two interrelated metropoles and the flux of migration between the two with its implications and possible historical as well as recent meanings.

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Please note: To take part in events at Oyoun or visit our exhibitions, you need to have a negative corona test from the same day or proof of vaccination / recovery. FFP2 Masks are mandatory at Oyoun until further notice. Further information about our hygiene concept can be found here: oyoun.de/hygienekonzept

THE PATH was produced by Oyoun in collaboration with Umut Azad Akkel as artistic director and Şehnaz Layıkel as lead curator. It was funded by the Lotto Stiftung and UdK KKWV.

See full programme of events here: https://oyoun.de/event/the-path