Azade Köker

Prof. Azade Köker (b. 1949, Turkey) explores the relationships between society, identity, gender, city, and nature through various forms of expression. Beginning her artistic practice as a sculptor, Köker reinterprets narratives formed by mythology and art history from a contemporary perspective, questioning the social position of women and nature.

Köker began her artistic production with ceramics and later gradually evolved into a hybrid narrative form encompassing different disciplines such as collage, sculpture, and installation. Composite and multi-layered nature is not merely a formal element in Köker’s works; it also becomes a roadmap that questions the intertwining of cultural, political, and historical layers.

Köker constructs images of a nature that has been interfered with by humans and a female body that has been subjected to oppression. The repetitions, transitions, and encounters of modern life find expression in the artist's works through layers that are repeated on the surface.

Azade Köker lives and works between Berlin and Istanbul. She used to be a professor at the Braunschweig Technical University, Berlin, Germany. Her recent solo exhibitions include: Stolon (Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, 2026), Murder of a Mannequin (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2021), Verblendet (Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, 2018), Everywhere, Nowhere (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, 2016), Azade Köker (Proje 4L, Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, 2015), Moving Spaces (Zilberman Gallery, 2013), Human Nature (Milli Reasürans Art Gallery, Istanbul, 2007), Transparenz der Abwesentheit (Otto-Gallery, Münich, 2004), and Transparenz des Gartens (Kunstverein, Bielefeld, 2001); and her recent group exhibitions include: Manifesta 16 Ruhr (Germany, 2026), Staged (Arkas Sanat Alaçatı, İzmir, Turkey, 2025), There is no there there (Museum für Moderne Kunst/MMK,2024), Women Defining Women (LACMA, Los Angeles, 2023), Everything will be just like now – just a little different (Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Austria, 2023), Resonating Tides (Women's pavilion of Expo City Dubai, 2023), Under Two Suns (OMM-Odunpazarı Modern Müze, Eskişehir, Turkey, 2023), Interactions (Istanbul Modern Art Museum, 2021), At The End of the Day (OMM-Odunpazarı Modern Museum, Eskişehir, Turkey, 2020), Nature in Art (MOCAK, Krakow, Poland, 2019), The Spirit of the Poet (Zentrum für verfolgte Künste, Solingen, Germany, 2019), Ultrahabitat (Zilberman Gallery Berlin, 2016), Minor Heroism (Zilberman Gallery, İstanbul, 2015), Meeting Point (Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany, 2015) and Dream and Reality (Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 2011).

Her works are in numerous public and corporate collections including Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) Frankfurt, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles; Akbank, Istanbul; The British Museum, London; Berlinische Gallery, Berlin; Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul; Lebendiges Museum, Berlin; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin; Istanbul Modern Museum. She has public sculptures in Cuvry-Brunnen (Berlin), Bundesgartenschau (Berlin), Menschenlandschaften (Berlin), Frechen Museum (Düsseldorf), Bremen-Nord Zentralkrankenhaus (Bremen), Schule am Barbarossaplatz (Berlin), Schlosspark (Wolfsburg), Building of Turkish Embassy (Japan), Altınpark (Ankara), Istanbul Stock Exchange (Istanbul), Aspat Art Park (Bodrum) and Park of German Embassy (Ankara).