Memed Erdener
Memed Erdener first started producing work under the name of Extrastruggle in 1997. Extrastruggle produced extrovert works with highly distinct references. As befits its name, this was a project of a struggle against the dogmatic propoganda system of T.C. (Republic of Turkey). His works were in constant strife with state ideology, and often with the holy taboo of Kemalism. Memed also created a critical approach to other dogmatic structures that are aiming to replace Kemalism. In doing all this, his distant and depersonalized political engagement rendered his own identity invisible. This was perhaps why Extrastruggle was often mistaken as a ‘group’ project.
Erdener’s selected solo shows and presentations include: Namelessform (Zilberman Berlin, 2023), Utopian Bureaucratic (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey, 2021), Beauty of Bigotry (Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2017), I Only Did What I Was Told To Do (Zilberman Gallery Istanbul, Turkey, 2016), Mom I’m Going Out to Pour Some Concrete (with Antonio Cosentino, Studio-X, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015), Solo Presentation (Volta11, Basel, Switzerland, 2015), There is No God in the Sky Only Birds (Gallery NON, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014), I Didn’t Do This, You Did (Gallery NON, Istanbul, Turkey, 2010) | Group shows: Dialogues: Memed Erdener & Eşref Yıldırım (Zilberman Dialogues, 2023), Mediations Biennial (ArtIstanbul Feshane, 2023), Landscape of Memories (Zilberman Miami, 2023), 2019 (Zilberman İstanbul, 2023), Transit (Zilberman Berlin, 2023), Ivy (Zilberman Istanbul, 2022), Atış Serbest: MECMU (Barın Han, Istanbul, Turkey, 2021), The Anarchistic Amateur’s Alphabet (< rotor > center for contemporary art, Graz, Austria, 2019), First Round (Galata Greek School, Istanbul, Turkey, 2018), The Red Gaze (Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2016), Istanbul Passion, Joy, Fury (The National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy, 2015), Minor Heroisms (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015), Objets Trouvés, Delvoyeurs (Galerie Didier Claes, Brussels, Belgium, 2015), Black&White (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2013; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2011), The 13th Biennial of Art: Pure Expression (Serbia, 2008) and 10th Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey, 2007).
> CV
> EXHIBITIONS
- Dialogues: Memed Erdener & Eşref Yıldırım
- Namelessform
- Landscape of Memories
- 2019
- Transit
- Vision, Mission, Values
- Ivy
- Ütopik Bürokratik
- Beauty of Bigotry
- THE RED GAZE
- I Only Did What I Was Told To Do
- Minor Heroisms