Art & Art History
Special Series in Public Art, Social Justice, and Human Rights: Hakan Topal
Gallery 400 Lecture Room
400 South Peoria Street
Hakan Topal will discuss the development of his art and research practice through a wide range of his projects since the late 90s. Topal s interdisciplinary approach incorporates research that blurs the boundaries between art, technology, and social sciences in an effort to cross-examine the historical and contemporary particularities of geopolitical contexts and to render visible multiple informative layers inherent in particular subjects or situations. He was the co-founder of international art collective, xurban_collective (2000-12) and has exhibited his collective and individual art works and research projects extensively, in institutions such as apexart, New York; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany; and MoMA PS1. Topal s work was also featured in the 8th and 9th Istanbul Biennials, the 49th Venice Biennial Turkish Pavilion, and the 9th Gwangju Biennial. He currently serves as graduate faculty in New York University s School of Visual Arts Fine Arts Department and teaches in CUNY s Department of Media Culture.