mertufan@gmail.com
Merve Ertufan makes installations, videos, sound-arrangements, texts and objects. Her practice engages with what might be called the microphysics of the mind, observing inconsistencies, gaps and dead-ends in language and habit. Speech, written text and gestural detours of the body frequently combine to form game-like relationships, with compulsive paradoxes, stories, questions and riddles informing their play.
Merve's works have been featured in museums and institutions such as Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2026), Thailand Biennale Phuket (2025), Serendipity Arts Festival (2025), Liquid Architecture (2025), Arter (2013), Tanas (2014), Zilberman Gallery (2022), Bahar, the Istanbul off-site project of Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017), with two solo exhibitions - at at Depo (2020), and Bilsart (2022). She was part of the SAHA Studio program in Istanbul (2023), and a fellow at the Home Workspace Program, Ashkal Alwan in Beirut (2016).
2015-2016: Fellowship, Home Workspace Program (HWP), Ashkal Alwan, Beirut/Lbn
2008-2010: MFA, Art in the Public Realm, Konstfack, Stockholm/Swe
2003-2007: BFA, Visual Arts, Sabancı University, Istanbul/Tr
Mar-Sep 2023: SAHA Studio, Istanbul/Tr
Apr-July 2013: PIRPIR studios, Pangalti, Istanbul/Tr
Jun-July 2010: Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo/Jp
Apr-Aug 2008: Art Center Istanbul, Borusan, Istanbul/Tr
2016: Bstart Production Fund, Istanbul/Tr
2009: Beata Brummers Foundation, Project grant for "me | you", Stockholm/Swe
2009: ResArtis Award, at BJCEM, Skopje/Mkd
Review 2023: Çift dikiş, Tekrar, bir nakış, Baştan. By Oğulcan Yiğit Özdemir. Art Unlimited. 18/Jan/2023.
https://www.unlimitedrag.com/post/cift-dikis-tekrar-bir-nakis-bastan
Interview, 2021: Riddles, Deaths, and Detours. By Tomris Melis Golar. Borderless, Jan, 2021.
https://www.border-l-e-s-s.com/merveertufan
Video Tour, 2021: Sergezen: "Waiting on a Scratch". By Onagöre. Manifold, 15/01/2021.
https://manifold.press/sergezen-merve-ertufan-kafakurcalayan
Review 2021: Bir çift mavi-siyah kabuk. By Sena Başöz. Art Unlimited. Jan-Feb 2021.
https://www.unlimitedrag.com/post/bir-çift-mavi-siyah-kabuk
Exhibition text, 2020: Art, existence and mind games. By L. İpek Ulusoy Akgül. ‘Waiting on a scratch’ exhibition flyer, Depo Istanbul.
Feature, 2020: Devir Teslim. Art Unlimited. Feb, 2020.
https://www.unlimitedrag.com/post/devir-teslim
Review, 2017: Merve Ertufan, Geriye Doğru: İki-Yüzlü Hatıralar Üzerine. By Naci Emre Boran. Sanat Dünyamız, Issue No:161. Nov- Dec 2017. YKY
Interview, 2016: Merve Ertufan. By Yasemin Özcan, XOXO The Mag, Feb 2016.
https://xoxodigital.com/post/8624/merve-ertufan
Review, 2015: Sohbetin Profesyonelleri ve Aşıkları. By Süreyyya Evren. Istanbul Art News, Jan 2015.
http://surmetinler.blogspot.com/2015/01/sohbetin-profesyonelleri-ve-asiklari.html
Interview, 2013: Iltifatlar ve Taklitçiler. By Didem Sandıkçı. artam Global Art & Design. Issue No:25. Nov-Dec 2013.
Feature, 2013: Merve Ertufan: Haklı Olan Kazansın. By Hüseyin Sidar Emen. Sanatatak.
http://www.sanatatak.com/view/merve-ertufan-hakli-olan-kazansin
Review, 2013: What's Up: Istanbul. By HG Masters. Art Asia Pacific.
http://www.artasiapacific.com/Blog/WhatsUpIstanbul
Exhibition text, 2013: If you envy me, I'll envy you. By Başak Doğa Temür. Envy, Enmity, Embarrassment Catalogue 1/2, Arter.
Review, 2013: Eski İtirazlar, Yeni İtiraflar. By Fatih Özgüven. Radikal, 03/02/2013.
Review, 2010: Två dåliga förlorare? By Mats Granberg. Norrköpings tidningar, 21/09/10.
2022: Can an answer be surprising?, Bilsart, Istanbul/Tr
2020: Waiting on a scratch, Depo, Istanbul/Tr
2010: Repeaters, Verkstad, Norrköping/Swe
2010: Jet-lagged, Open Studio, Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo/Jp
2009: "me | you" in Vita Havet, Konstfack, Stockholm/Swe
2025:"Everyday is a Negotiation", published as part of "Matter Mattering Matters", edited by Kabelo Malatsie & Lantian Xie, Kunsthalle Bern & Mousse Publ., CH & IT
2024: "Notes on Isonomia, Origins of Philosophy & Interview with Kojin Karatani", written in collaboration with Mochu, published by YAZ Publications, Sharjah Biennial 16, UE
2020: "Tumbling down with careful steps", artist book, Onagöre, TR
2026: In Interludes and Transitions, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh/SAU
2025: Scores in Transit, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa/IN
2025: Thailand Biennale, Phuket 2025, Eternal [Kalpa], Phuket/TH
2025: Cycloidal Address, Sophie-Gips-Höfe (red corridor), Berlin/Deu
2025: Again and Again and Again, HilbertRaum, Berlin/Deu
2025: Recompositions, Liquid Architecture & West Space, Melbourne, AU
2025: The place we do not know is the place we are looking for, Liquid Architecture & West Space, Melbourne, AU
2023: Would you share your gold medal?, SVA Curatorial Practice, New York/USA
2023: Open Studio, SAHA Studio, Istanbul/Tr
2022: From the Top, On Repeat, Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul/Tr
2022: Lorem Ipsum, O’art, Istanbul/Tr
2020: Billboard Istanbul 2020, Istanbul/Tr
2020: The New Chronic, Corridor Project Space, Amsterdam/Nld
2019: Devir, Galeri 5, Istanbul/Tr
2017: BAHAR, The Istanbul Off-site Project for Sharjah Biennial 13, Istanbul/Tr
2016: Play is Freedom, Bstart, Istanbul/Tr
2016: Open Studio, HWP, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut/Lbn
2015: Take You There Radio, École du Magasin, Magasin-CNAC, Grenoble/Fr
2015: MABL- Mobile Artist's Books Library, Istanbul/Tr
2014: Produce 2, SPOT Project Fund, Istanbul/Tr
2014: Liebe, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein/Deu
2014: Character, Gallery Tankut Aykut, Istanbul/Tr
2013: Schwanengesang (Swan Song), Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin/Deu
2013: Suspended Song, Co-Pilot Gallery, Istanbul/Tr
2013: ISKELE 2. The Unanswered Question, TANAS, Berlin/Deu
2013: Ward Robe in Spare Oom, Gallery 1:10 at Konsthall K, Karlstad/Swe
2013: Ward Robe in Spare Oom, Gallery 1:10 at Galleri Verkligheten, Umeå/Swe
2013: Envy, Enmity, Embarrassment, Arter, Istanbul/Tr
2012: Pnin, Exhausted, Open Studio, Stockholm/Swe
2011: Liljevalchs Vårsalongen, Stockholm/Swe
2011: I Am Not A Poet, Totalkunst Gallery, Edinburgh/Uk
2010: Degree Exhibition, Konstfack College of Arts, Design and Crafts, Stockholm/Swe
2009: 4th International Biennale for Artists Books, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria/Egy
2009: 14th Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and Mediterranean, Skopje/Mkd
2009: Skopje0909, Kasa Galeri, Istanbul/Tr