Merve Cansiz | Local on-site Group, Berlin/Germany

Merve Cansiz is currently studying Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in the class of Prof. Dr. Hito Steyer.

“I have over a decade of working experience in the field of empowerment with marginalised communities. When I think of my art productions, my strength is that the subjects are private and intimate to me, though I still explore them from a wider aspect. Most of the time intuitively or randomly I record audio and visual and then I spend days or weeks attempting to understand context through the forms of biographical elements, narrative politics and social perspectives. I explore themes such as belonging, affect, identity, gender, community, traditions and kinship. And the more I try to produce art, the more I crave to strengthen my critical approach through theory and feel the need to learn about more scientific approaches.

One of the topics I am currently working on is the feminist consciousness-raising tool within the context of object-oriented memory transfer over the relations between generations and I have been collaborating with researchers from other disciplines for a while. This is exactly why the LIVING MEMORIALS project excited me very much. We question Memory as space against the crisis of liberal identity politics and democracy through our current research and artistic practices with Recep Özdaş and we are grateful for the ‘’space’’ that the LIVING MEMORIALS project offers us.”