Köken Ergun

posted by: Esra Sarigedik Oektem

Born in Istanbul, in 1976, Köken Ergun studied acting at the Istanbul University and completed his postgraduate diploma degree in Classics at King's College London, followed by an MA degree in Visual Communication Design at the Bilgi University. After working with American theatre director Robert Wilson, Ergun became involved more with contemporary art, specifically video and performance. He has exhibited internationally at institutions including Platform Garanti (Istanbul), Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Arts (Helsinki), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Digital ArtLab (Tel Aviv), Casino Luxembourg, Heidelberger Kunstverein and Kunsthalle Winterthur. Ergun's video works are included in public collections such as the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens). Having a focus on rituals in his works Ergun has been recently collaborating with ethnologists extending his practice to academia. He is currently writing his PhD thesis at the Interart Graduate College of the Freie University on the subject of "€œRituals of Isolation: Emotional Bonding in Wedding Ceremonies of the Turkish-German Community in Berlin".