Through my work I give people an opportunity to experience frontiers and do things that are not normally part of their lives. In my work people take on the role, as I do myself, of the visitor, observer, audience and participant. Positions generally emerge in the process. The artistic encounter with various cultures necessarily touches upon themes including politics and religion.
In all cultures and their manifestations, the desire for maximal validation unites politics and religion. The individual person is subordinated to society. Exclusion and segregation, already commonplace and pervasive, are harnessed, discarded, and wielded for personal gain in religion and politics arbitrarily and irrespective of cultural identities. My work can be understood as an attempt at regard- ing roles and social norms across spaces and cultures. I have become known internationally for my cross-disciplinary performances and installations that focus on gender roles and sensitive political and religious themes in multicultural contexts. I incorporate the audience into my performances, challenging it using symbolic objects and situations. Alongside performance and installation I use sculpture and photography to best express and convey my artistic concerns.
Selected Awards & Fellowships:
2025: Fellowship, Robert Wilson Foundation / Watermill Center, New York
2021: Art Prize of the Städtische Galerie Nordhorn (nordhorn.de)
2021: Research Stipend, Senate of Berlin
2020: Fellowship, Tarabya Cultural Academy
2018: “Derik” Project Support, Badischer Kunstverein
2011: Kassel Art Prize – Dr. Wolfgang Zippel Foundation, Kassel
2011: UPK Art Prize
2009-2010: Otto Braun Foundation Scholarship, University of Kassel
2009: Scholarship for Foreign Students, University of Kassel
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions:
Lass deinen Regen regnen (Kendi Yağmurunu Yağdırmak) — Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2025 (solo) (kunsthalle-baden-baden.de)
Silence — HKW, Berlin, 2025
Mitgift — KIF - Kunst im Fenster, Berlin, 2024 (solo)
Drei Hubwagen ein Blatt Papier — Neues Museum Nürnberg, 2024
Wer wir sind (Who We Are) — Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany, 2024
Durchlässigkeit — Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, 2022 (solo) (kulturakademie-tarabya.de)
Empowerment — Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2022
Der Wald war noch nackt — Galeri Nev, Ankara, 2022 (solo)
Global Artfestival Siebte Sünde Faulheit, Die Lippen der schönen Damen — Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 2021
Studio Bosporus — Kulturakademie Tarabya / Kunstraum Bethanien, 2021
State and Nature — Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2021
Alone Together — STUK, Leuven, Belgium, 2019-2020 (kulturakademie-tarabya.de)
Words Are Very Unnecessary — Arter, Istanbul, 2019-2020 (kulturakademie-tarabya.de)
Cuma — Edition Block, Berlin, 2018 (solo) (kulturakademie-tarabya.de)
Derık — Badischer Kunstverein, 2018 (solo)
Dialoge — London Art Fair, 2018
Kuss — Bröhan-Museum, Berlin, 2017
Ğ – queere Formen wandern — Schwules Museum, Berlin, 2017
Identity Relations — kjubh e.V., Cologne, 2017 (solo)
Diese Sehnsucht gehört uns! — Centre for Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, Toruń, Poland, 2016
Mythologien — 3rd Mardin Biennial, 2015
Die unbeantwortete Frage — Iskele 2, SCHWANENGESANG / Swang Song, Berlin, 2013
Spaziergang — Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, 2009
Mehtap Baydu was born in Bingöl, Turkey. She studied sculpture at Hacettepe University and at Kunsthochschule Kassel under Prof. Dorothee von Windheim. After her degree she was named Meisterschülerin of Prof. Dorothee von Windheim. In 2024 she was a guest professor at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. She lives and works in Berlin.
Website: mehtapbaydu.com