2009 Recipients
Artist Kutluğ Ataman
Born in 1961, Istanbul, Turkey
Currently lives in London and Istanbul
Kutluğ Ataman studied film at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States, graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts degree (MFA) in 1988. He pursued careers in feature filmmaking and contemporary art, attaining critical acclaim in both. His works primarily document the lives of marginalized individuals, examining the ways in which people create and rewrite their identities through self-expression, blurring the line between reality and fiction.
His first feature film, The Serpent’s Tale (Karanlık Sular) made in 1994, intriguingly utilized the metaphor of the vampire to encapsulate the crisis of contemporary Turkish culture. It was awarded five filmmaking prizes, including an honor at the Istanbul International Film Festival. In 1997, Ataman directed an eight-hour video, entitled kutluğ ataman's semiha b. unplugged, focusing his handheld camera on one of Turkey’s legendary opera singers, Semiha Berksoy, once publicly persecuted for an affair with the exiled communist poet Nazım Hikmet. Semiha Berksoy, an eccentric octogenarian, served as the subject as well as the shining star of this candid film, which was invited to several important art biennials and international film festivals. Ataman's next production, the feature film Lola+Bilidikid, made in 1998, looks at the transvestite subculture inside the Turkish guest-worker community in Berlin, Germany. It won the “Teddy” Jury Special Prize at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, after screening as the opening film of the festival’s Panorama Section in 1999. The same year Lola+Bilidikid won the “Best Film Award” at New York’s NewFest Festival. In 2005, Ataman directed his next feature film, 2 Girls, from his screenplay adaptation of the best-selling Turkish novel, “2 Girls” (İki Genç Kızın Romanı) by Perihan Mağden. The film tells the story of two teenage girls with contrasting personalities and backgrounds, who form a close bond with sexual implications, and by extension examines the economic, social, psychological, and sexual pressures shaping today’s youth. The movie won three prizes in 2005; “Best Actress”, “Best Cinematography” and “Best Director” at Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Turkey’s most prestigious film festival). With this feature film Ataman also received the “Best Director” prize at the Istanbul International Film Festival and won the “Special Jury Prize” at the 8th Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian Cinema (New Delhi, India) in 2006.
In 2003, Kutluğ Ataman was named “best artist of the year” by the London Observer newspaper. In 2004, Ataman was short-listed for the “Turner Prize” by London’s prestigious Tate Gallery. In competition at Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, USA, he won the top prize and one of America’s highest honors in art, the prestigious “Carnegie Prize”.
His recent solo exhibitions include Paradise, the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California (2007), De-Regulation with the work of Kutlug Ataman, MuHKA, Belgium (2006), Küba, Artangel (2005), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2005), Long Streams, Serpentine Gallery, London and Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, Denmark (2002).
Group exhibitions include Moscow Biennial (2007); Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, MOMA New York (2006); Documentary Fictions, Caixa Forum, Barcelona (2004); Istanbul Biennial (2003); Witness, Barbican, London (2003); Days Like These, Tate Triennial, Tate Britain (2003); Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (2002); Berlin Biennial, Germany (2001); 48th Venice Biennale (1999); Manifesta 2, Luxembourg (1998).
Art Works and Filmography
2007 fff
2007 TURKISH DELIGHT
2007 DOUBLE ROASTED
2007 CIRCLE OF FRIENDS
2006 PARADISE
2006 TESTIMONY
2005 2 GIRLS
2004 STEFAN’S ROOM
2004 KÜBA
2004 TWELVE
2003 ANIMATED WORDS
2002 IT’S A VICIOUS CIRCLE
2002 1+1=1
2002 99 NAMES
2002 THE 4 SEASONS OF VERONICA READ
2001 NEVER MY SOUL
1999 MARTIN IS ASLEEP
1999 WOMEN WHO WEAR WIGS
1998 LOLA+BILIDIKID
1997 kutluğ ataman’s semiha b. unplugged
1994 THE SERPENT’S TALE
Selected Film Festivals and Awards
2007 Paradise, The Orange County Museum of Art, California, USA
2006 Antalya International Film Festival, Turkey. Best Film, Best Director, Best
Screenplay, 2 Girls.
Ankara International Film Festival, Turkey. Best Film, Best Director, 2 Girls
2005 Sydney Film Festival, Australia
Montreal World Film Festival, Canada
Stefan’s Room, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, USA
2004 Turner prize short-listed artist, Tate Britain, London, UK
Küba, Carnegie International Prize, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA
2002 Never My Soul, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA
Women Who Wear Wigs, Istanbul Contemporary Arts Museum, Turkey
2001 kutluğ ataman’s semiha b. unplugged, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2000 Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tokyo International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Japan
1999 Berlin International Film Festival, Germany. Teddy Special Jury Award,
Lola+Bilidikid
NewFest Festival, New York, USA. Best Film, Lola+Bilidikid
Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey. Audience Award, Lola+Bilidikid
1996 Turkish Film Critics Association Awards, Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay,
The Serpent’s Tale
Writers Union of Turkey Awards, Best Film 1997, The Serpent’s Tale
1994 Turkish Film Critics Association, Special Prize, The Serpent’s Tale
Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece
São Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil
1988 Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany
Torino Film Festival, Turin, Italy
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008
Kutlug Ataman: Paradise and Küba, Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada February 9 - May 19
2007
Paradise, The Orange County Museum of Art, California, USA March 11-June 3
2006
Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Australia, February 1–18
De-Regulation with the work of Kutlug Ataman, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (MuHKA), Antwerp, Belgium, March 17–May 28. Traveled to Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel, December 2, 2006–February 10, 2007
Küba, Extra City Center for Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium, March 17–May 28
Küba: Journey Against the Current, organized by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), Vienna, Austria, May 1–September 9. Traveled to 13 destinations along the Danube with a final exhibition at the former Jewish Theater of Vienna, Austria. Exhibition catalogue
2005
Stefan’s Room, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, USA March 18–April 23
Kutlug Ataman: Perfect Strangers, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, June 22–September 4. Exhibition catalogue
2004
Stefan’s Room, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA October 2–October 30
Küba, commissioned by Artangel, London, UK. Co-produced by and traveled to Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA, October 9, 2004–March 20, 2005; Artangel at The Sorting Office, London, UK, March 22–July 10, 2005; Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA (not exhibited); Theater der Welt 2005, Stuttgart, Germany, June 16–July 10, 2005; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia, June 22–September 4, 2005; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), Vienna, Austria, May 1–September 9, 2006. Exhibition catalogue
2002
A Rose Blooms in the Garden of Sorrows, BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, Austria, March 13–April 28. Exhibition catalogue
Never My Soul, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA, June 6–July 19
Kutlug Ataman: Long Streams, Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark, October 11–December 1. Traveled to Serpentine Gallery, London, UK, February 11–March 16, 2003; GEM, Museum voor Actuele Kunst, The Hague, The Netherlands, March 29–June 29, 2003. Exhibition catalogue
Women Who Wear Wigs, Istanbul Contemporary Arts Museum, Turkey
2001
kutluğ ataman’s semiha b. unplugged, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 13–March 17
Women Who Wear Wigs, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA, January 18–February 28
Tensta Konsthall, Spånga, Sweden, December 8, 2001–February 10, 2002
2000
The Lux Gallery, London, UK, February 23–March 26
Enter Gallery, City Museum of Art, Helsinki, Finland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2008
Laughing in a Foreign Language, The Hayward Gallery Southbank Centre, London, UK, January 25- April 13
2007
Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, February 9–April 29. Exhibition catalogue
Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Russia, February 22–March 22
2006
Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, USA February 26–May 22. Exhibition catalogue
Boys and Flowers, Western Bridge, Seattle, USA, March 30–August 12
Snafu: Medien, Mythen, Mind Control, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany,
April 2–June 5
Nature Attitudes, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), Vienna, Austria
April 5–September 9
The Grand Promenade, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
July 17–September 29. Exhibition catalogue
Partial Recall, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, USA July 20–August 25
2005
REALIT;-)T, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon, Switzerland, August 28–October 23
2004
Athens Concert Hall, Greece
Documentary ‘Fictions,’ CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain, March 10–June 27. Exhibition catalogue
Neue Kunsthalle III: materiell—immateriell, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany,
March 17–September 12
Flowers Observed, Flowers Transformed, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA
May 16–September 5
Monument to Now: The Dakis Joannou Collection, Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece June 22–December 31. Exhibition catalogue
The Future Has A Silver Lining, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
August 28–October 31. Exhibition catalogue
Down Here, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway, October 8–November 18
54th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA
October 9, 2004–March 20, 2005. Exhibition catalogue
Turner Prize 2004, Tate Britain, London, UK October 20–December 23. Exhibition catalogue
2003
Witness: Contemporary Artists Document Our Time, The Curve, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK February 13–27
Days Like These, Tate Triennial of Contemporary British Art 2003, Tate Britain, London, UK February 26–May 26. Exhibition catalogue
Die Neue Kunsthalle I, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, March 28–September 14
Poetic Justice, 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Antrepo 4, Turkey,
September 19–November 19. Exhibition catalogue
Image Stream, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, USA
September 20, 2003–January 4, 2004. Exhibition catalogue
fast forward: Media Art from the Goetz Collection, ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, October 11, 2003–February 29, 2004. Traveled to Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain, February 8–April 17, 2005. Exhibition catalogue
Testimonies: Between Fiction and Reality, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece, December 10, 2003–March 14, 2004
2002
FAIR, Royal College of Art, London, UK March 19–24. Exhibition catalogue
XXV Bienal de São Paulo, Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil March 23–June 2. Exhibition catalogue
Hautnah: The Goetz Collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany May 30–August 18. Exhibition catalogue
Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany, June 8–September 15. Exhibition catalogue
Context: europe 2002—artistic impulses from south-eastern europe, Theater des Augenblicks, Vienna, Austria October 9–27
Two Zero Zero Two, Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece, December 20, 2002–April 10, 2003
2001
2nd Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art, Postfuhramt, Berlin, Germany April 20–June 20. Exhibition catalogue
Narrative Affinities, GB Agency, Paris, France May 31–July 28
2000
Agitated Histories: Video Art and the Documentary, Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit, Michigan, USA September 16–November 26
1999
Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Genèva, Switzerland
48a Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, June 12–November 7. Exhibition catalogue
Zeitwenden: Rückblick und Ausblick, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany, December 5, 1999–June 4, 2000. Traveled to Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria July 5–October 1, 2000. Exhibition catalogue
1998
Manifesta 2, Casino Luxembourg—Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg, June 28–October 11. Exhibition catalogue
La Biennale de Montréal 1998, Canada, August 27–October 18. Exhibition catalogue
Videobrasil 98, São Paulo, Brazil, September 22–October 11
Up To Date, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, Italy
1997
On Life, Beauty, Translations/Transfers and Other Difficulties, 5th International Istanbul Biennial, Turkey, October 5–November 9. Exhibition catalogue
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