{"id":75399,"date":"2026-03-16T17:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art50.net\/venedik-biennale-2026-a-kiss-on-the-eyes-by-nilbar-gures-at-the-turkiye-pavilion\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T09:58:56","slug":"venedik-biennale-2026-a-kiss-on-the-eyes-by-nilbar-gures-at-the-turkiye-pavilion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/venedik-biennale-2026-a-kiss-on-the-eyes-by-nilbar-gures-at-the-turkiye-pavilion\/","title":{"rendered":"Venedik Biennale 2026 \u2013 \u201cA Kiss on the Eyes\u201d by Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f at the T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition \u2013 La Biennale di Venezia<\/strong> presents A Kiss on the Eyes, a solo exhibition by Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f. Widely recognised for her poetic, critical, and often witty engagement with cultural symbols, social inequalities, and questions of identity, G\u00fcre\u015f works across a wide range of media.<\/p>\n\n

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Curated by Ba\u015fak Do\u011fa Tem\u00fcr, the exhibition brings together both existing works and newly commissioned pieces, including sculpture, installation, painting, and mixed-media works on paper and fabric. The exhibition takes its title from the Turkish phrase G\u00f6zlerinizden \u00f6perim, a traditional expression often used to conclude a letter or conversation.<\/p>\n\n

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The T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion exhibition is coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (\u0130KSV), with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye. The project is supported by co-sponsor Trendyol Art, airline partner Turkish Airlines, and production support from the SAHA Association. The Vehbi Ko\u00e7 Foundation is providing publishing support for the preparation of the exhibition catalogue.<\/p>\n\n

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A Kiss on the Eyes, Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f\u2019s presentation at the T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion, brings together multiple strands of the artist\u2019s dynamic and multifaceted practice. Known for her poetic yet incisive exploration of cultural symbolism, social inequality, and identity, G\u00fcre\u015f has developed a substantial body of work spanning photography, video, collage, and textile-based practices.<\/p>\n\n

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In recent years, her work has increasingly expanded into three-dimensional forms. Conceived specifically for the Venice Biennale, the exhibition features a series of large-scale sculptures and installations. Developed through an intensive collaborative process in Istanbul, these works were produced between December 2025 and March 2026 together with sculptors, metalworkers, tailors, and craftspeople. For G\u00fcre\u015f, materials function not only as formal elements but also as carriers of memory and labour. These newly produced works are presented alongside selected pieces from earlier periods of the artist\u2019s practic.<\/p>\n\n

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In her curatorial statement, Ba\u015fak Do\u011fa Tem\u00fcr introduces the exhibition with the following words:<\/p>\n\n

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\u201cThe exhibition unfolds through spatial relationships rather than a linear narrative. Works remain close to the ground, lean, hang, or hover. Instead of guiding the viewer from one work to the next, the exhibition invites them to slow down and become aware of their own bodily position in relation to the space and to others. Moving through the exhibition becomes a negotiation between distance and proximity, vulnerability and resistance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

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Such an approach characterises Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f\u2019s work across multiple media, drawing on lived experience to address questions of gender, migration, and belonging. Her practice is shaped by situations marked by displacement, racism, xenophobia, and discrimination based on religion and belief, not as distant subjects but as conditions that structure everyday life. She often focuses on moments where social norms and power relations become visible through bodies, relationships, and acts of looking.<\/p>\n\n

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MAYZU Hindistan Cevizi ve Muz Veren Ag\u0306ac\u0327, 2022, Arter. Kadife Bak\u0131\u015f<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
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Materials such as textiles, garments, domestic objects, and organic forms play a central role in her work. These materials carry personal and collective histories and are altered through gestures of care, humour, and resistance. Intimacy and political tension exist side by side, allowing vulnerability to appear without connotations of passivity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f<\/h3>\n\n
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Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f (b. 1977, Istanbul) received her B.A. in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University. She later completed her M.A. in Painting and Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, followed by further studies in Art and Textile Pedagogy at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.<\/p>\n\n

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In 2023, she received the Outstanding Artist Award for Photography and a Research Grant from the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture. Her work has also been recognised with numerous prestigious awards, including the Hilde Goldschmidt Prize (2013), the Otto Mauer Award (2014), the BC21 Art Award by Belvedere Contemporary (2015), the De\u2019Longhi Art Projects Artist Award at the London Art Fair (2018), and the Prix Maud Mottier (2021). In 2012, supported by the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture, she participated in the International Studio & Curatorial Programme in New York as an artist-in-residence.<\/p>\n\n

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G\u00fcre\u015f\u2019s multidisciplinary practice encompasses photography, video, film, painting, performance, sculpture, installation, and mixed-media collages on fabric. Beginning with personal and biographical narratives, her works expand to address broader social concerns, engaging with themes of social injustice, gender roles, and cultural identity. Through research, documentation, and witty figurative strategies, she poetically subverts conventions.<\/p>\n\n

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Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f currently lives and works between Naples, Vienna, and Istanbul.<\/p>\n\n

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Her solo exhibitions include:<\/p>\n\n

Velvet Stare, Arter, Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye (2025); Space Uncurated #1, MLZ Art Dep, Trieste, Italy (2024); JUNCTIONS, Kunstforum Montafon, Schruns, Austria (2024); ATEM, Vienna, Austria (2021); Sour as a Lemon, Pasquart Kunsthaus, Biel, Switzerland (2021); Breasts by Rose, Vortic Art, London, United Kingdom (2021); Tell Me, Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen, Germany (2019); Lovers, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (2019); Erz\u00e4hl\u2019 mir., Kunstverein Reutlingen, Germany (2019); Overhead, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria (2018); JesuitenFoyer, Vienna, Austria (2014); FO.KU.S \u2013 Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria (2014); Pink Is The New Black, Osmos, New York, United States (2013); Self-Defloration, K\u00fcnstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (2011); Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f, Undressing, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria (2011).<\/p>\n\n

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Ba\u015fak Do\u011fa Tem\u00fcr<\/h3>\n\n
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Curator of the T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion, Ba\u015fak Do\u011fa Tem\u00fcr was involved in the founding of Istanbul Modern, santralistanbul, and Arter in the early 2000s, a period during which Istanbul\u2019s museum and cultural landscape was rapidly expanding. Between 2010 and 2020 she was part of Arter\u2019s curatorial team and artistic programme board, contributing to exhibition coordination and management, publications, and the realisation of new productions.<\/p>\n\n

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Her experience also includes part-time teaching at Istanbul Bilgi University in the Film and Television and Visual Communication Design programmes. She has served on advisory boards and juries including the T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion Advisory Board (2017\u20132019), BASE 2018, the CultureCIVIC: Arts and Culture Support Programme \u2013 Art Production Grants, and the pre-selection jury for the Berlin Senate\u2019s Istanbul\u2013Berlin Residency Programme.<\/p>\n\n

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The T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion at the Biennale Arte and IKSV<\/h3>\n\n
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The T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion exhibition is coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (\u0130KSV) with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye, the support of co-sponsor Trendyol Art, airline partner Turkish Airlines and production support of SAHA Association. The Vehbi Ko\u00e7 Foundation is also providing publishing support for the preparation of the exhibition catalogue.<\/p>\n\n

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Click here to explore our detailed feature on the 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh with the theme \u201cIn Minor Keys\u201d.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Cover Image: A Kiss On The Eyes, Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f<\/p>\n\n

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The T\u00fcrkiye Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition \u2013 La Biennale di Venezia presents A Kiss on the Eyes, a solo exhibition by Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f. Widely recognised for her poetic, critical, and often witty engagement with cultural symbols, social inequalities, and questions of identity, G\u00fcre\u015f works across a wide range of media. Curated by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1456,"featured_media":75395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4523],"tags":[4869,4868,4803],"class_list":["post-75399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fairs-and-biennials","tag-basak-doga-temur","tag-nilbar-gures","tag-venice-biennale-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75399"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75451,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75399\/revisions\/75451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art50.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}