Biographies

Nilbar Güreş

Nilbar Güreş (b. 1977, Istanbul) received her B.A. in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University and 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.

Honoured with the Outstanding Artist Award for Photography and a Research Grant by the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Culture in 2023, Güreş has also been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Hilde Goldschmidt Prize (2013), the Otto Mauer Award (2014), the BC21 Art Award by Belvedere Contemporary (2015), the De’Longhi 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.

Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses photography, video, film, painting, performance, sculpture, installation, and mixed-media collages on fabric. Beginning from the personal and biographical, her works expand to address broader issues, with particular sensitivity to themes of social injustice, gender roles, and cultural identity codes. Through research, documentation, and the use of witty figurations, she poetically subverts conventions.

Nilbar Güreş currently lives and works in Naples, Vienna, and Istanbul.

Nilbar Güreş’s solo exhibitions include: Velvet Stare, Arter, Istanbul, Türkiye (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); ell Me, Kunstverein Reutlingen, Reutlingen, Germany (2019); Lovers, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (2019); Erzähl’ mir., Kunstverein Reutlingen, Germany (2019); Overhead, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz , Austria (2018); JesuitenFoyer, Vienna, Austria (2014); FO.KU.S – Foto Kunst Stadtforum, Innsbruck, Austria (2014); Pink Is The New Black, Osmos, New York, United States (2013); Self-Defloration, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (2011); Nilbar Güreş, Undressing, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria (2011); Nilbar Güreş: Window Commission 2010, INIVA Institute of International Visual Art, Rivington Place, London, United Kingdom (2010), and Unknown Sports, Indoor Exercises, Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria (2009).
Her group exhibitions include: Empowerment, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore (IN); Colombo (LK) (2025); Forms of the Shadow, Secession, Vienna, Austria (2024); The Cynics Republic, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2024); Delinking and Relinking, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (2023); Biennale Bregaglia, Switzerland (2022); Mixed Up With Others Before We Even Being, Museum of Modern Art Vienna - Mumok, Austria (2022); Afterglow, Yokohama Triennale, Japan (2020); Drawing Biennial 2019, Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom (2019); Imagined Communities, 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paolo, Brasil (2019); A Pillar of Smoke, 49th Recontres d'Arles, Arles, France (2018); The Way Beyond Art, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (2017); The Future Is Already Here – It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed, 20th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2016); South by Southeast. A Further Surface, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China (2016); Istanbul: Passion, Joy, Fury, MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2015); Rainbow in the Dark, Malmö Konstmuseum, Sweden (2015); Cappadocia Struck, Contemporary Art Programme Cappadox, Uçhisar, Nevşehir, Türkiye (2015); How to (...) things that don’t exist, 31st Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2014); Ghosts, Spies and Grandmothers, SeMA Biennial, Mediacity Seoul, Korea (2014); AGITATIONISM, EVA International Ireland’s Biennial, Limerick City, Ireland (2014); 6th Berlin Biennale, Germany (2010) and What Keeps Mankind Alive?, 11th International Istanbul Biennial, Türkiye (2009).

Başak Doğa Temür

The curator of the Türkiye Pavilion Başak Doğa Temür took part in the founding processes of Istanbul Modern, santralistanbul, and Arter during the early 2000s, when Istanbul’s museum and cultural landscape began to rapidly expand. During her ten years at Arter, she was part of the curatorial team and the artistic programme board, contributing to exhibition coordination and management, publications, and the realisation of new productions. Her experience includes part-time teaching at the Istanbul Bilgi University in the Film and Television and Visual Communication Design programmes. Additionally, she has participated in advisory boards and juries including the Türkiye Pavilion Advisory Board (2017–2019), the CultureCIVIC: Arts and Culture Support Programme Art Production Grants, and the pre-selection jury for the Berlin Senate’s Istanbul–Berlin Residency Programme.