About
Biography
Born in 1980, Işıl Kurmuş Aleksandrov has lived in many countries, Canada, Pakistan, France, Hungary, Tunisia and Turkey. She is currently living and working in Copenhagen in Denmark. She studied law in Paris, then turned to artistic studies. She obtained her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the Fine Arts in Tunis, where she has started her doctoral work. Her work is based on a multidisciplinary practice that crosses a variety of temporalities and media. She combines different types of printing techniques so as to invest, question and provide an offset and illustrated reading of places and objects that daily surround us. This concern for exploration is not confined to spaces, objects or persons, and expands to systems where rules are well-defined. Her practice is renewed as she strives to push the limits of a pre-established order, while inventing parallel worlds and networks with multiple meanings. This is manifest in the physicality of her approach: each work relates to the hand, to the touch. The reproduction and combination of the printing methods – whether manual or digital – require a contact with the invested surface and allows her to weave the threads of the networks.
Her recent works includes installations made out of soft sculptures combined with printed work.
Her work has been exhibited in Deventer/Netherlands (Kunstenlab and Kunstcircuit), in Istanbul/Turkey (Tophane-İ Amire Kültür ve Sanat Merkezi), in Ankara/Turkey (Galeri’Nev), in Radès/Tunisia (Musée Safia Farhat) and Tunis/Tunisia, Bibliothèque Nationale de Tunis, Galerie AGorji, Palais Kheïreddine, Palais El Abdelliya, Galerie Kanvas), among others. In 2011 she was awarded the first prize in a competition organized by Aicha Fillali at the Centre Des Arts Vivants de Radès. She had her last solo show traces in 2018 at Kunstenlab in Deventer
CV
Solo Exhibitions
2021 #ObjectsOfAffection, GoetheInstitut – Galeri Vitrin, Ankara, Turkey
2018 Traces, Kunstenlab, Deventer, Netherlands
2018 Passage, in collaboration with the Turkish Consulate, Kunstcircuit, Deventer, Netherlands
2016 #foundandlost, AGorgi Gallery, Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
Outdoor Projects
2015 Looking for the right one – Masks, Bilkent University Main Campus, Ankara,Turkey (ongoing project)
2014 You were here, Bilkent University Main Campus, Ankara, Turkey
2012 Please consider before printing, Bilkent University Main Campus, Ankara, Turkey
2011 Cover up, in collaboration with the Turkish Embassy in Tehran, Iran
Selected Group Exhibitions &Performances
2022 O!, Galeri’Nev, Ankara, Turkey
2022 Nesne(l) // Object(ive), Middle East Technical University-KKM, Ankara, Turkey
2021 Vivre et créer dans l’incertitude, Musée Safia Farhat, Radès, Tunisia
2021 Touched and Thrilled // Tahassüs ve heyecan, Galeri’Nev, Ankara, Turkey
2020 Paysage, Musée Safia Farhat, Radès, Tunisia
2018 Utopia, Festival Kerkennah01, Kerkennah, Tunisia
2018 Love from G., Sigristerei Breitenrain church, Bern, Switzerland
2017 Corps et Graphie, Bibliothèque Nationale de Tunis, Tunisia
2016 Shaman of the vanishing city, Tosca Gallery, Ankara, Turkey
2016 En temps réel / Urgence, Talan, Tunisia
2015 Neighbors, Bilkent University Blok 12, Ankara, Turkey
2014 At your place, 1681 Walnut Street, Halifax, Canada
2013 Contact, Renggerstrasse 17, Zurich, Switzerland
2010 Marks, Tophane-iAmire, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 From here on, Mimar Sinan Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 Collection, KanvasArt Gallery, La Soukra, Tunisia
2010 Cahier d’écolier, Palais Kheireddine, Tunis, Tunisia
2009 De Nasir… à Melassine, Centre des Arts Vivants de Radès, Tunisia
2009 Objet+, AGorgi Gallery, La Marsa, Tunisia
2009 Printemps des Arts, Palais El Ebdeleya, La Marsa, Tunisia
2008 Printemps des Arts, Palais El Ebdeleya, La Marsa, Tunisia
2007 Prints and more, Gallery of the Fine Arts of Tunis, Tunisia
2006 Vous êtes ici, Centre de Photographie de Tolbiac, Paris, France
2005 La Météorologie, Centre de danse de l'Université de Paris I, France
2001 Moon, Trafo House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Hungary
1999 La relation du corps à l’œuvre, French Institute of Ankara, Turkey
1998 Between things, French Institute of Ankara, Turkey
Honors & Awards
2009 Valedictorian - Master of Fine Arts
2009 Awarded first prize for « In images » - Concoursof« Centre Des Arts Vivants De Radès » headed by Aïcha Filali
1997 Performance in Paris – honored with a 3rd place at the competition ofcontemporary dance / Championnat de France UNSS
1996 Performance in Paris – honored with a 5th place at the competition ofcontemporary dance / Championnat de France UNSS
Workshops & Residences
2016 Residence at AGorgi Gallery, Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia
2010 10th Mediterranean Art schools’ meeting - organized by ECUME –Istanbul, Turkey
2009 Workshop at Centre Des Arts Vivants De Radès – Tunis, Tunisia
Collections
Private collections TR, TN, FR, CA, US, UK, NL, CH, DE & HU.
The Turkish Consulate in Deventer, Netherlands