Ipek Duben


Ipek Duben is a contemporary visual artist based in Istanbul. She produces artist books, poetry, installations, video, painting and sculpture. Her work deals with identity issues, feminism, and migration with a strong emphasis on social and political criticism. Besides actively producing and exhibiting art, Duben also acts as an art critic with numerous published essays and books on art and criticism. In recent years her work has been shown in international institutions including Belvedere Museum, Vienna, SALT Galata, Istanbul, British Museum, London, 13th Istanbul Biennial and Akademie der Künst, Berlin. In 2015, SALT published a collection of her essays on art and criticism written between 1978 and 2010.

Education

Ipek Duben earned her MA in Political science at the University of Chicago in 1965. She later had formal training in studio practice at the New York Studio School where she earned her BFA in 1976. Having relocated to Istanbul, Turkey, she continued her studies with a PhD in Art History, titled "Turkish Painting and Criticism: 1880–1945", which she completed in 1984 at Mimar Sinan University. In 1991 she moved back to New York where she lived for another 10 years before moving back to Istanbul in 2001.

Exhibitions

Ipek Duben has participated at the 13th Istanbul Biennial, 3rd European International Book Art Biennale, Moscow, Russia, Center for Book Arts, New York, 4th and 5th Bibliotheca Alexandrina International Biennale for the Artist's Book, Alexandria, Egypt and 5th Sharjah Biennial. Her work was shown at institutions such as the Belvedere Museum, Vienna, British Museum, London, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul,, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, Academy of Arts, Berlin, and ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.
Monographic exhibitions include "Onlar/They" at SALT, Istanbul, and Fabrica Contemporary Arts Center, Brighton, and "Ipek Duben: A selection 1994–2009", Akbank Sanat, Istanbul.
Ipek Duben is represented by Pi Artworks gallery in Istanbul and London.

Collections

Ipek Duben's works are held in the collections of: Istanbul Modern, The British Museum, Bibliotheca Alexandrina-Egypt, Museum voor Volkenkunde Rotterdam, Wien Museum, King St. Stephen Museum, Deak Collection, Székesfehérar, Hungary, Center for Book Arts-New York, Moscow Artist's Book Archive, Koc Foundation and Zorlu Foundation.