Civan Özkanoğlu (b. 1983, Adana, Türkiye) is an interdisciplinary artist who traces the everyday. By presenting an observant perspective on the absurdities of everyday life, Özkanoğlu opens up themes of hearing and being heard, while drawing attention to societal issues that persist in conditions of denial. His practice invites us to reflect on how the (super)natural flow of life can be problematized, how perceptions of societal topics shift or get transmuted under changing conditions, and how the politics of space pre-exist and shape our experiences. He is drawn to seemingly mundane stories and daily absurdities, examining how they intersect in public spaces, mass media, the art world, politics, and collective memory. His practice has its origins in photography and he has since expanded into other visual, sculptural and performative interventions that tend to the conceptual tensions within artistic production and the exhibitionary forms it enables. His work often addresses memory and state violence.
He has exhibited works at SALT, Istanbul; National Academy Museum, New York; Brand Library & Art Center, Los Angeles; BRIC Brooklyn, NY; Williams College, MA and Istanbul Modern among others. He had his first solo exhibition at Elipsis gallery, Istanbul (2014) and most recently at .artSümer (2024). He has done artist-in-residence programs including Cité des Arts (2017), Paris and ISCP, New York (2022). He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
