Working across video, sound, performance, and installation, Özgür Kar’s practice is an exploration of contemporary existentialism. Focusing on the interconnections between digital media and the human body, Kar’s installations feature black and white, minimally animated characters trapped within television screens who languorously deliver tales of desire and despair.
Taking inspiration from Ottoman and Persian folklore, experimental theatre, early animation and 1990s MTV cartoons, Kar devises his works as theatrical scenes with each character playing its part within a non-linear script. Often working with voice actors and instrumentalists, Kar layers source materials to create deceptively simple, looping soundscapes that become increasingly fraught (and profound) with repeated viewing.
Özgür Kar is a graduate of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten. Kar has recently had solo exhibitions at the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2023); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2022); Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Vienna (2021); and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2021). His work has been presented at the 16th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art (2022), Ghost:2565 Live without dead time, Bangkok (2022); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2022); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020); and the Hals Museum, Haarlem (2018).
