Born in Istanbul, Ayşe Erkmen lives and works in Berlin and Istanbul. Based on the social and physical environment from which they arise, Erkmen’s projects intervene with and transpose an existing structure/situation, often creating ambiguous spaces by intertwining life and art in her works and slightly transposing or re-routing everyday spaces, objects, situations and relationships. Ayşe Erkmen’s site and situation specific interventions refer to socialization models that unfold reality to create a space in which the artwork can only be completed by the viewer/participant. Erkmen’s works have been exhibited in many international exhibitions, including the 2nd, 3rd and 13th Istanbul Biennials, the Pavilion of Turkey at the 54th Venice Biennial, Münster Sculpture Project 1997 and 2017, Shanghai, Berlin, Kwangju, Sharjah and Scape biennials, Manifesta 1 and Folkestone and Echigo Tsumari triennials. Some of the recent exhibitions she presented are Strange Pilgrims, Austin Contemporary, VAC, Austin, (2015); .A (with Ann Veronica Jannsens), SMAK, Gent, Belgium (2015); 4th International Çanakkale Biennial (2014); Une histoire – Art, architecture, design, des années 1980 à nos jour, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); Imaginary Audience Scale, Artspace, Auckland; Ayşe Erkmen: Intervals at The Curve, Barbican Centre, London (2013); Wesenszug (2013) and Fingerspitzgefühl (2015), Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin; Uncertain States, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016); Art Projects at 8 Shrines and Temples, Saidaiji Temple, Nara (2016); and Art and Alphabeth, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2017).

Vasiyetimdir* is a publication project that aims to explore how artworks will subsist over long periods of time. Art works live in artist studios, private collections, museums, storage spaces, or simply in memories. But how far do the artists want to control what happens to their works when they are no longer? How do they want to exert their control? We directed these questions to the artists we are in dialogue with. We are accumulating their answers through m-est.org.

*Vasiyetimdir is a Turkish phrase that can roughly be translated into English as “It is my will that…” The phrase holds a tint of the melodramatic, mixed with a sentimental flair.

Vasiyetimdir was conceived by Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Özge Ersoy, and Merve Ünsal.