Kerem Ozan Bayraktar
Kerem Ozan Bayraktar is an artist and academic whose work examines the intersections between biological, cultural, and technological systems. His practice spans the aesthetics of everyday life, cybernetics, and materialist perspectives, encompassing a diverse body of work that includes site-specific installations, prints, animations, texts, diagrams, and presentations. He participated in several art & research programs, including Fellowship for Situated Practice (basis voor actuele kunst, 2022, the Netherlands) and the Berlin Senate Residency Program (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, 2021, Germany). His work has recently been featured in the Tokyo Biennale (2023, Japan), Non-/Human Assemblages (2021, South Korea), Sentient Matter (2021, D21, Germany), Timeless Curiosities (2024, Istanbul Modern, Turkey). Bayraktar received his MFA and DFA degrees from Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting and lectured on art practices, digital images and art theory at Marmara University and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. In 2024, Bayraktar conducted seminars in the Arter Learning Programme. His recent publications include Marmara (2023), Spirits on the Ground (2021) and Dünyaların Haritaları [Maps of Worlds] (2021). Bayraktar lives in Istanbul and is represented by Sanatorium.
less
InterestsView All (22)
Uploads
Conference Presentations
This paper examines aesthetic perceptions of ruderal plants, species that thrive in disturbed urban environments, by focusing on social media pages and comments where these plants are presented. Approximately one hundred Instagram accounts sharing urban plant photographs were scanned, focusing on their thematic content to understand users' motivations and environmental perceptions through their choice of account names, biographies, and hashtags used.
Although ruderal plants are integral living beings of the urban ecosystem, they are often presented as representations of an idealized "nature" where human influence is minimized or natural processes are emphasized. The aesthetic perception of plants is largely influenced by their environmental context and the dominant cultural narrative of "nature resisting the city." Plants are depicted as a symbol of "wild nature" against the orderly and man-made city.
The lack of knowledge about different plant species and the generalization of plants as "greenery" or "pieces of nature" creates the misconception that every species will behave in the same way. This situation underscores the importance of cognitive approaches in environmental aesthetics. Knowledge related to the relevant field directly affects aesthetic judgments towards living beings.
Another factor leading to misconception is the sharp distinction between city and nature, fundamentally based on the artificial and natural divide. Discourses often emphasize that plants are somehow a foreign entity "fighting" the city or "a force of nature." The glorification of fighting against the city can be associated with romantic narratives that emphasize people's anger towards the artificial and longing for an ideal nature.
From a scientific perspective, the growth of ruderal plants in disturbed lands is a result of their evolution. Urban ecosystems, with their relative scarcity of trees and harsh, dry climatic conditions, provide environments where such plants can grow. Plants have also integrated with water and sewage networks. Human activities such as mobility, trade, and landscaping practices have influenced these plants' dispersal mechanisms throughout history.
Emphasizing that destruction and death are part of vitality and necessary for continuity can be used to erode narratives of "balanced nature without humans." The fact that ruderal plants are part of the urban ecosystem, which harbors environments of disturbance, is important in this context.
Papers
Modern Sanatla birlikte gelişimini tamamlayan “medyum” kavramı bugün Türkiye’deki devlet üniversitelerinin güzel sanat eğitiminde hala varlığını sürdürmektedir. Modern Sanatın gelişmesinde önemli bir rol oynayan bu kavram, 20. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren sanatsal üretimi açıklamakta yetersiz kalmış ve Medyum-Sonrası Durum denilen döneme girilmiştir.
1970 ve sonrasında medyum hiyerarşisinden kurtulan sanat, malzeme değil söylem tabanlı, her türden teknik ve malzemeyi içeren, bağlamsal ve performatif bir hal almıştır.
Günümüzde de baskın bir üretim formu ya da malzeme olmamasına karşın, Türkiye’deki sanat okullarının müfredat sistemleri geleneksel medyum kategorilerine göre eğitimlerini sürdürmeye devam etmektedir. Bu bağlamda 1970’lerde yaşanan medyum krizi günümüz sanat eğitiminde hala devam etmektedir.
Bu krizden çıkmanın yollarından birisi söz konusu krize verilen sanatsal ve kuramsal yanıtları eğitim modellerine adapte etmektir.
Bu metin medyuma özgüllük fikri hakkında genel bir tarihsel fikir vererek Medyum-Sonrası duruma ve bu durumun sanat eğitimiyle ilişkisini irdeler.
Anahtar kelimeler: sanat eğitimi, medyuma özgülük, medyum-sonrası durum, malzeme, çağdaş sanat
Summary
The concept of “medium”, which has developed fully together with Modern Art, still subsists in the fine arts education of state universities in Turkey to-day. This concept, which played an important role in the development of Modern Art, fell short of expressing artistic production as of the second half of the 20th century, which is when the period in art known as Post-Medium Condition started.
Art, which dismissed medium hierarchy as of 1970 , has become contextual and performative, discourse-based, comprising all kinds of techniques and materials.
Today, despite the lack of a dominant form of production or material, the curriculum systems of art schools in Turkey continue to provide education based on traditional medium categorization. In this context, the medium crisis experienced in the 1970s is still present in today's art education.
One way to resolve this crisis is to adapt the artistic and theoretical responses to this crisis into educational models.
This text examines the Post-Medium Condition and its relation to art education by giving a general historical idea about medium specificity.
Keywords: art education, medium specifity, post-medium condition, material, contemporary art
This paper examines aesthetic perceptions of ruderal plants, species that thrive in disturbed urban environments, by focusing on social media pages and comments where these plants are presented. Approximately one hundred Instagram accounts sharing urban plant photographs were scanned, focusing on their thematic content to understand users' motivations and environmental perceptions through their choice of account names, biographies, and hashtags used.
Although ruderal plants are integral living beings of the urban ecosystem, they are often presented as representations of an idealized "nature" where human influence is minimized or natural processes are emphasized. The aesthetic perception of plants is largely influenced by their environmental context and the dominant cultural narrative of "nature resisting the city." Plants are depicted as a symbol of "wild nature" against the orderly and man-made city.
The lack of knowledge about different plant species and the generalization of plants as "greenery" or "pieces of nature" creates the misconception that every species will behave in the same way. This situation underscores the importance of cognitive approaches in environmental aesthetics. Knowledge related to the relevant field directly affects aesthetic judgments towards living beings.
Another factor leading to misconception is the sharp distinction between city and nature, fundamentally based on the artificial and natural divide. Discourses often emphasize that plants are somehow a foreign entity "fighting" the city or "a force of nature." The glorification of fighting against the city can be associated with romantic narratives that emphasize people's anger towards the artificial and longing for an ideal nature.
From a scientific perspective, the growth of ruderal plants in disturbed lands is a result of their evolution. Urban ecosystems, with their relative scarcity of trees and harsh, dry climatic conditions, provide environments where such plants can grow. Plants have also integrated with water and sewage networks. Human activities such as mobility, trade, and landscaping practices have influenced these plants' dispersal mechanisms throughout history.
Emphasizing that destruction and death are part of vitality and necessary for continuity can be used to erode narratives of "balanced nature without humans." The fact that ruderal plants are part of the urban ecosystem, which harbors environments of disturbance, is important in this context.
Modern Sanatla birlikte gelişimini tamamlayan “medyum” kavramı bugün Türkiye’deki devlet üniversitelerinin güzel sanat eğitiminde hala varlığını sürdürmektedir. Modern Sanatın gelişmesinde önemli bir rol oynayan bu kavram, 20. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren sanatsal üretimi açıklamakta yetersiz kalmış ve Medyum-Sonrası Durum denilen döneme girilmiştir.
1970 ve sonrasında medyum hiyerarşisinden kurtulan sanat, malzeme değil söylem tabanlı, her türden teknik ve malzemeyi içeren, bağlamsal ve performatif bir hal almıştır.
Günümüzde de baskın bir üretim formu ya da malzeme olmamasına karşın, Türkiye’deki sanat okullarının müfredat sistemleri geleneksel medyum kategorilerine göre eğitimlerini sürdürmeye devam etmektedir. Bu bağlamda 1970’lerde yaşanan medyum krizi günümüz sanat eğitiminde hala devam etmektedir.
Bu krizden çıkmanın yollarından birisi söz konusu krize verilen sanatsal ve kuramsal yanıtları eğitim modellerine adapte etmektir.
Bu metin medyuma özgüllük fikri hakkında genel bir tarihsel fikir vererek Medyum-Sonrası duruma ve bu durumun sanat eğitimiyle ilişkisini irdeler.
Anahtar kelimeler: sanat eğitimi, medyuma özgülük, medyum-sonrası durum, malzeme, çağdaş sanat
Summary
The concept of “medium”, which has developed fully together with Modern Art, still subsists in the fine arts education of state universities in Turkey to-day. This concept, which played an important role in the development of Modern Art, fell short of expressing artistic production as of the second half of the 20th century, which is when the period in art known as Post-Medium Condition started.
Art, which dismissed medium hierarchy as of 1970 , has become contextual and performative, discourse-based, comprising all kinds of techniques and materials.
Today, despite the lack of a dominant form of production or material, the curriculum systems of art schools in Turkey continue to provide education based on traditional medium categorization. In this context, the medium crisis experienced in the 1970s is still present in today's art education.
One way to resolve this crisis is to adapt the artistic and theoretical responses to this crisis into educational models.
This text examines the Post-Medium Condition and its relation to art education by giving a general historical idea about medium specificity.
Keywords: art education, medium specifity, post-medium condition, material, contemporary art
Bu tez, 1950’li yıllarda temelleri atılmış disiplinlerötesi bir çalışma alanı olan Sistem Teorisi’nin “sistemik yaklaşımını” kullanarak 20. Yüzyıl Batı Sanatındaki kırılmalarla belirginleşmiş sorunsalları inceler. Sanatın tanımı, sınırları ve bir sistem olarak evrimi, dinamik sistemlere özgü “karmaşıklık”, “özüretim”, “işlemsel kapalılık” ve “belirme” kavramlarıyla ele alınmaktadır.
Mekanik bir evren modeli ve kapalı sistemlerin geleneksel sanat görüşleriyle olan bağı; bu bağın Avangart yapıtlarla değişime uğraması ve sanat yapıtı anlayışının, statik bir nesneden performatif bir etkinliğe doğru aldığı yol, tezin temel izleğini oluşturmaktadır. Bu bağlamda geleneksel biçimcilik anlayışlarının eleştirisi ve sistemik yaklaşımla uyumlu bir biçimciliğin sunumu gerçekleştirilmektedir.
İki farklı alan arasındaki bağıntıların gösterilmesi yoluyla gerçekleşen “eşleme”, sanat yapıtının bir sistemde kavranması, sistemleri işaret etmesi ve sistemler arasında yapısal benzerlikler kurmasını sağlayan temel bir kavram olarak, tezin hem şekilsel yapısını belirlemekte hem de bir konu olarak “fark”, “işaretleme” ve “izomorfizm” bağlamında incelenmektedir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Sistem Teorisi, Sibernetik, Karmaşıklık, Entropi, Enformasyon, Autopoiesis, Geri bildirim, Emergence, Sistem Sanatı, Kavramsal Sanat, Avangart, Biçimselleştirme, Biçimcilik, Eşleme.
-------
This dissertation examines the significant fractures in 20th century Western Art through the "systemic approach" of the System Theory, an interdisciplinary field of studies conceived in the 1950s. The definition of art, its boundaries and its evolution as a system is being addressed through concepts pertaining to dynamical systems, such as "complexity", "autopoiesis", "operational closure" and "emergence".
The model of a mechanical universe, and the bond between such systems and traditional views of art; transformation of this bond through works of avantgarde art and the trajectory of the works of art from a static object to a performative activity constitute to the main general theme of the dissertation. In this context, it consists of a critique of traditional formalism and a presentation of a formalism that is compatible with the systemic approach.
Allowing the apprehension of the work of art within a system, its signification of systems and constructing structural similarities between systems, the "mapping" that occurs through the demonstration of links between two distinct fields, designates the formal structure of the dissertation as a concept, as well as being examines in the context of "difference", "signification" and "isomorphism" as a topic.
Keywords: System Theory, Cybernetics, Complexity, Entropy, Autopoiesis, Feedback, Emergence, Systems Art, Conceptual Art, Avangarde, Formalization, Formalism, Mapping.
Sanat yapıtlarını üretildikleri araçlar ve sunuldukları medya üzerinden tanımlayan “medyum özgüllüğü” tezi Modernist Resim ve Heykel ile birlikte gelişmiş, daha sonraları bu görüş Fotoğrafa uyarlanmaya çalışılmıştır. Modernist teorisyenler, Resim ve Heykel gibi güzel sanatların özgül bir dalı olarak Fotoğrafın ayrık niteliklerini saptama çabası içine girmiştir. Diğer taraftan, 1940’lardan 70’lere uzanan bu süreçte, medyum özgüllüğü fikrine karşıt bir görüş olarak sanatın “medyum-sonrası durumu” olarak bilinen koşullar ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu durum, sanat yapıtları arasında bir hiyerarşinin olmadığı ve sanatın özgül medyumlar üzerinden tanımlanmasının olanaksız olduğu üretim biçimlerine, sanat algısındaki değişimlere, medya ve teknoloji ilişkisinin ortaya çıkardığı merkezi olmayan formlara gönderme yapar. 1970 sonrası sanat, medyum ayrımları üzerinden tanımlanamayacak bir noktadır ve bu durumun oluşmasında fotoğrafın, diğer araçlarla melezleşebilmedeki kapasitesi, farklı sosyal gruplarla entegrasyonu ve özcü yaklaşımlara izin vermeyen teknolojik yapısı önem taşır. Paradoksal bir biçimde fotoğrafa özgü olarak tanımlanan nitelikler, bizzat özgüllük tezinin çökmesine katkı yapmıştır.
Post-Medium Condition and Photography
“Medium specificity” thesis, which defines the artworks through the tools from which they are produced and the media in which they are presented, was developed together with the Modernist Painting and Sculpture, and later this view has been tried to adapt to the photography. Modernist theorists have attempted to identify the discrete qualities of photography as a specific branch of fine arts as Painting and Sculpture. On the other hand, in the process from the 1940s to the 70s, conditions known as the “Post-Medium Condition of Art” emerged as opposed to the idea of medium specificity. The idea that art cannot be defined through specific mediums refers to the forms of production where there is no hierarchy between the works of art, the changes in the perception of art and the decentralized forms created by the relationship between media and technology. Art after 1970 cannot be defined through psychical distinctions, and the capacity of the photograph to hybridize with other tools, its integration with different social groups and its technological structure which does not allow essentialist approaches are important in the formation of this situation. Paradoxically, the qualities defined as specific to photography contributed to the collapse of the specificity thesis itself.
Deneyciliğin sınırında: Yönergeler 1
Bir şiiri taşımak üzerine farklı spekülasyonlar 14
Cevdet Erek’in haritalamaları 26
Noktürnal perspektif 35
Dünyalar nasıl yapılır? 40
Termodinamik hayaller, rüyalar ve sınırlar 47
İmgenin teni 56