Photo Credit: Zeynep Fırat // Sanatorium
Currently working and residing in Istanbul, Turkey
I am an interdisciplinary artist working across performance, sculpture, installation, video, text, and participatory projects. My work often begins with a desire to stay close to something fragile. Over the years, this has taken many forms: carrying endangered species on the body, building shelters for imagined futures, creating collective rituals of care, or inviting people to participate in acts of nurturing, listening, and attention. While the forms vary, I return repeatedly to questions of vulnerability, belonging, interdependence, and the relationships that connect bodies, species, places, and histories.
I am interested in the space between protection and exposure. Many of my works create temporary structures of care where something vulnerable can be held, carried, supported, or witnessed. At the same time, they acknowledge that care can never fully eliminate uncertainty, loss, or transformation. Rather than seeking permanence or control, I am drawn to situations that require trust, openness, and the willingness to remain present with what cannot be fully secured.
Drawing from speculative fiction, ecological thought, embodied research, and collective processes, I create frameworks that invite participation and exchange. These frameworks often evolve in unexpected ways as they encounter other people, perspectives, and forms of knowledge. rough them, I explore how relationships are formed and sustained, and how new forms of kinship might emerge between humans, non-human life, and the environments they inhabit. At the heart of my practice is a desire to remain open: to other people, to non-human life, to uncertainty, and to forms of connection that cannot be fully predicted or controlled. I am interested in what becomes possible when we approach one another, and the world around us, with attention, care, and a willingness to stay present with vulnerability rather than turn away from it.
edasutunc1@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2017 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MFA in Studio Arts Deans's Scholarship
2015 Koc University, BA in Media and Visual Arts, minor in Psychology, Design Certificate, High Honors GPA, Academic Scholarship
2011 Sankt Georg's Austrian High School / Gymnasium Diploma
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 May Warm Rehearsal, SANATOROIUM Tophane, Istanbul Turkey
2023 May Dear Bird, Bebek Sarnıcı/Cistern, Istanbul Turkey
2020 November Future Looms, SANATOROIUM Tophane, Istanbul Turkey
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 March, Bioart, Austrian Cultural Office, Istanbul Turkey
2025 October, Survival Kit for Dummies, Martch Art Project, Istanbul Turkey
2025 June 20th Mediterranean Young Artists Biennale, Nova Gorica-Gorizia, Slovenia
2025 May BJCEM Biennale Preview, Kasa Gallery, Istanbul Turkey
2025 February Cross Roads, Art On, Istanbul, Turkey
2025 January Collectors&Artists, Ferda Art Platform Istanbul Turkey
2024 October 9th Çanakkale Biennial
2023 December, Banff Centre, Banff, Canada
2023 June, School of Visual Arts Open Studio, New York, USA
2022 August, Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburg, Austria
2022 February, Summart, Istanbul
2021 October, Portals, Seoul, Korea
2021 September, Giungla, Botanical Garden of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
2021 May, Museum Without Walls Online Exhibition, British Council, curated by Rita Aktay and Ritika Biswas
2021 April, Anti-Something, Barin Han, Istanbul Turkey,
2020 March, Sonar+D Istanbul,
2019 November, VR Days Europe, Amsterdam
2018 September, Water School Exhibition, Parallel event to the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, Hamam Arts Hub, Istanbul Turkey,
2018 August, Bodyfront Exhibition, Društveni centar NNK, Belgrade Serbia,
2018 April, Mamut Art Project, Istanbul Turkey,
2017 October, Celeste Prize Exhibition, Oxo Tower, Barge House, London United Kingdom,
2017 September, Denial as the Leading Principle Exhibition, 222 Lodge, Dordrecht Netherlands,
2017 August, Begehungen No:14 Institut Potemkin, Chemnitz Germany,
2017 May, Passing and Crossing Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Sullivan Galleries, Chicago United States,
2017 May, MFA Show, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago United States,
2016 October, Hochenstein Resident Artists' Exhibition, Hersbruck Museum of Art, Hersbruck Germany,
2016 November, 10th Annual New Blood Performance Festival, Links Hall, Chicago United States,
2016 March, Flaxman Artists' Book Display, Flaxman Library School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago United States,
2015 December, Because we are here for the walls that say maybe exhibition, Fat City Gallery, Chicago United States,
2015 December, I can't Breathe Exhibition, Arc Gallery, Chicago United States,
2015 June, Landscape/Mindscape, Koc University Rampa Gallery, Istanbul Turkey,
2013 July, Sommerakademie Salzburg Exhibition, Salzburg Austria
ARTIST RESIDENCIES/WORKSHOPS
2023 November-December Banff Centre, Canada - Benediktson Fellowship Fund for International Artists
2023 May-June School of Visual Arts (SVA) New York Residency, USA -American-Turkish Foundation Grant
2022 August Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg Austria Full Scholarship to Attend
2021 March-May 2021, Post-Ignorance Amber Network Festival, Participating Artist, Berlin, Germany
2020 October-November, Piksel Online New Media Artist Residency, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 October, Daire Artist Residency, Çanakkale, Turkey, Fully Funded
2019 Karma VR Training Program, Koc University
2019 Future Women Role Model Leadership Training Program, Koc University
2018 August Inspiring Change Artist Residency, Belgrade Serbia Grant Received
2016 June/July Alte Schule Hohenstein Artist in Residence, Hohenstein Germany Fully Funded
2013 July Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg Austria Full Scholarship to Attend
AWARDS/GRANTS
2023 The Alterntive Art School Fellowship Supported by TAAS, class taken with Amber Imbrie
2022 The Alternative Art School Fellowship Supported by SAHA Foundation, classes taken with performance artists Cassils, Janine Antoni
2021 Rotary Foundation Art Grant
2018-2019 Erasmus + Teaching Mobility Grant
2018 August European Cultural Foundation, STEP Travel Grant
2018 August Prince Claus Foundation Travel Grant
2017 October Celeste Prize Finalist, Second in Place
TEACHING/WORK EXPERIENCE
2022 Spring/Summer Koc University, Introduction to Contemporary and New Media Art
2019 June ESAD Escola Superior de Artes e Design Matosinhos, Portugal Erasmus + Teaching Mobility Exchange
2018 September, Founder of Norn Platform, virtual art gallery area designed specifically for underrepresented artists
Ozyegin University Sum 18’, Fall 18’, Spr 19’, Sum 19’, Fall 19’, Sum 20’, Fall 20’ Introduction to New Media Arts
Kadir Has University Spring 19’ Issues in Contemporary Arts
ARTIST TALKS/PANELS/SYMPOSIUMS/PUBLICATIONS
2021 September-Sakıp Sabancı Museum Akış/Flux Marina Abramovic+Mai “A minor survey on the idea and art of performance in Turkey” written by Eser Selen
2021 July- Sakıp Sabancı Museum digitalSSM Archive and Research Space, Technological Arts Preservation, “Beyond the Here and Now How to Bring the Ephemeral and the Immaterial Artworks to the Future written by Eda Sutunc & Osman Serhat Karaman
2020 November- Base Istanbul: What is contemporary art leading up to? Moderator: Levent Erden; Panelists: Hande Şekerciler, Arda Yalkın, Eda Sütunç
2019 IKSV-AltKat Artist Talk
2019-Kadir Has University-Visibility Strategies
2018-Ozyegin University-New Media Arts and Bitcoin
COLLECTIONS
Various private collections
SOPHIST-Nuremberg, Germany
Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
SELECTED REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS
Review, 2020: Patterns of Identity. by Kaya Genç, Art in America, Jan 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210131160939/https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/eda-sutunc-baklava-sanatorium-istanbul-1234582456/
Review, 2020: Bir Süreç Olarak Dokumak. by Ezgi Yurteri, Yazıhane Narmanlı Sanat, Dec 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/https://narmanlisanat.com/bir-surec-olarak-dokumak/
Review, 2020: Cinsiyetsiz Memeler Gelecek Tezgahları’nda. by Hazal Sipahi, 5Harfliler, Dec 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20210117120303/https://www.5harfliler.com/cinsiyetsiz-memeler-gelecek-tezgahlarinda/
Interview, 2020: Gelecek Hakkında Spekülatif Mitler. by Melike Bayık, Artfulliving, Dec 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20210110150058/https://www.artfulliving.com.tr/sanat/gelecek-hakkinda-spekulatif-mitler-i-22366
Review, 2020: Geleceğini kendin doku. by Irmak Özer, Gazete Duvar, Nov 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20210226091150/https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/gelecegini-kendin-doku-makale-1505088