Discipline: Fine arts
Merve Ünsal & Banu Çiçek Tülü
Merve Ünsal is an artist living and working in Istanbul and Santa Cruz. She works on methods of tuning in, thinking through the media of radio transmission, sound, photography, video, performance and site-specific installations. She has shown her work in a variety of contexts, most often through artist-driven initiatives in Beirut, Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong, New Delhi and Toronto. She has been supported by the Delfina Foundation (London), Praksis (Oslo), Fogo Island Arts, Art Metropole (Toronto) and the University of Delaware (Lewes) to participate in artist residencies. She is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Ünsal is the founding editor of the artist-centred platform m-est.org. She co-facilitated the Arter Research Programme from 2019 to 2021.
Dr Banu Çiçek Tülü works between music, sound art installations and research, using music production and DJing as an artistic tool for activism. She has been invited to present her installations and exhibitions across Europe, the US and Africa. Her work uses multi-channel video, analogue synthesis, light, field recordings, sculpture, large textile installations and weaving to explore feminist and queer sonic methodologies in which the female migrant body is present. She believes in the political possibility of sound and music, which she uses as a tool of empowerment for minority groups, with an emphasis on BIPOC* and LGBTQI+ communities. Her work was named among DJ Mag‘s Top Albums of 2022 and has received critical acclaim from publications such as Clot Magazine. She has received numerous fellowships and residencies, including Electric Desert, a residency for young music producers in Namibia. She is also a resident at Refuge Worldwide radio in Berlin.
Merve Ünsal & Banu Çiçek Tülü are in residency at the Tarabya Cultural Academy from October 2026 to January 2027 as part of the German-Turkish co-production program supported by the Allianz Foundation.
Merve Ünsal is an artist living and working in Istanbul and Santa Cruz. She works on methods of tuning in, thinking through the media of radio transmission, sound, photography, video, performance and site-specific installations. She has shown her work in a variety of contexts, most often through artist-driven initiatives in Beirut, Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong, New Delhi and Toronto. She has been supported by the Delfina Foundation (London), Praksis (Oslo), Fogo Island Arts, Art Metropole (Toronto) and the University of Delaware (Lewes) to participate in artist residencies. She is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Ünsal is the founding editor of the artist-centred platform m-est.org. She co-facilitated the Arter Research Programme from 2019 to 2021.
Dr Banu Çiçek Tülü works between music, sound art installations and research, using music production and DJing as an artistic tool for activism. She has been invited to present her installations and exhibitions across Europe, the US and Africa. Her work uses multi-channel video, analogue synthesis, light, field recordings, sculpture, large textile installations and weaving to explore feminist and queer sonic methodologies in which the female migrant body is present. She believes in the political possibility of sound and music, which she uses as a tool of empowerment for minority groups, with an emphasis on BIPOC* and LGBTQI+ communities. Her work was named among DJ Mag‘s Top Albums of 2022 and has received critical acclaim from publications such as Clot Magazine. She has received numerous fellowships and residencies, including Electric Desert, a residency for young music producers in Namibia. She is also a resident at Refuge Worldwide radio in Berlin.
Merve Ünsal & Banu Çiçek Tülü are in residency at the Tarabya Cultural Academy from October 2026 to January 2027 as part of the German-Turkish co-production program supported by the Allianz Foundation.
