Mr Ergin Cavusoglu

Professor of Contemporary Art

Ergin Cavusoglu

  • School Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries

  • Department School of Arts

  • Location London

Research activities

Central to Cavusoglu’s artworks are concepts that explore ideas of place, space, liminality, mobility and the conditions of cultural production, which he has been examining in classical, modern and contemporary guises through video and sound installations, anamorphic drawings and sculptures. The contextual framework of his practice in its broader capacity examines socio-cultural terrains and human geographies. Cavusoglu’s video installation works engage thematically with the in-between spaces of urban environments: airports, waterways, marketplaces, historical sites and national borders. These are also mobile spaces, where ships, currencies, people, and time pass in disengagement with their geographical coordinates. The concepts of time and liminality are central to his practice on a multitude of levels. Cavusoglu alludes to these themes in a reflective way positioning them within geo-political, philosophical, historical and literary contexts. The spatiality and the immersive qualities of his installations further contribute to the manifestation of these concepts in the ways the viewer experiences them. His large-scale anamorphic floor and wall drawings reiterate further his interest in the Duchampian by probing the concept of post-object and thus presenting a critical discourse around representability.


Current Teaching

Teaching on the BA Fine Art and MA Fine Art, and MA Printmaking courses at the School of Art. Director of Studies and Second Supervisor to six PhD students.


Biography

Ergin Cavusoglu (Bulgaria) studied at The National School of Fine Arts 'Iliya Petrov', Sofia in the early 1980s. He consequently received a BA from the University of Marmara, Istanbul, MA from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a PhD from University of Portsmouth. 

Cavusoglu co-represented Turkey at the 50th Venice Biennale 2003. He was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures Prize in 2004 and for Artes Mundi 4 in 2010. Solo presentations include Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Desire Lines /Tarot & Chess/, Whitechapel Gallery, London, and Istanbul Modern Museum (2020), Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2016), PEER, London (2010), Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2009), Kunstverein Freiburg (2008), John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2006), NGCA, Sunderland (2006) and DCA Dundee (2004). Museum and biennial exhibitions include ICP International Center of Photography, New York (2022), Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano (GAM) (2018), Es Baluard Museum of Modern Art, Palma (2017), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016), Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2015), Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010), Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2009), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2008), the British Art Show 6 (2005), the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003) and the 3rd Berlin Biennial(2003).

Works by Cavusoglu are represented in many international museum collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection, New York, La collection du Frac Alsace, Pinakothek der Moderne, München, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (EMST), Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, and The Ludwig Collection, Aachen.

Publications

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