Moment before the Crisis
17. 8. 20, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Ahmet Öğüt, born in Silvan, Diyarbakır (TR) in 1981, lives and works in Amsterdam and Berlin. His work often deals with migration, but at its most compelling refuses to simply illustrate migrants’ experiences. A case in point is The Silent University, an education platform – outside the restrictions of migration laws, language limitations and other bureaucratic obstacles– which Öğüt co-initiated in cities across Europe. Each school is run by its participants, and provides a collective teaching and learning site for people whose qualifications are not accepted in the country in which they are applying for residency or asylum.

Öğüt’s gallery installations interrogate ways in which governments oppress marginalised individuals on a systemic level. As a writer, Öğüt is a regular contributor to various platforms, where he questions the functions of art and speculative design in neoliberal economies. Always, his focus is on broadening the definitions of aesthetic and political engagement, while criticising – with uplifting humour – both the perils of nationalism and the dangers of global thinking. (see: interview with Harry Burke, King Kong Magazine, 2019)