Şener Özmen

Writer, translator, visual artist and art critic.
He was born in 1971 in Hezex (İdil) town of Şirnex (Şırnak) Province. He graduated from the Department of Art Teaching, the Faculty of Education, the Çukurova University. Despite having started on drawing comics and writing poetry at a very early age, he gave up both in favour of contemporary art and writing Kurdish literary texts. Some of his poems published back then in the art and literature magazines such as Milliyet Sanat Genç Şairler Antolojisi, Mavi Çizgi, Söylem, Şiir Oku, Düşün, E and Islık were published in the yearbook titled Adam Sanat Şiir Yıllığı prepared by Mehmet H. Doğan between 1998 and 2001.

The translations he did from the great poets of Generation Tîrêj, Arjen Arî, Kawa Destanı ve Azhî Dehaq (The Epic of Kawa and Azhî Dehaq, 2011), and Berken Bereh, Kalbim Bir Yastıktır Aşka (My Heart is a Pillow for Love, 2012), have been published by Evrensel Publishing House. His literary readings and translations in Kurdish he had done for the magazine named Sıcak Nal, which was being edited by Süreyyya Evren, and published there between 2010 and 2012, have been published into a book titled Uykusu Bölünenler (The Ones Whose Sleep Was Disrupted) by Lîs Publishing House in 2013. Özmen, who started to write his articles about art in the course of the contemporary art magazine art-ist Güncel Sanat Dergisi, which was being edited by Halil Altındere and the first contemporary art magazine in Turkey, also wrote articles about art, literature, exhibitions and artists for Sanat Dünyamız, Siyahî, Sıcak Nal, Birgün and Radikal Kitap.
He has had several solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions both in Turkey and abroad: Germany, France, England, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, the USA, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Swiss, Sweden, Holland, Spain, Yugoslavia and Austria. His articles on exhibitions were published in Birgün Newspaper, Art-ist Magazine, Sanat Dünyamız, Radikal Kitap and Siyahî. His works were shown in Centre Pompidou, Wordly House (Documenta), Stedelijk Museum, Frac, Istanbul Modern, Kunsthalle Fridericianum. He recently had a solo show named "Zero Tolerance" (2012), “There is a way out” (2016), at Pilot, “Unfiltered” (2016) at Arter.
With biting irony, brilliant humour, a clear aesthetic language, and with an outspoken and provocative critical attitude Şener Özmen questions the certainty of existing conditions and situations, authoritarian structures and existing taboos. His subtle and poetic works focus our attention not only on the perception and the changes in the context of art, but refer mainly to the critical problems of social reality in which the artist positions himself and offers his opinion.
In 2005, Kunstmuseum Thun in Swiss deemed the artist Şener Özmen worthy of the Prix Meuly Prize. Between 2005 and 2007, Özmen participated in the TRANSFER 07 Artists Exchange Program in Munster, Germany, organized by the Cultural Secretaryship of the North Rhein-Westphalia (NRW) and, in 2008, the HubCity Writers Project between Turkey and Germany in Munich, which was organized by the Goethe Institute Istanbul.
Şener Özmen lives in Diyarbakir.

His works:

His poetry books:
Eskiden Ne Güzeldi(Once How Beautiful It Was),Liman Editions, 1999
Şaşıracaksın(You Will Be Amazed),Liman Editions, 1999
Ağıt mı bu yaktığın?(Is That a Dirge You Sing?),Liman Editions, 1999
Sözüm Haritadan Dışarı(Saving Your Map),Lîs Editions, 2004

His short story book:
Keleh (Castle), Lîs Editions, 2012

His novels:
Rojnivîska Spinoza (The Diary of Spinoza), Lîs Editions, 2008
Pêşbaziya Çîrokên Neqediyayî(The Bout of the Incompetent Stories), Lîs Editions, 2010
Gramera Bêhizûr (The Restless Grammar), Lîs Editions, 2014 (second edition, Lîs Editions, 2015)
Spinoza’nın Günlüğü, (The Diary of Spinoza), Translated into Turkish by Abdullah Koçal, Everest Editions, 2014
Kifayetsiz Hikâyeler Müsabakası(The Bout of the Incompetent Stories), Translated into Turkish by Abdullah Koçal, Everest Editions, 2015

His articles:
Travma ve Islahat(Trauma and Restructure), readings on the contemporary art, Lîs Editions, 2007
Uykusu Bölünenler (The Ones Whose Sleep Was Disrupted), readings on the modern Kurdish literature, Lîs Editions, 2013

His translations:
Kawa Destanı ve Azhî Dehaq(The Epic of Kawa and Azhî Dehaq),Arjen Arî, Evrensel Editions, 2011
Kalbim Bir Yastıktır Aşka (My Heart is a Pillow for Love),Berken Bereh, Evrensel Editions, 2012

Solo Exhibitions
2016Unfiltered, ARTER-space for art, Istanbul, Turkey
2015There is a way out, PİLOT, Istanbul, Turkey
2012Zero Tolerance, PİLOT, Istanbul, Turkey
2011Die Geschicte von Sener Özmen / The Story of Sener Ozmen, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany
2009Original Message, OUTLET, Istanbul, Turkey

Selected Group Exhibitions
2015
Istanbul. Joy, Passion, Fury, MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy
Political Art and Resistance in Turkey, nGbK, Berlin, Germany
Every inclusion is an exclusion of other possibilities, SALT Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
Contemporary Turkish Art, 12 Star Gallery, London, England

2014
Moving Image, Istanbul, Türkiye

2013
Censorhip_2013 Move on Asia, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul, Korea
Mom, am I barbarian?, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
The Unanswered Question-İskele 2, Tanas and NBK, Berlin, Germany
Agoraphobia, TANAS, Berlin, Germany
Biennale Online, Reflection and Imagination, www.artplus.com
Envy, Enmity, Embarrassment, ARTER, Istanbul, Turkey
Past and Future, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
Histoires Paralleles, pays meles, Musee d’histoire naturelle, Nimes, France

2012
In What Language Shall I Tell You My Story, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, the Netherlands
Consequences are no coincidence, PİLOT, Istanbul, Turkey

2011
iRonic, Kunstpalais Erlangen, Germany
Alternativa 2011- Estrangement, WYSPA-Institute of Art, Gdansk, Poland
Where Fire Has Struck, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Depo, Istanbul, Turkey
Yes, We Don't, Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, France
East By South West, Galerie Krinzinger, Wien

2010
Emploi Saisonnier/Seasonal Work, Galerie de la Friche, Marseille, France
Fantasy & Island, Frac Corse, Corsica, France
Etat d’âmes: une génération hors d’elle, ENSBA, Paris, France
Frik Festival - Skopje 2010, Frik Center, Macedonia
When Ideas Become Crime, Depo Tobacco Warehouse, Istanbul, Turkey
The Festival: Underground City 21, Open Space - Zentrum für Kunstprojekte, Vienna, Austria

2009
Word-Tale, Mixed Narrations: A video parade from different viewpoints, Hacettepe Art
Museum, Ankara, Turkey
Creative Destruction, Outlet Gallery, Istanbul
Who Killed the painting?, Works from the Block Collection, Neues Museum, Nuremberg,
Germany
Dream and Reality: Contemporary Art from the Near East, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern,
Switzerland
Istanbul-Traversée, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
New Works, New Horizons, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Turkey
Made in Turkey, Positionen Türkischer Kunst 1978 – 2008, Ernst Barlach Museumsgesellschaft