Ayşe Erkmen (b. 1949) lives and works in Istanbul and Berlin.
Left Overs II (2025)

Ayşe Erkmen’s project Left Overs 2 explores the site-specific potential of biennials by repurposing sculptural wooden panels sourced from local workshops specializing in wood, metal, and textiles. These leftover materials, with their distinctive shapes, caught Erkmen’s attention and were reimagined within the grid structure of a former military hangar—now transformed into an exhibition space. To enhance their presence and situate them within a contemporary context, Erkmen applied the Pantone Colors of 2024—an annually selected, globally recognized palette. In this way, the work creates a dialogue between past and present, material and meaning, tracing a shift from military history to contemporary artistic expression.

Erkmen graduated from Mimar Sinan University Department of Sculpture. In 1994-95, she attended the DAAD artist program (Berliner Künstlerprogramm) and spent a year in Berlin. During 1998-1999 she worked as the Arnold Bode Professor at the Kassel Art Academy and she also taught at the Frankfurt Staedelschule from 2000 to 2007 and afterwards at Kunstakademie Münster until 2016.

Recent solo exhibitions include:
Emre & Dario, GROTTO, Berlin, Germany (2025);
Hochstapler, Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation, Berlin, Germany (2022);
Scrolling, Galerie Trautwein Herleth, Berlin, Germany (2022)
I Insist, Dirimart, Istanbul, Turkey (2022).

Recent group exhibitions include:
It’s just a Matter of Time, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin, Germany (2025)
Language, Can you hear me?, Draiflessen Collection, Mettingen, Germany (2024)
Greenlight Triennale, Skiens Kunstforening, Norway (2024);
Further Away, 6th Mardin Biennial, Mardin, Turkey (2024).

Commissioned by: Autostrada Biennale