Ahmed Aküzüm

Ahmed Aküzüm is a cultural worker and artist. He was born in Diyarbakır, Turkey, and now lives in Germany. Aküzüm holds a MA in Cultural Management from Istanbul Bilgi University.

He has worked as a coordinator on more than a hundred artistic and cultural projects in Turkey. Parallel to his own creative practice in video and photography, he works as a cameraman. Ahmed Aküzüm is also a part-time lecturer in the Department of Arts and Cultural Management at Istanbul Bilgi University.

In his creative and professional practices, Aküzüm is interested in reflecting on how living together, in the truest sense of the word, can be restored in different cultures through culture and art.

“For the last twenty years, I worked as a manager for various national and international projects focusing on social issues and intersecting culture, art and civil society.
Moreover, I carried out social cohesion projects with refugees and local communities living in disadvantaged areas of Istanbul. I thus, for the first time, had the opportunity to work one-on-one with refugee children and youth. For me, this was an influential experience, where I learned a lot. Every single kid is still on my mind!
I recently moved to Germany, after this long experience in my home country. In Turkey, the ongoing political and economic crises and the increasing political pressures caused the national field of culture and the arts run out of breath.
Now, I am here with the desire to take a closer look at the cultural and artistic life in Germany- and in Europe- and to become part of it. I believe this could be achieved by turning the difficulty of making art into an advantage.”