The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (İKSV) announced on April 26 that artist, musician and academic Cevdet Erek would represent Turkey at the 2017 Venice Biennale, to be held between 13 May and 26 November 2017.

The Pavilion of Turkey is organised by the İKSV and the project team that Cevdet Erek will collaborate with will be announced in the proceeding months.

Cevdet Erek’s installations and performances that focus on sound, space and rhythm were shown in dOCUMENTA (13) (2012), Istanbul Biennial (2003, 2013 and 2015), Sydney Biennial (2016), Sharjah Biennial (2013), Stedelijk Museum (2014), MAXXI (2014 and 2015), Istanbul Modern (2014, 2015 and 2016), Arter (2011), SALT (2012 and 2015) among others. Major solo exhibitions of his work were organised by Spike Island in Bristol (2014) and Kunsthalle Basel (2012). His published books are SSS – Shore Scene Soundtrack (2008, BAS), Room of Rhythms 1 (2012, Walther König) and Less Empty Maybe (2015, Revolver/Artist). His SSS – Shore Scene Soundtrack was the recipient of Nam June Paik Award given by Kunststiftung NRW (2012).

Cevdet Erek studied Architecture at Mimar Sinan University. He has been a member of the music band Nekropsi. He received his graduate degree in Sound Engineering & Design from Istanbul Technical University – MIAM (Center for Advanced Studies in Music). He was an artist in residence at Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2005-2006. He currently lives in Istanbul and continues to work at Istanbul Technical University.