About – Ebru Kurbak

Ebru Kurbak is an internationally working artist, based in Vienna, Austria. In her work, she is driven by her interest in the hidden political nature of everyday spaces, technologies, and routines, and how the design of the ordinary is involved in shaping values, practices, and ideologies. Ebru currently is senior research fellow at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and runs a four-year arts-based research project titled “The Museum of Lost Technology” (FWF, 2020 – 2024). She also researches her LACMA Art + Technology Lab project “Reinventing the Spindle” with the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative as her technical advisor.

Ebru previously was visiting professor at the Institute of Art Sciences and Art Education at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2020 – 2022) and lecturer at the Departments of Visual Communication Design and Photography and Video at the Istanbul Bilgi University (2003 – 2006) and the Department of Space and Design Strategies at the University of Art and Design Linz (2006 – 2014). She also ran the FWF-funded arts-based research project “Stitching Worlds” (2014 – 2018) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Ebru carried out artistic residencies at La Gaîté Lyrique (Paris, FR), V2_Institute for Unstable Media (Rotterdam, NL), LABoral Cultural Center (Gijon, SP), and EYEBEAM (New York, US). She has exhibited at international platforms including the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts Vienna (Vienna, AT), Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, AT), ZKM (Karlsruhe, DE), Siggraph (US), Microwave Festival (Hong Kong), Istanbul Design Biennial (Istanbul, TR), and Piksel Festival (Bergen, NO), among others. She was awarded the Erste Bank MoreValue Design Award in 2015 and the LACMA Art + Technology Grant by the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts in 2019.

Exhibitions

(*Solo)

2024
Timeless Curiosities, Istanbul Modern – Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul (TR).

2023
Who Owns the Moon?, Neue Galerie Graz, Graz (AT).*
Siggraph 2023 Art Gallery, Los Angeles (CA-US).

2022
Understanding – Art and Research, UM Gallery UMPRUM, Prague (CZ).
The Octopus, AIL – Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Vienna (AT).
Photons, Frauenzentrum, WUK, Vienna (AT).

2021
Chronolace Studies: The Standstill Crochet. FABRIKRAUM. Vienna (AT).*

2019
CrossSections_notes, Exhibition Laboratory, Uniarts Helsinki, Helsinki (FI).
CrossSections_perspectives, Konstfack, Stockholm (SE).
A School of Schools: Design as Learning, C-Mine, Genk (BE).
Design Labor, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (AT).
A School of Schools: Design as Learning, LUMA Arles, Arles (FR).

2018
4th Istanbul Design Biennial, Yapı Kredi Kültür ve Sanat, Istanbul (TR).
CrossSections_intervals, Kunsthalle Exnergasse – WUK, Vienna (AT).
Unleashing. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (NY-US).
Stitching Worlds. AIL – Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Vienna (AT).
Archipelago—Insel des unvorhersehbaren Denkens, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna (AT).

2017
Unschärfen und weiße Flecken, Kunsthaus Muerz, Mürzzuschlag (AT)
Perfect Bodies & Rebellious Machines, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City (MX).
StadtFabrik #3 Future Production, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (AT).

2016
Infrequently Asked Questions, Volkskundemuseum Wien, Vienna (AT).*
when home won’t let you stay, Heiligenkreuzer Hof, Vienna (AT).
Art.CHI 2016 Inter/Action: Digital Art That Responds, Works Gallery, San José (CA-US).

2015
Laboro Ergo Sum: amber’15 Art and Technology Festival, SantralIstanbul, Istanbul (TR).
Contemporary Code: Artistic Research, HKU, Hong Kong (HK).
GLOBALE: Exo-Evolution, ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (DE).
VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, Vienna (AT).
A Wardrobe for Resistance, VIENNA DESIGN WEEK Window Gallery, Vienna (AT).*
eTEXTILE CUVÉE 2015, Paillard Centre D’Art Contemporain, Poncé-sur-le-Loir (FR).
New Gifts: The Creative Technologies Exhibition, The Macy Art Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (NY-US).
Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne 2015, St. Etienne (FR).

2014
Update_5: Technology as Context, Zebrastraat, Ghent (BE).
How Things Don’t Work: The Dream Space of Victor Papanek, Parsons School of Design, New York (NY-US).
eTEXTILE CUVÉE 2014, Paillard Centre D’Art Contemporain, Poncé-sur-le-Loir (FR).
EXEMPLARY: 150 Years of the MAK, MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (AT).
EYEBEAM 2014 Annual Showcase, EYEBEAM, New York (NY-USA).
2013 FILE Festival São Paulo 2013, São Paulo (BR).
{else = system missing} Analoge Ansichten, Universität Wien, Institut für Soziologie, Vienna (AT).
Toolkit Festival, Venice (IT).

2012
Test_Lab: eTextile Sweatshop, 2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam (NL).
Microwave International New Media Arts Festival, Hong Kong (HK).
Feather Tales, LABoral, Gijon (SP).*
Amber’12 Art and Technology Festival, Istanbul (TR).
Commons Tense – New Media Arts from Turkey, TodaysArt Festival, Den Haag (NL).

2011
Sensing Place / Placing Sense, Ars Electronica Festival 2011, Linz (AT).

2010
Portable Art: Amber Selection. Istanbul (TR).
Speculum Artium 10, Delavski Dom Trbovlje, Trbovlje (SI).

2009
Wearable Information, CIANT Int. Centre for Art and New Technologies, Prague (CZ).
Piksel 09 Festival, Bergen (NO).
FILE Festival São Paulo 2009, São Paulo (BR).
Siggraph 2009 Art Gallery: Information Aesthetics. New Orleans (LA, USA).
Linz 09 / 80+1: A Journey Around the World, Linz (AT) – Mexico City (MX).
Speculum Artium 09, Delavski Dom Trbovlje, Trbovlje (SI).
Ich-Maschine, Edith-Ruß-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg (DE).

2008
CStem 2008: Breeding Objects, Torino (IT).
Art on the Move, Ars Electronica Festival 2008, Linz (AT).
Test_Lab: Happiness, V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam (NL).
Fashionable Technology Book Launch, EYEBEAM, New York (NY-US).
ecoAesthetics, <>TAG Gallery, Amsterdam (NL).
Social Fabrics: Art + Media + Interconnectivity, Dallas (TX-USA).
Seamless: Computational Couture MIT Fashion Show, Museum of Science, Boston (MA-USA).

2007
Campus 2.0: Neo-Analog, Ars Electronica Festival 2007, Linz (AT).