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Cem Altinoz

video , Publicatie , performance , Lichaam , fotografie , Experimenteel , Audiovisueel , Artistiek onderzoek

Cem Altınöz (1993, İstanbul, TR) works and plays with images and texts. As a multi-media artist, he investigates the role of imagery and image-making in one's self-representation, self-reproduction, and self-destruction. While aiming to reveal and break the limits of spoken and written language through audiovisual media, he explores the place of 'ownership' in one's relationship with the lived body, emphasizing the significance of the Other in the self-definition of the individual. Deriving from his own experiences with autoimmunity, he strives to make connections between the singular and the universal; often resulting in autobiographical still and moving images that are impure and sullied, roaming in the realms of the uncanny.

Roaming the Realm
DIYAR* / *Roaming the Realm - 'roaming the realm' is a performative installation project of sonic experimentation, analog machinery, and bodily presence to explore the metaphors and realities of autoimmunity on biological, societal, and systemic levels. It investigates how the very structures designed to protect us can become oppressive, reactive, and eventually self-destructive over time. The performance aims to translate the confusion, paranoia and breaking down of bodily and social unity into sound by embracing glitch, malfunction, and atonality as tools to give voice to the silenced, 'disabled' bodies, highlighting the body's refusal to perform under systems of control. The audience is invited to experience a destabilizing and unsettling encounter.
Crip Time / Dia Days
Crip Time / Dia Days - A soundscape composed of field recordings and sample-based sequences built from the everyday sounds of my Type 1 Diabetes (T1DM) treatment routine. By collecting the mechanical, rhythmic, and unpredictable noises of sensors, pumps, and corporal care, I create a composition that mirrors both the repetition and interruptions of this process. The work reflects life in 'Crip Time': a flexible, subjective, nonlinear experience of time shaped by the body's needs rather than capitalist frameworks. Crip Time / Dia Days was performed in the 2026 edition of Radio WORM's 25 Hour Radio Relay in 2026.
transgross
transgross - transgross is a publication project that has started out as a single photobook, during the first year of Altınöz’s studies at Piet Zwart Institute. The book consists of images of Altınöz’s personal photographic archive of life and death which he had encountered throughout his everyday life in the past years. The collection of images at times evoke an uneasiness, and often plain, core disgust; yet they also captivate the viewer and create a paradoxical situation of a simultaneous attraction and repulsion. transgross is an unorthodox visual diary of life and death through everyday life. As all living beings, it can not stay stable: it changes, develops, and adapts itself to the world. In order to spread more easily, as we speak, it is mutating into prints, postcards, stickers, zines, t-shirts. transgross has been exhibited in an installation format, as part of the group exhibition 'Treat with Care While Aging' at MaMA Rotterdam in 2025.
Despite All We Work
Despite All We Work - A documentary by Cem Altınöz, created in collaboration with DutchCulture and filmed during a five-day visit to the Netherlands, shares the stories of regional museum workers in Ukraine. In the face of immense challenges, they have redefined their roles, demonstrating the impact of international solidarity. The film highlights how strength and resilience have become the cornerstone of the identity Ukrainians strive to protect. Along the way, we get a sneak peek into the passionate, sincere, and sometimes humorous conversations between Ukrainian and Dutch museum professionals as they visit museums across the Netherlands, from Enschede to Den Bosch.
a study of a shared meal
a study of a shared meal - A Study of a Shared Meal is an invitation to come together in the preparation and sharing of a meal. Inspired by Harney and Moten's idea of ​​“study” as what you do with other people, this program explores different dimensions of commensality —sharing food, space, time, and labor— through artistic, participatory, and (mostly) improvised experiences. The program transformed the ordinary act of having a meal into a collaborative process. Each activity and zone within the program highlighted various practices of community members and showcased different ways of coming together and contributing to the shared process. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join in the preparation, contributing in whatever way they feel inspired. Whether it is chopping vegetables, setting the table, having a conversation, or simply vibing to the music, everyone plays a role in the creation of this shared experience. The meal itself becomes a culmination of these efforts, embodying and reflecting the mutual support, collective learning, and resourcefulness essential for creative migrants to survive and potentially thrive as they navigate life in a new environment. This gathering featured contributions from artists and community members including Başak Kırıcı, Cem Altınöz, Dafni Melidou, Dicle Gülşahin, Ezgi Aktuğ, Katayun Taraporevala, Kıvanç Sert, Metincan Güzel, Omid Kheirabadi, Tuba Kılıç, as part of U? program of Le Guess Who? 2024.
‘the thing that was before is gone’
‘the thing that was before is gone’ - ‘the thing that was before is gone’ started out as a collaboration within the TimeWindow community, in 2024, and since then has had several editions over its lifetime. The initial collaboration between the artists borus.fuckyea, Cem Altinoz and Maria Sartzetaki was built upon the common interest in exploring the themes of death and decay through visceral bodily responses, and drew inspiration from concepts like rites of passage, transcendence, and transformative cycles of existence and non-existence. As an outcome of their Rule of 3 residency in TimeWindow, the trio created an evening consisting of three parts: a slow march through the installation passage, the performance choreographed and performed by Maria Sartzetaki and Cem Altinoz on the sound, and the end of the night with the collective cooking of the ceremonial desert with the audience members.
RVRS
RVRS - RVRS is a collaborative AV performance by Altinoz and Rita Maomenos, performed during Conflux Festival 2023, in Rotterdam. RVRS is built upon a collective audio-visual project that explores themes related to climate disaster, societal trauma, and humanity. Through a collaborative effort between several artists, the project uses a blend of sound, video, and interactive elements to create an immersive experience. Drawing on the collective anxieties about the future on earth, the peformance seeks to capture the essence of the music subculture, and its role in preserving humanity in a world of immesurable challenges. The audio-visual work was developed by Rita Maomenos, Cem Altınöz, Merijn van der Brand, and Richard Guenne, and it counts with the participation of Tancredi di Giovanni, Catello Tiranno, Su Kartal, Metin Çalış, and Adriana Sawicka.
Illusory Essay of Noise
Illusory Essay of Noise - TimeWindow’s first festival outside of its home, CAMPSITE took place at TENT Rotterdam from 24 March to 10 April 2023. The participating artists of TimeWindow were made into groups by the curatorial/dramaturgical team Giovanna di Giacomo & Maria Sertzetaki, to create and present new works by using existing works as starting points. Coming from different fields, Cem & Daphnis found a common ground in their desire to communicate the hidden parts of their lives: their disabilities. In his previous work, a borderless existence, Altinoz was exploring the autoimmune condition of T1DM through his practice of anti-portraits, meanwhile Daphnis’ neo-swan song was based on replicating their personal experiences with ADHD for an audience. Following their match and throughout the co-creation process, the duo went into conversations about the parts that we feel obliged to hide in order to fit in, ‘malfunctions’ in societal terms, ways to raise awareness and creating a pseudo-state of their disabilities in a live audiovisual performance. illusory essay of noise was an outcome of this process, which they performed throughout the first weekend of the festival. Their immersive performance blends dynamic anti-portraits, para-phonic synth scape-sounds, poetry, and voice, gently prompting contemplation on the vulnerabilities of the human psyche and physicality, all in pursuit of solace rather than conformity to societal expectations.
counterearth
counterearth - counterearth is a collaborative AV performance by Altinoz and Richard Guenne, performed during the third edition of ‘darc’, at Time Is The New Space, Rotterdam, in 2023. With a blend of electronic beats, atmospheric textures, engaging rhythms, and a visual narrative that deconstructs vague memories lingering amidst the ruins of a disaster, guenn and Altinoz invites the audience to unravel the layers of a post-apocalyptic realm, reflecting on the fragility of our existence and the remnants of a world that lingers somewhere deep within our minds. In their inaugural live set, the novel AV duo aims to transport the audience through a landscape that resonates with the echoes of a forgotten era, where the realms of sound and visuals merge to give birth to a new narrative that arises from the ashes of the past. With a blend of electronic beats, atmospheric textures, engaging rhythms, and a visual narrative that deconstructs vague memories lingering amidst the ruins of a disaster, guenn and Altinoz invites the audience to unravel the layers of a post-apocalyptic realm, reflecting on the fragility of our existence and the remnants of a world that lingers somewhere deep within our minds. In their inaugural live set, the novel AV duo aims to transport the audience through a landscape that resonates with the echoes of a forgotten era, where the realms of sound and visuals merge to give birth to a new narrative that arises from the ashes of the past.
a borderless existence - a borderless existence is the result of Altinöz's fascination with contamination and his personal interest in the concept of autoimmunity. In a borderless existence Altinöz investigates the theories of medical autoimmunity which consider the body's immune system to be making a distinction between 'self-cells' and 'non self-cells', defining the latter as dangerous. Being 'immune to oneself' translates as a self-destructive act where the self cannot identify itself and consequently destroys its own parts: cells ravage other cells as a result of a misidentification, a symbiotic relationship turns into a blitz on tissues and organs. Altinöz appropriates the model of autoimmunity, the exemplary situation of erasing of borders between the self and its other, into an impure, genre-less moving image. a borderless existence is the dematerialized offspring of Altinöz's anti-portraiture practice. Emphasizing the relationship of a confused mind and a confused body, an uncanniness on a cellular level, the video displays an autoimmune selfhood's attempt to define itself through the images it creates.
DAWN - A moving image work regarding the phases of the photographic image by following different instances of the creative process, mainly through conception and duplication, revealing the now-archaic process of analog image production. Emphasizing the slowness of the creation, the existence of chemical processes, and the inherent redness of the darkroom. Exhibited in Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam, as part of Cloud Cuckoo Land program of the Piet Zwart Institute, at Eye Researchlabs 2020.

Slow Ghost Exploration

Datum:
Locatie: Time Window
In samenwerking met: Time Window; Maria Sartzetaki

In this evening of three acts, the audience is invited to experience a spectral realm parallel to reality, shedding light on the dark side of dreams; an exploration of the past & present through oral histories of myths, stories, poems and songs; a mix of obsolete and advanced technologies, celebrating the mere act of collective crafting as a sacred practice.

Co-curation: C.Altinoz & M.Sartzetaki
Organized as part of Marie-Louise Residency initiated by Omid Kheirabadi & Aubane Berthommé Martinez

https://timewindow.nl/events/marie-louise-slow-ghost-exploration/

DIYAR* / *Roaming the Realm

Datum:
Locatie: various locations
In samenwerking met: Kivanc Sert

roaming the realm is a performative installation project of sonic experimentation, analog machinery, and bodily presence to explore the metaphors and realities of autoimmunity on biological, societal, and systemic levels.
The performance aims to translate the confusion, paranoia and breaking down of bodily and social unity into sound by embracing glitch, malfunction, and atonality as tools to give voice to the silenced, ‘disabled’ bodies.

https://cemaltinoz.com/DIYAR-roaming-the-realm

RVRS

Datum:
Locatie: WORM
In samenwerking met: Rita Maomenos, Merijn van den Brand, Richard Guenne

RVRS is built upon a collective audio-visual project that explores themes related to climate disaster, societal trauma, and humanity. Through a collaborative effort between several artists, the project uses a blend of sound, video, and interactive elements to create an immersive experience. Drawing on the collective anxieties about the future on earth, the peformance seeks to capture the essence of the music subculture, and its role in preserving humanity in a world of immesurable challenges.

https://cemaltinoz.com/RVRS

Illusory Essay of Noise

Datum:
Locatie: TENT Rotterdam / TimeWindow
In samenwerking met: Daphnis Monastrioti

Cem (TR) and Daphnis (GR), as a new-media artist duo, unite their diverse artistic talents to explore the concealed facets of their inner worlds.

The AV performance is a blend of dynamic anti-portraits, para-phonic synth scape-sounds, poetry & voice, gently prompting contemplation on the vulnerabilities of the human psyche and physicality.

All in pursuit of solace rather than conformity to societal expectations.

https://cemaltinoz.com/illusory-essay-of-noise

Fables of Deconstruction

Datum:
Locatie: Atlas1948 / Daragac Izmir / Kraft Ayvalik
In samenwerking met: Emin Gok

Seizing the mantle of entropy—a mechanistic and deterministic concept encapsulating the inevitable dispersion and deterioration of matter—Gok and Altinoz cast it as a formidable adversary. The artists elucidate how societies, through overwrought and symbolic actions, habitually engage in dismantling the impending entropic fate before it engulfs them. The notions of "entropy" and the closely intertwined concept of "time" are dissected within the context of societies' ingrained practices.

https://cemaltinoz.com/Fables-of-Deconstruction

Performing the Lens

Datum:
Locatie: V2
In samenwerking met: LensBased 2020 Alumni

The artworks brought together in the exhibition Performing the Lens, all produced by 2020 graduates of the Piet Zwart Institute either as part of their degree projects or shortly after graduation, signal a reengagement by artists with the formative power of lenses. Through reinvestigating and expanding established lens-based practices and discourse, these works explore the lens as an active tool in the construction and perpetuation of reality.

https://v2.nl/events/performing-the-lens-the-choreography-algorithms-and-materiality-of-imagemaking

transgross

Datum:

Transgross, first produced in 2020, contains a carefully curated set of photographs drawn from an extensive bank of images built on almost ten years. Originating from a totally self driven and intuitive practice of photographing signifiers of organic decay, it is a totality of everyday encounters of life's residues. Printed on recycled organic papers, 100 pages.

https://cemaltinoz.com/transgross
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