Material: Fermentation

Contemporary Art and Ecological Experiments (Production Workshop for Artists)

“Material: Fermentation”

Workshop Facilitator: Ekin Kano

Date: April 14-16, 2026

Time: 19:00 – 21:00

Material: Fermentation is a research workshop that invites participants to rethink artistic production through transformation, care, and relationships with non-human agents. Fermentation, a primordial metabolic energy strategy, is approached in this program as a conceptual tool and a method of knowledge production.

Within this framework, participants are encouraged to read their artistic production as a metabolic process in which matter, time, and non-human agents operate together, to reflect on their own authorship, and to reconsider their practices.

Ekin Kano (b. 1990) is a visual artist working between Istanbul and Berlin. She completed her MA in Visual Arts at Sabancı University and her BA at Yıldız Technical University, Faculty of Art and Design. During her undergraduate studies, she also studied in the Fine Arts department at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

Kano investigates the blurred boundaries between human and non-human bodies, questioning the concepts of fluidity and materiality. Her first solo exhibition, My Insides Are Swelling, Variations on Existence, opened in 2019 at Saint Joseph Caporal House as part of the parallel events of the 16th Istanbul Biennial. Her second solo exhibition, Foggy House, was presented at Öktem Aykut Gallery in 2020. In 2022, the book Otomy, Volumes, which she co-authored, won the Zurich Book Award. Kano held her third solo exhibition, Where You Hesitate, at ArtOn Istanbul. She is a member of the art committee of Hara Istanbul and is represented by ArtOn Istanbul.

* This workshop is intended for participants who wish to rethink artistic production through transformation, care, temporality, and relationships with non-human agents, and who are interested in material-based, research-driven, and interdisciplinary modes of practice. Regular attendance throughout the program is expected. Participation is free of charge and limited to 15 participants.

* To participate in the program, you may submit your application by filling out the pre-registration form via the “Register” button on the page. Registration will open one week before the first event (07.04.2026, 19:00) and the “Register” button will become accessible from this date. During the pre-registration stage, applicants are expected to include a minimum 40-word text describing their artistic practice and motivation for participating in the workshop. Applications will be evaluated, and invitation emails will be sent to selected participants.

Workshop Program

- 14.04.2026 Tuesday / 19:00 - 21:00 / On Production and Material (Online)

Kano’s own practice is presented alongside examples from other artists who have incorporated fermentation into their work. The metabolic logic of fermentation, its relationship to temporality, and the fields it opens as a method of knowledge production are discussed. Participants share their own production practices and the materials they use.

- 15.04.2026 Wednesday / 19:00 - 21:00 / Potentials of the Material (Online)

In this session, fermentation is examined through relationships with human and non-human agents and forms of collaboration with them. After participants share their thoughts on the concept of authorship in artistic production, they prepare for the third session through a creative exercise.

- 16.04.2026 Thursday / 19:00 - 21:00 / On Exhibition Practices (Online)

The creative exercise initiated in the second session is further developed, and participants share their project ideas with the group. The ideas are discussed collectively. The session concludes with the sharing of different fermentation recipes.