Defne Tesal (1985) lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey. Represented by PİLEVNELİ Gallery.
Education
2017 - 2019 MA in Fine Arts, Master Institute of Visual Cultures, AKV St.Joost, Den Bosch, Netherlands
2004 - 2010 BA in Stage and Costume Design, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, Turkey
2007 - 2008 Erasmus exchange at Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Dept. of Scenography, Italy
Artist residencies
2019 Kulttuuri Kauppila Art Center - Social Art Residency, Ii, Finland
2016 Kulttuuri Kauppila Art Center Artist in Residency, Ii, Finland
2015 SVA Summer Residency, Painting and Mixed Media - New York City, USA
Artist collective
2019 - 2023 DREAM NEWS artist collective and publication initiative with Murat Yıldız
2016 - 2020 HAH artist collective with Ahu Akgün, Gizem Karakaş, Ayça Telgeren, Murat Yıldız
2018-2019 ADMIT ONE (Alireza Abbasy, Elena Chemerska, Annemée Dik, Raffaella Huizinga, Donglai Meng, Simon Oosterhuis, Angela Vidić and Murat Yıldız)
Solo and duo exhibitions
2023 “Talking with Water” Solo exhibition, PILEVNELI Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2023 “Just Like in a Dream” Duo exhibition with Ferruh Başağa, curated by Derya Yücel, Nazım Hikmet Kültür Evi, Bursa, Turkey
2021 "Tereddüt" / “Hesitation” Solo exhibition, PILEVNELI Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2016 "Aralık" / “Interval” Solo exhibition, Gallery Zilberman - Project Space, Istanbul, Turkey
2016 “Keeping The Trace” Duo exhibition with Murat Yıldız, KulttuuriKauppila Art Center, Finland
2015 "Koza" / “Cocoon” solo exhibition, Gallery-5, Istanbul, Turkey
2013 "Cam Kenarı" / “Window Seat” solo exhibition, Gallery Artist Çukurcuma, Istanbul, Turkey
Selected group exhibitions
2022 "Ben Kimse. Sen de mi Kimsesin?" / “I Am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too?” group exhibition curated by Selen Ansen, MEŞHER, Istanbul, Turkey
2022 "Koyun Koyuna" / “Rounded by Sleep” group exhibition curated by Eda Berkmen, ARTER Istanbul, Turkey
2021 “Atış Serbest - MECMU” group exhibition, Barın Han, Istanbul, Turkey
2020 Mor Çatı Women's Shelter Foundation, Art solidarity online GROUP exhibition, Turkey
2019 “Jong Talent” group exhibition, Den Bosch, Netherlands
2019 "Atış Serbest 5" group exhibition, Tophane-i Amire, Istanbul, Turkey
2018 "Moment of Trust" group exhibition. Project of Tenthaus Artist Collective (Oslo) Club Solo, Breda, NL
2018 "What Do We Dance For?", group exhibition, Gallery Nectar, Tbilisi, Georgia
2018 “There is another possibility: about open space and artist collectives” group exhibition, Kasa Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey, participated as HAH collective
2017 “Maybe, we will benefit from our neighbour’s good fortune” group exhibition curated by Işıl Eğrikavuk, Halka Art Project, Istanbul, Turkey, participated as HAH collective
2017 “Vesile” group exhibition by HAH collective members with guest artists Etem Sahin, Selim Birsel, Lara Ogel, HAHmekan, Istanbul, Turkey
2016 “Collective Memory (the past and future is ours)” group exhibition curated by Anna Bauer and Benjamin Lee Sperry, New York City, USA and Glasgow, Scotland
2016 Istanbul Rotary Art Competition – finalists group exhibition, curated by Başak Şenova, Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 SVA Summer Residency Open Studio Exhibition, New York City, USA
2014 “Interception”, International Textile Artists Group Exhibition, Gallery 5, Istanbul, Turkey
Scholarships
2017 Holland Scholarship, Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands
2015 Moon and Starts Scholarship for SVA Summer Residency Program from American Turkish Society, New York City, USA
2007 Erasmus Scholarship for bachelor in scenography education in Academia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Italy
Awards
2016 Istanbul Rotary Art Competition Award, Jury: Ayşe Umur, Başak Şenova, Can Elgiz, Gülsün Karamustafa, Işın Önol, Özalp Birol and Şerif Kaynar
2012 Ifsak Short Film Festival, Best Animation Award
2010 Yıldız Short Film Festival, Digital Film Academy Award
Workshops given
2023 “Tunnels of Sleep / Scale model making workshop’’ workshop for adults, Nazım Hikmet Kültür Evi, Nilüfer Munincipality, Bursa, Turkey
2022 “Tunnels of Sleep / Scale model making workshop’’ workshop for adults, ARTER Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 “1h 34’ 07’’ workshop for fine arts bachelor students of St. Joost Art Academy. In collaboration with Ying Liu and Murat Yıldız.
Master Institute of Visual Cultures, AKV St.Joost, Den Bosch, Netherlands
2018 "Absolute Rhythm, Indefinite Repetition" workshop for fine arts bachelor students of St. Joost Art Academy. In collaboration with Nicola Kirkaldy.
Master Institute of Visual Cultures, AKV St.Joost, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
2016 “Random Creation Project” workshop for high school students of Ii Upper Secondary School, International Art Course program.
In collaboration with Murat Yıldız. Ii, Finland
Selected performances and projects
2019 16. Istanbul Biennial, Public program – participation as HAH collective
2021 “Supposition” / “Sanı” video performance, in collaboration with Ahu Akgün
2018 “Hah Hikaye” interactive online story writing project
2018 “Momentum” performance, in collaboration with Ying Liu. Master Institute of Visual Cultures, AKV St. Joost, Den Bosch, NL
2018 "Meeting" interactive installation/exhibition. Master Institute of Visual Cultures, AKV St. Joost, Den Bosch, NL
2018 “Transition” video screening program / Eye Research Lab, Eye Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018 "HAHcalendar" project, in collaboration with HAH members and artists Sena Başöz, Lara Ogel, Romina Meriç, Sevgi Aka, Uzay Kere, Beste Topuz, Onur Ceritoğlu. Published by Art Unlimited, Istanbul, Turkey
2017 “HAHasks” recording performance as part of MÇPS recording studio created by Can Altay and Saz Arkadaslari, produced by Amira Arzik at 5533, Istanbul, Turkey, participated as HAH
2011 “Hain Kurt” / "Traitor Wolf", stop-motion animation film, 13’52’’, in collaboration with Murat Yıldız, Istanbul, Turkey
2010 “Bir Masal” / "A Tale", stop-motion animation film, 4’31’’, Istanbul, Turkey
Publications
2021 “Dream News / Ambiguous” issue 4, Turkey. Published by Vision Art Platform. In collaboration with Murat Yıldız
2021 “Tereddüt / Hesitation” Artist book. Published by PILEVNELI
2021 “Dream News / Chains” issue 3, Turkey, self published. In collaboration with Murat Yıldız
2020 “words 2016,7,8,9” artist book series, self-publication
2019 “Dream News / Unelma Uutiset” issue 1, Finland, published by Lähde! In collaboration with Murat Yıldız
2019 "Distractions turning into Landscapes", Artist book. Self-publication
2018 HAHcalendar, calendar publication of HAH collective, Art Unlimited publication
2017 HAH “Vesile” exhibition catalogue, HAH publication