Born 1976, Batman, Turkey.
Lives and works in Batman, Turkey.

Of Kurdish descent, Fikret Atay highlights the tensions that rise from permanent opposition between the West and the East, civilians and military, tradition and experimentation: a situation he lived in his hometown, Batman, located in Turkey on the Iraqi border. His simple, unaffected style lends an apparently straightforward authenticity to the images, yet the meanings of the performers’ actions remain mysterious to viewers unfamiliar with the local culture.

2010
Fikret Atay, Viafarini, Milano, Italy.

2009
King of the Ring, La Chaufferie, E.N.S.A.D., Strasbourg, France.
Batman versus Batman, Outlet, Istanbul, Turkey.

2008
Bonner Kunstverein, Germany.

2007
Site Gallery, Sheffield, U.K.

2006
Hammer Projects, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Le Plateau/Frac Île-de-France, Espace expérimental, Paris, France.

2005
Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Maison de l’Architecture, Paris, France.
Sonidos lejanos/Distant Sound, MUSAC, Leon, Spain.
Fikret Atay-Ursula Blickle videolounge, Kunsthalle, Wien, Austria.

2004
Index, Stockholm, Sweden.
Büro Friedrich, Berlin, Germany.

2012
True stories, curated by Lilly Wei, Locks Gallery, Philiadelphia, USA. 
Living with video, Pavillion Downtown, Dubai, UAE.
I Wish This Was A Song. Music in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway.
Consequences are no coincidence, Pilot, Istanbul, Turkey. 

2011
6th Curitiba Biennal, Curitiba, Brazil.
Future Generation Art Prize@Venice,  Palazzo Papadopoli, Venice, Italy.
Line Made by Walking, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel.
Atesin Düstügü Yer, Depo, Istanbul, Turkey.

2010
Are you a lucky artist ?, Palazzo dei Musei, Biblioteca civica d’arte Luigi Poletti, Modena, Italy.
About us, Johann König Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
Starter, works from the Vehbi Koç Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey.
Whales and Eels, VeSch, Vienna, Austria.
Kick Off, Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen, Denmark.
We Won’t Stop Singing, Mestna Galerija, Ljubljiana, Slovenia.
New Wave, Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Linguaggi e sperimentazioni. Giovani artisti in una collezione contemporanea, MART, Rovereto, Italy.
Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)Possible, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A.

2009
Not eay to save the world, Tanas, Berlin, Germany.
First Image, Macedonian Museum for Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Aftermath, 25th Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries, Cairo, Egypt.
The Rustle of Language, Francesca Kaufmann Gallery, Milan, Italy.
24 hours Petroleum, Batman, Turkey.
ARTLV 09, Tel Aviv, Israël.
The Spectacle of the everyday, Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France.
Monitaur, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, U.S.A.
Make, shift & Bend, Cafe Gallery Projects, London, U.K.
Time out of joint, Recall and evocation in recent art, The Kitchen, New York, U.S.A.

2008
L’Argent, Le Plateau, Paris, France.
My Space. Cosa vuol dire ‘pubblico’?, PAN - Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli, Naples, Italy.
I refuse to become what you call normal, Outlet, Istanbul, Turkey.
Home ?, figures des migrations, Galerie Villa des Tourelles, Nanterre, France.
E-Flux Video Rental, The Building, Berlin, Germany.
The Greenroom: reconsidering the documentary and contemporary art, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, U.S.A.
Open sky, spaces beoynd their practice, Castle of Kalsdorf, Ilz, Austria.
Sampling, Centre of popular art and traditions, Athens, Greece.
Glasgow International, The Local, SWG3 Studios, Glasgow, U.K.
Permanent Green/Verde Permanente, Isola Art Center, Milano, Italy.
GLOBAL YOUTH 2.0, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabruck, Germany.
After Nature, New Museum, New York, U.S.A.
Revolutions: Selected works from the collection of Isabelle and Jean-Conrad Lemaître, University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, U.S.A.

2007
Résidents, Espace Electra, Paris, France.
Not Only Possible, But Also Necessary:
 Optimism in the Age of Global War, Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey.
Cuestión Xeneracional (Generational Issue), Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Documentary FilmPlatform ZONE, MuHKA_media, Antwerp, Belgium.
Geopoéticas, Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain.

2006
Hammer Projects, Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Charged Space, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, U.S.A.
L’usage du monde, Musée Art moderne et Contemporain, Rijeka, Croatia.
Territory, Vproject ancity Theater, Vancouver, Canada.
EurHope 1153 – Contemporary Art from the Bosphorus, Villa Manin, Passariano, Italy.
Painting Ruins, Afghan Foundation for Culture & Civil Society, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Bühne des Lebens - Rhetorik des Gefühls, Lenbachhaus München, Münich, Germany.
Zones of contact, Sydney Biennial, Sydney, Australia.
Glasgow International, Tramway, Glasgow, U.K.

2005
The Pantagruel Syndrome, Torinotriennale tremusei, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy.
More Than This! Negotiating Realities, Göteborg Biennial, Göteborg, Sweden.
The Gesture, A Visual library in progress, Macedonian Museum Of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki Greece; Quarter, The New Center of Contemorary Art, Florence, Italy.
Land Marks, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France.
The Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao, Spain.
Critical Societies, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany.
See What Happens, Narrative structures in recent film and video works, Halle Für Kunst eV, Lüneburg, Germany.
Der neue Orient, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Sonidos Lejanos / Distant Sounds, Laboratorio 987, MUSAC, Léon, Spain.

2004
Around the corner, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisboa, Portugal.
Ethnic Marketing, Centre d’art Contemporain, Genève, Switzerland.
Time Zones : recent film and video, Tate Modern, London, U.K.
Adaptive Behaviour, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, U.S.A.
Emotion Eins, Frankfurter Kusntverein, Frankfurt, Germany.
Quicksand, De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Busan Biennial, Busan, South Korea.
Love it or leave it, Cetinje Biennial, Cetinje, Montenegro.
Pontevedra Biennial, Pontevedra, Spain.

2003
Hilchot Shchenim Chapter I, The Israëli Centre for Digital Art, Holon, Israël.
Geographies #3, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France.
Poetic Justice, Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey.
MEDIROM Project, Tirana Biennial, Albania.
U- Topos, 2nd Tirana Biennial, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania.
In den Schluchten des Balkans, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.
I`m too Sad to Kill You, Proje4L, Museum of Contemporary Art Istanbul, Turkey.
Undesire, Apexart Curatorial Program, New York, U.S.A.

2002
Under the Beach: The Pavement, Apex Art, New York, U.S.A.

2012
It's time to dance now, Prospectif Cinema, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

2011
Fikret Atay, Prospectif Cinema, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.

2010
And the moral of the story is…, Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

2008
Festival Plastique Danse Flore, Jardin du Potager du Roi, Versailles, France.
Bad boys, Castle of Acciaiolo – Scandicci, Firenze, Italy.
Videoist 2010, Kartal Bülent Ecevit Kültür Merkezi, Kartal, Turkey.

2007
Hay algo de revolucionario en todo esto, Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain.

2004
Musée International de la Parfumerie, Grasse, France.
S1 Artspace, Scheffield, U.K.
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, U.K.
Marres, Maastricht, Netherlands.
Courtisane 04 – International Festival for Short Film, Video and New Media, Ghent, Belgium.

Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
F.R.A.C Alsace, Sélestat, France.
F.R.A.C Île-de-France, Paris, France.
F.R.A.C Provence-Alpes-Côte D’Azur, Marseille, France.
Tate Modern, London, U.K.
MUDAM, Luxembourg.
MUSAC, Leon, Spain.
MACM, Montréal, Canada.