Interdisciplinary and performing arts
Diren Demir (Istanbul, 1997) is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator from Istanbul. Demir’s work seeks transformative solutions to the challenges posed by toxic masculine culture. Demir’s installations and performances frequently deal with revelation and the body-power relationship as a site of conflict. Demir focuses on transformational activism, participatory practices and developing new models of resistance in their artworks. In addition to queer-themed works, in which the “pure existence” of their own body is used to break down stereotypical gender positions, Demir also aims to de- gender memories of place and the city by referring to LGBTIQ+ history in their articles, seminars and workshops. In 2018, they translated the compilation “S.T.A.R.” into Turkish. In 2019, their compilation titled “A Night of June: A Biographical Analysis of the Stonewall Revolution” was published. In August 2022, their new poetry and illustration book “Hail to the Fallen” took its place in bookstores. Demir has curated more than 30 guerrilla exhibitions on streets and rural areas, putting the accessibility of art at the forefront, as well as in places such as the Akbank Art and Gazhane Museum. Their works and projects exhibited in many different countries such as Estonia, Turkey, Serbia, Netherlands, Germany, India…
2021, Güneş Cinema, Place intervention
2023, Audio Walk
2021, Performance