Ebru Kurbak

By no means does Ebru Kurbak engage in conventional musings and discussions about space travel. Instead, technological and cultural knowledge are integral to her artistic idiom and critique. In her art she forcefully challenges the biases of certain research processes and, connected with this, the established power relations and definitional prerogatives. Are profit-driven capitalists the only ones capable of thinking about the moon, space or gravity?

Having access to the various fields of space research, the artist draws on two established languages – that of science and that of art. This symbiosis enables Ebru Kurbak to arrive at astonishing insights that would be impossible in the conventional domains of research.

Ebru Kurbak is an artist and researcher born in Izmir, Turkey and based in Vienna, Austria. Her practice explores the entanglements between art, technology, culture, and politics, with a focus on uncovering hidden values and ideologies in science and technology research.

Ebru Kurbak currently is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and runs the arts-based research project titled “The Museum of Lost Technology” (2020–2024) funded by the Austrian Science Fund. She previously was PI of the arts-based research project titled “Stitching Worlds” (2014–2018) and Visiting Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2020–2022). She also taught at the Departments of Visual Communication Design and Photography and Video at the Istanbul Bilgi University (2003–2006) and the Department of Space and Design Strategies at the University of Art and Design Linz (2006–2014).

Ebru Kurbak carried out artistic residencies at La Gaîté Lyrique (FR), V2_Institute for Unstable Media (NL), LABoral Cultural Center (SP), and EYEBEAM (US), and has exhibited at international platforms including the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts Vienna (AT), Ars Electronica Festival (AT), ZKM (DE), Siggraph (US), Microwave Festival (Hong Kong), Istanbul Design Biennial (TR), and Piksel Festival (NO), among others.

Ebru Kurbak was awarded the LACMA Art + Technology Grant by the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts in 2019 for her project titled “Reinventing the Spindle,” which received the Art Gallery Best in Show Award at Siggraph 2023.