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Merve Elveren
Curatorial Residency Program in Athens: October 2026

Merve Elveren’s curatorial practice and research examine critical discussions and new institutional formations around shifting political urgencies. Between August 2011 and September 2018, Merve was part of the founding team of Research & Programs at Salt. Some of her recent projects include PresentAbsent (co-curator, YUNT, 2025-2026); Translated into Socialism (curator, Salt, 2024 and Moderna galerija, 2025); In Time / On Ground (participant, 17th Istanbul Biennial, 2022 and Archive, 2023) and Little did they know (curator, 39th EVA International-Ireland’s Biennial, 2020-2021). She is the co-editor of “Cengiz Çekil: 21.08.1945-10.11.2015” (Salt, 2020). “Day to Day” (YAZ Publication Series as part of Sharjah Biennial 16, 2025) and “National Identity and Feminist Praxis: Perspectives from Kosovo and Turkey” (National Gallery of Kosovo, 2025).

During the residency, Merve will map institutional genealogies and survival strategies that have emerged within the Athens art ecosystem over the past two decades. Through a series of semi-structured interviews and meetings, she will examine how critical terms once defined by autonomous initiatives, artist-run structures, and academic frameworks—such as ‘commoning,’ ‘co-production,’ ‘co-learning,’ and ‘transparency’—have been co-opted by populist programming. Furthermore, this research investigates how small- and medium-scale organizations navigate contemporary socio-economic pressures, reflecting broader shifts within complex local dynamics.