Art On Istanbul is pleased to present Zeki Demirkubuz’s solo exhibition “The Best Pose is Given in Solitude”, on view at its Piyalepaşa venue from September 20 to October 18, 2025.
Zeki Demirkubuz (b. 1964, Isparta) graduated from the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University. He directed his first feature film, C Blok, in 1994. His subsequent films, Masumiyet (1997) and Üçüncü Sayfa (1999), both of which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, captured the attention of critics and audiences alike, receiving national and international awards. The first two films of his Karanlık Hikâyeler trilogy, Yazgı (2001) and İtiraf (2001), were screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The trilogy concluded with Bekleme Odası (2003), in which Zeki Demirkubuz also took on the leading role.
He continued his career with Kader (2006), which recounts the prelude to the story in Masumiyet; followed by Kıskanmak (2009), Yeraltı (2012), Bulantı (2015), and Kor (2016). His most recent film, Hayat (2023), further extends his cinematic journey. Retrospectives and screenings of his films have been presented at major institutions and festivals including the Viennale, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Toronto International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, the University of Michigan, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Cinematek in Brussels, the New Horizons Film Festival, and the Cluj Film Festival.
Through a series of still frames captured across diverse geographies, Zeki Demirkubuz opens a contemplative space centered on solitude. The works steer clear of dramatic constructs or visual staging, instead pursuing the quiet intensity of an unfiltered gaze.These photographs are not anchored in narrative but emerge from the raw directness of solitude itself. They invite viewers into encounters shaped by silence—not through spoken word, but through moments steeped in emotion.
Unstaged and unstructured, these scenes gain meaning through their relationship to space, emptiness, and light. Captured across Europe, America, and Asia, they sharpen Demirkubuz’s gaze on solitude. In his framing, there is no pose—only presence.The introspective stance familiar from Zeki Demirkubuz’s cinema finds a new expression here as a visual language rooted in "non-narration" and an internalized sense of authenticity. These reflections, suspended in time, offer an intimate threshold for viewers to enter their own dialogue with solitude.
“The Best Pose is Given in Solitude” presents a selection by Zeki Demirkubuz and curator Ebru Yılmaz, where simplicity is regarded not merely as an aesthetic choice but as an ethical discipline of seeing, unfolding a narrative of solitude.
Exhibition Curator: Ebru Yılmaz