Art On Istanbul is pleased to present Zeki Demirkubuz’s solo exhibition, “The Best Pose is Given in Solitude” at the Baksı Museum from 9 September to 30 October 2026 as part of the exhibition’s touring program.
Zeki Demirkubuz (b. 1964, Isparta) graduated from the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University. He directed his first film, C Blok, in 1994. He subsequently drew the attention of critics and audiences with Masumiyet (1997) and Üçüncü Sayfa (1999), both of which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Both films received national and international awards. The first two films of the director’s Karanlık Hikâyeler trilogy, Yazgı (2001) and İtiraf (2001), were presented 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.
Kader (2006), which tells the story preceding the events of Masumiyet, was followed by Kıskanmak (2009), Yeraltı (2012), Bulantı (2015), and Kor (2016). He continued his filmmaking career with his latest film, Hayat (2023). His films have been presented in retrospectives and collective screenings at major institutions and festivals, including Viennale, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Toronto International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, the University of Michigan, Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Brussels Cinematheque, New Horizons Film Festival, and Cluj Film Festival.
Zeki Demirkubuz’s photographs observe moments encountered in everyday life across different geographies with an unobtrusive gaze, creating a distinctive space for reflecting on the experience of solitude. The photographs brought together in the exhibition draw on the encounter itself, without relying on a predetermined dramatic structure or constructed visual narrative. The relationships between people, places, empty spaces, and light emerge through the intensity of silence. Captured across different cities and surroundings in Europe, America, and Asia, these photographs bring together seemingly unrelated moments through a shared emotional register. What matters here is not a composed image, but situations that arise naturally in the moment. The observant and introspective approach characteristic of Demirkubuz’s cinema takes on a more pared-down form in his photography, replacing narrative with direct experience. There is no attempt within the frame to explain or direct the viewer; instead, the images retain an openness that allows each viewer to complete them through their own gaze.
Built around light, reflection, space, and the shifting rhythm of time, these photographs bring the quiet moments within everyday life to the forefront. In some images, time seems almost suspended, while in others, light and reflections set this stillness back into motion. These encounters approach solitude not simply as a feeling or a subject, but as one of the ways we look at our surroundings and relate to the world. “The Best Pose is Given in Solitude” brings together selected works from Zeki Demirkubuz’s photographic practice, centered on observation, silence, and spontaneity. Exploring photography’s capacity to encounter rather than narrate, and to look rather than explain, the exhibition invites viewers into an open and personal space where they can engage with their own experience of solitude.
