Selim Birsel, 1963

Selim Birsel completed his bachelors and graduate degrees at the École des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble between 1985 and 1991. In 1990-1991 he studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques in Paris (IHEAP). He has been teaching in the Visual Arts and Visual Communications Design Program at Sabancı University since 1999.

“Testis-Tank-Ear-Field Vienna” not only is a performance in itself but also sheds light on the making of the paper work “Testis-Tank-Ear-Field I” and documents the process of production. Birsel points out that this documentary-like video provides him a critical space allowing the opportunity to cross-check within the duration of the work. While producing drawings, installations, videos, and photographs Selim Birsel constantly alters forms and materials of production. The rumblings and rhythm of the tank tracks and the ears of grain that had penetrated into Birsel’s memory years ago at the borders of Thrace come together on the same plane and evolve into a paper work titled “Testis-Tank-Ear-Field I”.