Erdal İnci (born 1983 in Ankara) is a Turkish new media artist, as well as painter, photographer, filmmaker and street artist based in Istanbul. He is primarily known for his cloned motion videos, which are presented online in a reduced GIF format. He studied Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Hacettepe University, graduating in 2005.[1]
İnci describes his works as creating a “human pattern”[2] akin to “a photograph or a painting which is composed of moments.”[3] In this way, “the viewer can watch all the time phases in a small amount of time – […] 1 or 2 seconds.” [4] He most often uses himself as the cloned figure, creating what has been called “an army of street performers.”[5] Hereby, according to İnci, “[a] single figure is turned into a mass by cloning itself […], an expression of the 21st century’s visual bombardment epoch.”[6]
These animation works, according to the artist, also address the physics of sound. Cloning motion “fills the frame,” making it “perpetual, so the timeline will become like a circle” or “like a tone.”[7]The locations selected are almost exclusively public spaces, often well-frequented urban ones that serve as a meeting point or have sociopolitical significance, such as Berlin’s Alexanderplatz or Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
In 2012 Inci turned his video works into the GIF format and started to post in his blog : erdalinci.tumblr.com. His GIF works have been featured in several online editorial art blogs and press such as: CNN, Wired, The Creators Project, The Huffington Post and Deutsche Welle.
Solo exhibitions:
2018 “Inventory” by oddviz, ArtOn Galeri, Istanbul
2018 “Midnight Moment”, Times Square Arts, New York City
2016 “Urbanscapes”, ArtOn Galeri , Istanbul
2015 “The Mass Ornament”, Galerie Michael Schultz , Berlin
2013 “Patterns of Motion”, Bauart Gallery , Istanbul
A selection of mix shows:
2016 “Hybridizing Earth, Discussing Multitude” 10th Busan Bienalle, S. Korea
2016 “The Incident of Art / The Art of Incident” , Akbank Gallery , Istanbul
2016 “Asymmetric Kin” , Seed Space , Nashville , USA
2016 “Underscreen”, Milano Film Festival , Italy
2015 “Waves” curated by Ebru Yetiskin, Blok Art Space , Istanbul
2014 “Trace(s) Festival Des Arts Numeriques” , Bagnols-sur-Ceze , France
2014 “Bindokuzyüzseksendört” , Gallery Nev , Ankara
2014 “Mamut Art Project” , Istanbul
2014 “Holland Animation Film Festival” , Utrecht , Holland
2013 “Parellel Threads” by Newertown , Ekavart Gallery , Istanbul
2013 “The GIF Wall” , Action Gallery , Milan and Naples , Italy
2013 “Me , myself and I” by The Real Wicked , Cer Modern , Ankara
2012 “Moving the Still: A festival of GIFs ” Miami Art Basel, Miami , USA
2012 “Young, Fresh, Different III” , CDA Projects , Istanbul