Ayse Erkmen TURKISH, b. 1949

Revealing a fascination with Minimalism’s reduced formal language, Ayse Erkmen’s extremely diverse practice involves architectural and environmental interventions, sculpture, installation, photography, and animation. “This is something that I’ve chosen to do, and every problem and every space becomes a new beginning for me,” she says. “I don’t have to be connected to a style or a form of art or anything.” Site-specific and spontaneous, her works focus on the relationship between the architectural and the socio-cultural—themes such as migrancy, renewal processes, transportation systems, and the configuration of public spaces. In her most famous work, _Shipped Ships_ (2001), three ferries were brought to Frankfurt by container ships from Japan, Italy, and Turkey along with their complete respective crews. These were used as passenger ferries across the Main River for a period of one month.