b. 1977 in Turkey
Burak Delier received his MA degree from the Art & Design Faculty of Yıldız Technical University. His practice can be described as a hybrid of guerrilla art tactics and absurd humour that grabs the attention of his audience almost immediately. By using the very tools of the media he opposes, he produces works that are edgy and have a shocking effect. His anonymous fly-posting of a photograph of a young woman, wearing the European Union flag as a veil with only her wide-open eyes visible, exposed the contradictions embedded in the EU’s and Turkey’s reciprocal positions. The work itself became a case in point when the image and Delier’s action found wide attention in both Turkish and European media.
In 2007 Delier inaugurated the dummy company ‘ReverseDirection’, which, in his own words, ‘says “No!” to populism, conservative politics and the repressive tools of governments’. Through this company, Delier designs and produces equipment that protects those who want to defend their subjective and local values, and those who attempt to write an alternative history to the clandestine and open violence of the consumption-focused, pseudo-democracy of neo-liberalism and nationalism. Delier has so far manufactured two products via ReverseDirection: the Parkalynch, a lynch-proof demonstration jacket and the Madimak ‘93, a fire resistant suit that recalls an arson attack that killed many people during a leftist congregation.
Delier has participated in exhibitions at K2, 2005, Izmir; Proje4L, 2006, Istanbul; 10th International Istanbul Biennial, 2007, Istanbul; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, 2007, Aachen; and Ausstellungshallle für Zeitgenössische Kunst, 2007, Münster.