Merve Elveren

Merve Elveren (b. 1985, Istanbul) is a curator. Her research-driven practice primarily examines the social and cultural environment of Turkey in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the critical debates and institutional formations shaped by shifting political urgencies. In 2020–2021, she curated the 39th EVA International Guest Programme titled Little did they know in Ireland. Between 2011 and 2018, she was part of the SALT Research and Programs team. Among the projects she realized at SALT are A Promised Exhibition — Gülsün Karamustafa (with Duygu Demir, 2013), How did we get here (2015), and Continuity Error — Aydan Murtezaoğlu and Bülent Şangar (2018). In 2020, she co-edited the publication Cengiz Çekil: 21.08.1945–10.11.2015, published by SALT. For the 17th Istanbul Biennial, she collaborated with Çağla Özbek and the Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation on the research project In Time / On Ground. Following the project, she participated in the exhibition In the Inner Bark of Trees at Archive (Berlin). In 2024, she co-curated the exhibition Translation into Socialism at Salt Galata together with researchers Sezgin Boynik and Tevfik Rada. In 2018, Elveren was awarded the Gerrit Lansing Independent Vision Curatorial Award.