Short Bio

Ozkal is a Turkish born media artist and designer. She received her MFA from the Department of Visual Studies at University at Buffalo, SUNY and BFA in Graphic Design from Bilkent University. She has exhibited broadly in exhibitions and festivals across the US and in many countries including Germany, Spain, France, Russia, and Turkey.

She serves as Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at San Diego State University, where she teaches, organizes events, and contributes to curriculum development in the Art Department. Prior to joining San Diego State University in Fall 2011, she spent three years on the faculty of the Art Department at Oberlin College teaching new media practices.

Artist Statement

Arzu Ozkal’s practice can be grouped under the interpretation of body and its relationship to the environment. She makes attempts to emancipate the body from social and cultural norms and suggest ways to distance one from the limits imposed on the society by totalitarian establishments; Question dogmas, traditions, laws, and patriarchal value systems through videos, public interventions and performances.

Project Information

Gün / Declaration of Sentiments

Limited edition book for ISEA2011 Istanbul. Gün consists primarely of a poetic investigation of informal net-works of Turkish women and their extension into media culture. The aims are to gain mutual understanding of the conditions impacting women’s participation and to activate creative collaboration among women working on related topics. More info:  HYPERLINK “http://contrary.info/g.n/” http://contrary.info/g.n/

Mission: Cleveland Land Mass

Mission: Cleveland Land Mass, is a wry commentary on the amount of abandon land in the city of Cleveland. Using 3-D technology the artists urge viewers to experience the obvious, the familiar and the ignored through the distorted lens of the camera.

OH! Culture. Tracing Cultural Producers in Northeast Ohio

Multi-media installation for Cleveland Stories: True until proven otherwise Exhibition at THE CIA Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland, OH.

Public Transphere

Public Transphere, a two-day public event, took place in a van touring three Buffalo neighborhoods that are divided by race and economic status: Allentown, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and the Fruit Belt.