Writers

Ecem Arslanay

ECEM ARSLANAY

Ecem Arslanay is an Istanbul-based editor, writer, lecturer, architect, and filmmaker. She taught at Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Architecture (2017-2019) and currently teaches at Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Architecture (2021-present). As a Ph.D. candidate in architecture, her research focuses on the spatial qualities of the digital museum experience. Arslanay served as the production designer for the feature-length film “The Connected” (2022), supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation and Salt. She also wrote, co-directed, and co-produced the short film “The Clocks” (2021), which was a finalist in several international festivals, won several awards, and participated in various exhibitions and biennials. She is currently at a writer’s residency at Can Serrat, where she received a production grant to write the script for her next essay film.

An AICA member, Arslanay has authored various texts on art, design, architecture, dance, theater, and cinema for exhibition catalogues and other publications. Her international contributions include works in Drawing Matter, SEQUITUR (Boston University), and Mousse Publishing. In late 2024, she will publish a book of selected Turkish essays from Everest Yayınları. Her co-authored essay, “Letter of Authorization to Discuss Late Ottoman Archive Drawings as Operational Images,” was a finalist in the Architecture Foundation’s Writing Prize in the “Architecture and Representation” category in 2022. She also received a grant from CultureCIVIC, a European Union-supported cultural and arts program, for her project “Writing as Queering.” As publications editor at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum since 2021, she has worked on exhibitions such as “David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020,” “Agnes Denes: The Living Pyramid,” and “Hussein Chalayan: Souffleur.”

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