Necmi Sönmez (born May 5, 1968) is a

Turkish-German Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans ( or ''Deutschtürken''; , also known as ''Gurbetçiler'' or ''Almancılar''), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used to refer to German-born ...

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

and writer in the field of contemporary art, its international institutions, and exhibition practice. Sönmez has published on contemporary art and visual culture in Turkey, Turkish artists of école de Paris, and gast arbeiter context. He lives and works in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Life and work

Necmi Sönmez studied art history, Byzantine art history and classical archaeology in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. He gained his PhD in 2001 with a dissertation on "Milch, Blütenstaub, Reis und Wachs. Das Gesamtwerk von Wolfgang Laib" (Milk, pollen, rice and wax. The artistic oeuvre of Wolfgang Laib) at

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

with Prof. Stefan Germer and Prof.

Manfred Schneckenburger Manfred Schneckenburger (1 December 1938 – 2 December 2019) was a German art historian and curator of modern and contemporary art. He was the curator of the ''documenta'' art exhibition twice, documenta 6 in 1977 and documenta 8 in 1987. He w ...

. From 1994 to 1997, Sönmez worked as an independent curator, initiating and organizing numerous exhibition projects, mainly involving young artists, in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. From 1998 to 2000, he was a project assistant at the

Museum Wiesbaden The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...

and at the

MUMOK Mumok (from the full name ; "Museum of modern art, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna") is a museum in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria. The museum has a collection of 10,000 modern and contemporary art works, including major works from Andy Warh ...

(Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig) in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Exhibitions

He organised the first Nil Yalter (Aksanat, 1994),

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...

(1995) and Emil Schumacher (both in the Ankara State Museum of Painting and Sculpture, Ankara) exhibitions in Turkey and presented the work of

Candida Höfer Candida Höfer (born 4 February 1944) is a German photographer. She is a renowned photographer known for her exploration of public spaces and architecture. In her career she transitioned from portraiture to focusing on spaces like libraries and m ...

(Goethe Institut, Rotterdam, 1996) and Bülent Erkmen (Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, 1997). His first thematic group exhibition Skuplturale Ideen was dedicated to the interdisciplinary artists such as Mathilde ter Heijne, Ulrike Kessl, Tyyne Claudia Pollmann, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Didier Trenet (Galerie Martina Detterer, Frankfurt, 1998). From 2001 until the end of January 2005, Sönmez held the post of curator of contemporary art at the

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, where he curated several exhibitions, projects, presentations including the first institutional museum exhibitions of artists, such as Daniel Knorr (2001),

Elisabeth Ballet Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth (d ...

(2003), Renée Levi (2003), Martin Gostner (2004), Saâdane Hafif, Alexej Meschtschanow (2005). He presented Ulrike Kessl (2001), Surasi Kusolwong (2002) and Mira Schumann (2002) in the cooperation project Museum Folkwang für den RWE Turm. In early 2000 he started to cooperate with the Borusan Contemporary to establish a corporate collection dedicated to the

new media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of new media, electronic media technologies. It comprises virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robo ...

. From 2006 to 2008, Sönmez was artistic director of the Kunstverein

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; ) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Ho ...

, where he presented artists such as Gregor Schneider (2006), Myriam Holme, Florian Bach (both 2007), Sabine Boehl, Martin Dammann and Anja Cuipka (all 2008). He was member of the Acquisition Committee at FRAC in

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

(2005-2008). During this period, he started to cooperate with different institutions as guest curator such as Frankfurter Buchmesse, Ca'Pesaro, Elgiz Museum, Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat. In 2010, Sönmez was the curator of PORT IZMIR Contemporary Art Triennial, Izmir and the exhibition Unerwartet / Unexpected, Von der islamischen Kunst zur zeitgenössischen Kunst in Kunstmuseum Bochum. After his hybrid exhibition in ISCP, Brookly (2011) and screening project at the

KIASMA Kiasma is a contemporary art museum located on Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Finland. Its name ''kiasma'', Finnish for chiasma, alludes to the basic conceptual idea of its architect, Steven Holl. Kiasma is part of the Finnish National Gallery, an ...

, Helsinki (2012) he started the series of SPOT ON presentation in the Borusan Contemporary, where he presented artists such as

Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...

(2012), Françoise Morellet (2013), Paul Schwer (2015). In 2017, he curated the inauguration exhibition SARMAL in Yapi Kredi Kültür the Selim Turan retrospective at the Sabancı Museum. During the Corona period, he developed in close cooperation with the artist duo :MentalKLINIK and activist-photographer Murat Germen experimental online projects. He has independently carried out several international cooperation based curatorial projects, residency programs and has worked as an adjunct tutor/curator at different museums among them

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, Staatliche Museen Berlin, Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Ruhr Museum, Essen, Antalya Kültür Sanat, Kunsthaus Göttingen and Marie du 10e arrondissement.

Collaborations with SKIRA, Milan

Sönmez started to collaborate with the

SKIRA The festival of the Skira () or Skirophoria () in the calendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June. Description At Athens, the last month of the year was '' Skiropho ...

Milan as an advising editor for monographic books about contemporary artists such as * Belkıs Balpınar (2025) * Farah Ossouli (2023) * P. G. Thelander (2019) * Kemal Seyhan (2018) * Murat Germen (2016)

Public projects

Necmi Sönmez has been organizing different projects in the public space. In 2021, he was commissioned by Stiftung Zollverein / Ruhr Museum to create a monument dedicated to the migrant worker / gast arbeiter in the Zollverein Essen. His research-based projects, such as Sesler, Geceyle Büyenler / Stimmen, Nachtdurchwaches,Stränge (Borusan Sanat Galerisi, Istanbul, 2005), Evrim / Evolve (Izmir, 2018) reflected on the rapid changing conditions of public space in the turkish metropole. From 2001 until 2005, he has changed the structure of Städtische Galerie Museum Folkwang to the Mobile Städtische Galerie. He has developed an interdisciplinary subversive public art program aimed at forging closer links between theoretical formats and exhibition presentations.Christine Hartmann, Necmi Sönmez und die Vorliebe für schräge Dinge, Zeitschrift des Rheinischen Archiv- und Museumsamtes des Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Dezember 2003, P. 14-18. * 2001 “Tische der Kommunikation” (Table of Communication) * 2002 “Private Öffentlichkeit” (Private Public) * 2003 “Sukûn / Stille” (Silence, 2003) * 2004 “Das Erinnerte Haus” (The remembered House)

Monographies

Since 1994, Necmi Sönmez has published number of monographies on artists that function in parallel to his curatorial work including: * Mehmet Nazım (Siyah Beyaz Ankara, Paris, 2025) * Tiraje Sözlüğü (Doğan Kitap, Istanbul, 2024) * İlhan Koman Sözlüğü (Doğan Kitap, Istanbul, 2021) * Zeid Sözlüğü (Doğan Kitap, Istanbul, 2020) * Paris Tecrübeleri École de Paris-Çağdaş Türk Sanatı: 1945-1965 (YKY, Istanbul,2019) * Selim Turan Tez-Antitez-Sentez (YKY, Istanbul, 2016) * Cengiz Çekil-Bir Tanık (YKY, Istanbul, 2008)) * Turkish Realities, Positions of Contemporary Photography from Turkey, (Kerber Verlag, Heidelberg, 2008) * Hakkı Anlı PAPKO / Öner Kocabeyoğlu Koleksiyonu (Kitap Yayınevi, Istanbul, 2003) * Klaus Jürgen-Fischer, "Kunstspektakel - Kunstdebakel. Kunstkritisches Tagebuch, (Salon Verlag, Cologne, 2001) * „École de Paris et les Peintres Turc“ (Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2000) * Albert Bitran (Aksanat, Istanbul, 1997) * Mübin Orhan Robert and Lisa Sainbury Collection (Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, Istanbul, 1996) * Fahr-el-Nissa Zeid (Aksoy Foundation, Istanbul, 1994)

The Other Modernism

Sönmez edited and published comparative books about Turkish art galleries, where the important protagonists of the '70s, '80s, and '90s presented their work: * Lebriz Koleksiyonu, İki Kuşağın Kırk Yıllık Yolculuğu, Istanbul, 2023 * Bir Galeri-Bir Dönem, Kare Sanat Galerisinin 28 Yılı, Istanbul, 2019 * Görünmeyene Bakmak-Maçka Sanat Galerisi'nin 40. Yılı, İstanbul, 2016

Notes and references

External links

* http://www.necmisoenmez.de * http://www.art-magazin.de/kunst/15236/radar * http://www.goethe.de/kue/bku/kur/kur/sz/son/enindex.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonmez, Necmi German people of Turkish descent German art curators Turkish art curators German art critics 1968 births Living people