Ahmet Öğüt, widely recognized for his participatory and socially engaged projects, returns to Venice after representing Turkey at the Venice Biennale in 2009 with a new body of work that brings to light his rarely explored painting practice.

“neither artificial nor intelligent” features a previously unseen selection of ten oil portraits from a larger series of fifty, all hand-painted by the artist over the past three years. The works are on view at A plus A Gallery, Venice, until February 8, 2026.

Conceived as a site-specific installation, the exhibition unfolds through translucent architectural screens that partially veil each painting. As visitors navigate the space and shift their perspectives, the portraits gradually reveal themselves in their entirety, offering a viewing experience that can only happen on site, authentic and free from digital mediation.

Each portrayed figure embodies a distinct practice and comes from a different city, forming a diverse community of fictional, semi-fictional, and real artists who should have received more institutional recognition:

a performance artist based in Accra a florist based in Kigali

a data artist based in Ramallah

a graffiti artist based in Bucharest

a video artist based in Yerevan

a net artist based in Tokyo

a painter based in Berlin

Luchezar Boyadjiev

Sanja Iveković

Mladen Stilinović

Why do we associate a particular face with a specific place or type of art? What biases influence ourinterpretation of an image? By inviting viewers to match each portrait with one of the listed definitions, “neither artificial nor intelligent“ encourages reflection on our own stereotypical assumptions and theWestern classificatory system deeply embedded within algorithmic filtering structures.

The title of the series is gifted from “Atlas of AI” by Kate Crawford (Yale University Press, 2021), in whichthe author traces how artificial intelligence, often perceived as abstract and detached from human input, is actually the cause of tangible and lasting damage such as war, environmental degradation, and social inequality.

Drawing from the historical context outlined in the book about control over facial recognition technologies, from phrenology to unauthorized mass data collection, to today’s intelligent vision training techniques, the exhibition questions how technological progress still relies on inherently flawed classification methods shaped by human bias and systems of power.

Born in Silvan, Diyarbakir, Ahmet Öğüt completed his BA from the Fine Arts Faculty, painting department,at Hacettepe University, Ankara, MA from Art and Design Faculty at Yıldız Teknik University, Istanbul. Heworks across different media and has exhibited widely, more recently with solo exhibitions in institutions including Art on the Under- ground & New Contemporaries, Van Abbemuseum, State of Concept Athens, Kunstve- rein Dresden, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Chisenhale Gallery; Berkeley Art Museum; and Kunsthalle Basel.vHe has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including; Singapore Biennale (2025); Sense of Safety, Yermilov Centre Kharkiv (2024); Dhaka Art Summit (2023); 17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, (2022); FRONT International 2022, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Ohio (2022); Asia Society andthe 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008).

Öğüt was awarded the Visible Award for the Silent University (2013); the special prize of the FutureGeneration Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Centre, Ukraine (2012); the De Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs 2011,Netherlands; and the Kunstpreis Europas Zukunft, Museum of Contemporary Art, Germany (2010). He co-represented Turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). Lives and works in Amsterdam and Istanbul. Hisworks in institutional collections such as Guggenheim Museum New York; Kadist, San Francisco, US – Paris; Rennie Collection, Vancouver; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; Frans Hals Museum; FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais,Dunkerque; Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis; KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art, Hesinki; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Fondazione Giuliani, Rome; MSU Broad Art Museum, East Lansing; Vehbi Koç Foundation, Istanbul.

Ahmet Öğüt

neither artificial nor intelligent

6th November 2025 – 8th February 2026

A plus A Gallery, Venice

opening hours: wednesdayto saturday, 2 – 6 pm and by appointment

for press inquiries, or to schedule a visit, contact:

[email protected]

www.aplusa.it

+39 041 2770466