In the 84th episode of The Evolution of Art, the guest is the young artist Ediz Birlikdoğan, who approaches contemporary painting practice with an interdisciplinary perspective. The program is hosted by Günsu Saraçoğlu, and the production bears the signatures of Evrim Sanat and Mikado İletişim.
In this episode, Birlikdoğan’s artistic journey is addressed not merely as a chronological biography, but as a multi-layered process intertwined with his intellectual, conceptual, and production practices. The artist, who despite his young age has extensive academic and studio experience, defines his artistic production not as something limited to a fixed discipline, but as a dynamic structure nourished by different fields.
Ediz Birlikdoğan, whose life began in Adana and found direction with his education at Atatürk University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, emphasizes that his experimentation with different disciplines such as screen printing, ceramics, photography, and video art formed the foundation of his unique expressive language he has achieved today. His ongoing work in Basic Art Education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University stands out as a significant turning point where the artist combines academic discipline with conceptual freedom. Throughout the program, the idea that education is not merely a technical acquisition but a process that transforms the artist’s way of thinking, pushing them towards questioning and research, is strongly felt.
At the center of the artist’s production practice lies the parallel he draws between the Renaissance enlightenment, which began in the 15th century, and the current age of digital enlightenment. Birlikdoğan avoids directly reproducing art history, instead treating it as a field of reference; he creates a synthesis between times by transferring images he designs in the digital world onto canvas using traditional oil painting technique. Hexagonal forms, algorithmic patterns, binary codes, and symbolic structures allow the artist to bring together concepts of the universe, time, matter, and meaning on the same surface. This approach offers the viewer not only a visual experience but also an intellectual space for interpretation.
The program also highlights Ediz Birlikdoğan’s studio practice, his relationship with uncertainty and risk in the production process, the realm of freedom he defines through color, and his approach regarding the necessity for the artist to first appreciate their own work. The artist’s emphasis that the boundaries of contemporary art are not fixed reveals that producing art in the rapidly changing digital age inevitably requires a constant state of “updating.” The Evolution of Art – Episode 84 offers a comprehensive, in-depth, and inspiring conversation for viewers who wish to closely understand an art practice that contemplates the past and future on the same plane, and handles the digital and the traditional together.
