Umut Azad Akkel: Holding My Drink in the Corner

Holding My Drink in the Corner is an interdisciplinary art project by Berlin-based artist Umut Azad Akkel and Istanbul-based curator Ozan Ünlükoç, developed over an extended period to engage with social dynamics and experiences of migration. It comprises a solo exhibition at Haus am Lützowplatz featuring several works, some of which are conceived specifically for the site, as well as the installation of the large outdoor scaffold sculpture The Path in close proximity.

Holding My Drink in the Corner is an exhibition critically engaging with notions of navigation, belonging, and inclusion within queer experience. Drawing on the framework of the Cretan Labyrinth, the exhibition approaches the difference between those who have access to knowledge and rules and those who do not; it exposes how even spaces presumed to be inclusive can produce exclusionary codes.

As the space transforms into a labyrinth of corners, the ‘corner’ emerges as both a refuge and a space of invisibility. The exhibition invites viewers not only to confront experiences of exclusion, but also to reflect on how these experiences are reproduced. It also opens up a space to reconsider the individual’s position within these structures through the fluid interplay between passivity and forms of agency. Following its initial presentation in Istanbul in 2024, supported by the Goethe-Institut, Holding My Drink in the Corner returns as a continuation of It/Ortada, now reinstalled in Berlin, at the heart of a city that is itself a labyrinth.

The Path, originally developed in 2021 together with Oyoun Kultur NeuDenken and installed for two weeks at Tempelhofer Feld, is reimagined for this project and integrated into the conceptual framework of Holding My Drink in the Corner. The stair-like structure, inspired by the artist’s personal experiences during his time in Istanbul as well as by the absurd perspectival constructions of M. C. Escher, functions simultaneously as metaphor and stage. It symbolizes social mobility, hierarchy, and disorientation, and invites participants to reflect on the unequal distribution of opportunities and the visible and invisible forces that shape urban life. In doing so, the installation foregrounds the embodied tensions of queer migration—how public and private spaces are negotiated, how “home” is constructed, and how movement through the city can be both liberating and alienating.

At the intersection of migration, exclusion, and transformation, Holding My Drink in the Corner, accompanied by an extensive public program (tba), positions itself as a space for collective reflection.

Biographies

Umut Azad Akkel (b. 1991, Izmir) studied Industrial Design at Kadir Has University in Istanbul from 2010 to 2014. From 2016 to 2022, he studied Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts, most recently as a Meisterschüler in the class of Ina Weber. He received the DAAD Prize for International Students in 2020, the Playground Art Prize (2nd place) in 2021, and the Else Neumann Scholarship of the State of Berlin in 2022. His recent exhibitions include presentations at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Kunst Raum Mitte as part of BPA// Exhibition 2025 (Dec 6, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026).

Ozan Ünlükoç (b. 1988, Istanbul) completed a BA in Art History at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His practice focuses on art and gender studies, with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ rights and visibility in Turkey. He is a founding member and former board member of the Siyah Pembe Üçgen Izmir Association and coordinated the Baki Koşar Culture and Arts Festival, contributing to the visibility of underrepresented queer voices within the arts. Ünlükoç has been involved in collective artistic and curatorial practices, including Kara Pembe Counter Art Collective and the independent initiative Sınır/sız, supporting platforms for emerging queer artists. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Argonotlar art magazine and continues to develop independent curatorial projects.