Pi Artworks is pleased to announce that Michael Rakowitz has been selected as one of the exhibiting artists in the 7th Mardin Biennial, GÖKzemin, taking place 15 May – 21 June 2026 in Mardin, Turkey.
Curated by Çelenk Bafra, this edition of the biennial takes its title from a compound of the Turkish words for sky and ground, proposing a line of thought between landscape and memory, past and present, individual and collective. The biennial brings together 41 artists and artist collectives from 20 countries across a constellation of sites including Dara Ancient City, Deyrulzafaran Monastery, and Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum.
Rakowitz's participation continues a sustained engagement with the histories and geographies of the Middle East that has defined his practice. Mardin's position as a site of layered cultural memory — its architecture, its multiplicity of traditions, its position at a threshold between regions — offers a resonant context for his work.
GÖKzemin takes place across historic and public spaces in and around the old city of Mardin, with the figure of the bird as a recurring guide through its narrative. Exhibitions, installations, and performances move across venues, inviting audiences into a reading of the city as both physical texture and living archive.