Independent curator, researcher and writer, working predominantly with sound, music and sonic epistemologies

Canan Batur is a curator, writer and researcher whose practice delves into the intersections of sonic and poetic methodologies, archives, and alternative historical narratives. Between 2021 and 2024, she was the Curator of Live Programmes at Nottingham Contemporary, where she co-curated the community-oriented live exhibition REꓘONCILIATION (2024) by Julian Abraham Togar and led the research strand Emergency & Emergence (2022–2024), which explored (in)audibility, sonic knowledges, and ecological practices. Her programming at Nottingham Contemporary included transdisciplinary gatherings such as Feedback Loop (2024), All the Birds Sing Bass (2023), Caves, Dwellings & Vibrations (2022), and After Growth: A Symposium on Post-Capitalist Imaginaries (2022); listening sessions like Of Dubbing (2023) and Seeing Through Flames (2022); as well as new performances and moving image commissions.

Previously, Canan worked at the De La Warr Pavilion, curating exhibitions such as Alexi Marshall: Cursebreakers, All in the Same Storm: Pandemic Patchwork Stories, Holly Hendry: Indifferent Deep, Marc Bauer: Mal/Etre, and Zadie Xa: Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation, alongside programmes like Care and Citizenship and Rock Against Racism: Militant Entertainment on Radio.

As an independent curator, Canan has developed projects for institutions including the Július Koller Society, Bratislava; NTU CCA, Singapore; RAW Material Company, Dakar; Rupert, Vilnius; 1.1, Basel; Shanghai Biennale XII; and Baltic Triennale XIII. Her notable exhibitions include Between Earthly Beings and the Unknown Cosmic World: The Continent at the Július Koller Society, where she presented never been seen archival works of Július Koller, and Merging Infinite by Merve Iseri at Galerist, Istanbul.

Canan is the initiator and founding member of the Museum for the Displaced (2018–2021) and co-directed clearview.ltd in London (2016–2019). She has been part of jury panels, including the Frieze Artist Award (2024) and NAE OPEN Live Prize (2023), and previously collaborated with Loading Art Space in Diyarbakır on Confabulations, a series to support artists in the region with 1-2-1 consultation sessions.

Her research-based curatorial approach reflects interests in empowering artistic development, and experimenting with archives, sound, poetry, and prose to reimagine historicity.

To get in touch send an email to cananxbatur@gmail.com