ARK (Ayshe R. Kizilçay, b. 1980, Neuchâtel, Switzerland) is a Geneva-based audiovisual, digital artist and researcher whose work operates at the intersection of art, psychology, computation and the affective and cognitive sciences.
Her practice investigates the hidden architectures of perception, meaning and human cognition through computational media, symbolic systems and experimental image-making. Drawing from analytical psychology, affective neuroscience, cryptography, chaos theory and occult traditions, she treats images, language and code as parallel symbolic structures capable of revealing the invisible mechanisms underlying existence itself. Her work frequently explores the liminal territories between human and machine, reason and irrationality, familiarity and the uncanny.
Alongside her artistic practice, ARK conducts research in affective psychology at the University of Geneva, where her current work examines emotional appraisal in humans and large language models through computational and experimental approaches. She is also involved in research and teaching, contributing to the advancement and dissemination of scientific knowledge while maintaining an active interdisciplinary dialogue between contemporary art and science.
After leaving school at 16, she later returned to academia, earning a Bachelor's degree in Media Arts, followed by a Master's degree with jury distinctions from HEAD. She subsequently completed postgraduate studies in Information Systems in an Advanced Studies program at the CUI before pursuing a Master's degree in Psychology.
Her work has been exhibited in museums, festivals, artist-run spaces and online platforms throughout Europe and Asia. Choosing to remain independent from the commercial art market, ARK considers artistic practice both a form of critical inquiry and a vocational act. A former member of the Mac Gyver Manifesto and an early participant in the Internet Defense League, she continues to advocate for open knowledge, neurodiversity and interdisciplinary research.
She likes the number 7 but loves the number 4.
✚ Blind Visions, ScreenSaverGallery, Czech Republic, 2024 ✚ Biennale.NO, Nowhere, Norway, 2024 ✚ One-Off Moving Image Festival, Valencia, Spain & Gol, Norway, 2024 ✚ Gol Days Festival, Near Field Digital Art Biennale Anniversary, Gol, Norway, 2024 ✚ Vorspiel (Transmediale), Berlin, Germany, February 2024 ✚ TIGDA, Taipei City, Taiwan, October 2021 ✚ Cartopodes, Les Topophoniques, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021 ✚ Expo A3/A6, Espace DémArt, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2021 ✚ One-Off Moving Image Festival, Valencia, Spain & Gol, Norway, 2020 ✚ The Wrong Biennale, Circle/Triangle Gallery, Wrocław, Poland, 2019-2020 ✚ NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2018 ✚ Valencia LEG, Parque de la Cultura (MUVIM), Valencia, Spain, 2018 ✚ NFCW, Wrocław, Poland, 2018 ✚ Near enough, BrowserBased &Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2018 ✚ NFCW, Warsaw, Poland, June 2018 ✚ NFCDAB (Near Field Communication and Digital Art Biennale), Gol, Norway, May 2018 ✚ Kulturnat, Institut Français du Danemark, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 13, 2018 ✚ International Autonomous Biennale (OR Cf), The Research Pavilion, Venice, Italy, 2017 – not credited, as part of a program curated by Bjørn Magnhildøen ✚ Piksel17, Free Arts & Technology Festival (festival for elektronisk kunst og fri teknologi), SKUR 14 (PIKSEL STUDIO), Bergen, Norway, 2017 ✚ Une Vue, Ateliers Ouverts, Meisenthal, France, 2017 ✚ Hotel Europa, Concordia Centre of the Arts (Concordia Arts Center), Enschede, The Netherlands, 2016 ✚ DAF (Deviant Art Festival), La Reliure, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016 ✚ Leap Second Festival, cyberspace, Norway, 2015 ✚ LUFF, Humus Library, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2014 - curation of Pornorthopedia exhibition, with the Starlope collective ✚ The else { } statement, solo exhibition part of "from sand grains to rock, and back", Kunstunion, Zürich, Switzerland, 2014 ✚ Monstre Festival, L’Usine, Geneva, Switzerland, 2013 – with the Mac Gyver Manifesto collective ✚ Salefriche Festival, Geneva, Switzerland, 2013 ✚ Emergency, Usine Kugler, Geneva, Switzerland, 2013 – hacking gutter press workshop ✚ The Heap (w/ Mac Gyver Manifesto), Live In Your Head Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012 ✚ Festival Tous Écrans, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012 – member of the international short film selection committee ✚ Vous êtes ici, MAMCO, Thomas Huber exhibition, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012 – conceptual design, management & actuation of a performative mediation system with Marine Froeliger & Maud Le Monnier ✚ Les Urbaines Festival, Marelle, Raphaël Julliard exhibition, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011 – theatricalized guided tour, conceptual design, curating & Julliard-related authoring with Marine Froeliger & Maud Le Monnier ✚ Café des Rêves, work selected for the media library, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland, 2011 ✚ Fenêtre sur Lac, Live Art Club, Nuit des Bains, Geneva, Switzerland, 2011 ✚ GNOK GNIK, Agent Double Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, 2010 ✚ Electric Rendez-Vous, Plug In – New Media Institution, Basel, Switzerland, 2009