The Path — Installation view, Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin, 2021
The Path | 2021-ongoing | Participatory installation in public space accompanied by objects, videos and drawings
The Path explores the relationship between self and city; specifically, the experience of leaving a city once called home to settle in a new one.
The work originated in Akkel's own migration from Istanbul to Berlin and the existential challenges of that transition. Its central image is drawn from the highway footbridges he crossed during long journeys across Istanbul: elevated stairs that lead nowhere, having lost their original function. Rebuilt as a labyrinth-like structure, they become a metaphor for disorientation and loss within the metropolis, and for the difficulty of finding a path forward while still inside it.
Since its first realization in 2021, The Path has taken the form of several related structures, some reinstalled and others adapted into new editions, most recently at KW Berlin (2025) and Haus am Lützowplatz (2026).
The Path, engraved drawing on the left (details), 2025.
The Path, engraved drawing on the right (details), 2025.
Video of The Path Event Series 2021— Interdisciplinary Art Project & Festival
The 2021 event series included three panel discussions, four concerts, two sound performances, one performance, one participatory theatre play, and three film screenings.
