Umut Azad Akkel combines objects, drawings, collages, and video performances in a cyclical production process to develop participatory installations for both public and indoor spaces. Additionally, he creates small objects, drawings, and photography series inspired by his poetry. Akkel’s work focuses on vulnerabilities and dysfunctionalities at the intersection of identity politics, urban transformation, ownership of public space, and private and public relationships. He lives between Berlin and Istanbul, where he studied Fine Arts (Berlin) and Product Design (Istanbul).

The forms of his works serve as self-portraits and reflections of his struggle against the societal glorification of masculinity and hyper-functionality. He characterizes these forms using industrial, cold structures that veil individual and collective vulnerabilities, which quietly manifest themselves through the fissures of these structures. Akkel embodies these vulnerabilities through the spatial composition of his installations and through video performances in which he deliberately exposes himself to states of vulnerability. His concepts are rooted in personal experiences and extend into broader collective narratives.

For example, in his work Çark, which explores sexual interaction within the public sphere, Akkel foregrounds concepts such as curiosity, discovery, and hesitation to create an entry point into his deeply personal experiences, subtly embedded within the details of the piece. Similarly, in The Path, his existential struggles within Istanbul are hidden behind a structure of ready-made scaffolding stairs: the labyrinthine form directly references feelings of disorientation, loss, and the necessity of constant renewal.

Alongside his personal art practice, Akkel also organises cultural and political events on identity (e.g. Fava Connection, Iran 101, and Korean Nomad).