Umut Azad Akkel's work is built on a formal contradiction: cold, solid, industrial-looking structures that turn out, on closer look, to be vulnerable and have lost their primary functions. Vulnerability and dysfunctionality, personal and collective ones, surface through the cracks of these forms rather than being stated outright. That contradiction is also his aesthetic regime, as well as his self-portraiture. His concepts are rooted in personal experiences and extend into broader collective narratives.

In his work Çark, which explores sexual interaction in public space, Akkel uses curiosity, discovery, and hesitation as an entry point, with personal experience embedded quietly in the details rather than foregrounded. In The Path, existential struggles tied to Istanbul are hidden behind a structure of ready-made scaffolding stairs; its labyrinthine form points to disorientation, loss, and the necessity of constant renewal.

He works across objects, drawings/collage, and video performance in a cyclical process, developing participatory installations for public and indoor spaces.

Born in Turkey, Akkel lived in Istanbul from 2010 to 2015 before moving to Berlin, where he has worked between the two cities since. He holds a BA+MA in Fine Arts from UdK Berlin and a BA in Product Design from Istanbul Kadir Has University. Alongside his studio practice, he organizes events on cultural and political identity, including Fava Connection, Iran 101, and Korean Nomad