| Art Profile |
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Emin Şenyer was born in 1961 in Samsun. He worked as an assistant of Metin Özlen, who was recognized as the best Karagöz artist by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1974, and learned the art of Karagöz from the master. Şenyer was pronounced as a Karagöz artist by Özlen, and appeared as a master on the TRT Karagöz Documentary program.
Şenyer has performed Karagöz plays all around Turkey and abroad, and has given courses and seminars in many universities and high schools. He has also performed Karagöz art on television, feature films and television advertisements. In 1998, Şenyer exhibited Karagöz puppets within the Youth Days of the Istanbul City Theatre. In 2004, he performed Karagöz plays in Berlin Turkish Day’s Festival. In the next year, he attended the Shadow Plays Festival in Patras (Greece), and represented Turkey. He performed Karagöz in the 23rd April International Children′s Festival in Switzerland (2006), and in Multifestijn, which was arranged in Utrecht (2007) and in Rotterdam (2008). In 2008, Şenyer performed Karagöz plays in ZKM (Karlsruhe), which is the most important media museum of Europe, the Walldorf Turkish Day’s Festival, and in the Stuttgart 23 April Internationales Kinderfest and Ludwigshafen Theater Im Pfalzbau. In the same year, he was invited to Kinderkinderfest in Hamburg and performed Karagöz plays in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. In 2009, he performed Karagöz play as part of Turkish Theatre Week in Goteborg.
In 2004, Şenyer made puppets for the shadow play of Oscar Wilde’s “Selfish Giant”, which was prepared as a part of doctoral thesis at Kent University. He prepared Mozart’s “Die entführung aus dem Serail” as a shadow play in Germany upon the invitation of Opernhaus Opera group. The puppets, which were used in the play, were displayed in the "Die Türken Kommen" exhibition in Mittelrhein Museum, Koblenz between 25th November 2006 and 18th February 2007.
In 2009, he made puppets and worked as an adviser for the play “Storia di una gabbianella e del gatto che le insegnò a volare (Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly)”, which was written by Chilean writer Luis Sepulveda and arranged as the Turkish shadow play by Riverrun Tearro (Italy). In 2010, Şenyer made Karagöz puppets within the Istanbul Days, which was arranged by Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (Koln) as a part of Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture. In 2011, he attended the Patthalung World Music & Shadow Festival and the 6th Annual Rhythm of The Earth Festival in Bangkok. His works were purchased and exhibited in the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (Cologne), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin), Rua Da Marionetta (Lisboa), and Tartu Toy Museum (Estonia). Currently, Şenyer continues his work on Karagöz in Istanbul.
Reference: karagoz.net, istanbulunustalari.com, İstanbul’un Ustaları (Istanbul: İstanbul 2010 Avrupa Kültür Başkenti, 2010), p.82.
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