Yasemin Melek

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ABOUT ME
I am Yasemin, a computational artist-researcher and an Associate Lecturer at the Creative Computing Institute at University of the Arts London.  

I have a background in Computer Engineering and an MSc in Creative Computing. In my practice, I explore social and political aspects of coding through interactive, critical software and installation work.

I have experience with various programming paradigms and languages, exploring their intersections with the arts and humanities. 

I primarily use creative coding, digital fabrication, game engines, and microcontrollers in my projects.

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Echoes, Light installation with Arduino microcontrollers


The way encyclopedic museums represent cultural heritage objects often distances them from their original purpose and cultural significance.

Under the guise of ‘neutrality’, these museums reinforce a Eurocentric, hierarchical and linear understanding of history as well as transform ancient everyday objects of the past into static texts [1].

Drawing on posthumanist and new materialist perspectives, the works presented here engage with cultural heritage objects and sites situated in modern-day Turkey, my home country, exploring their intangible significance, their entanglement with contemporary politics of heritage and decolonisation, and what their narratives might offer computation.

Examining cultural heritage through posthuman perspectives, foregrounding decolonial and feminist critique, reveals how nomadic identities emerge in relation to landscapes, cultural heritage, their narratives and histories, and their significance across past and present communities [2]. 




Antuhša, 3D print installation


[1] Tolia-Kelly, D.P. (2016) 'Feeling and Being at the (Postcolonial) Museum: Presencing the Affective Politics of "Race" and Culture', Sociology, 50(5), pp. 896–912. doi:10.1177/0038038516649554.
[2] Braidotti, R. (1994) Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. New York: Columbia University Press.