I was born on July 1976 in Istanbul. My father was Luthenant Colonel in Turkish Air Force and my mother was housewife. I was the only child of my family. In 1983 my father had to fly to America to fly over the first F-16’s to Turkish Army. On that trip he brought back a video camera and that’s how I met capturing real life and watching it later.
Than VHS tapes came around and we started to watch more authentic things because around that time we had only one national TV channel in Turkey. Around 90’s I was more in to this Handy Cam world and started to make little films with it and showing it on family visits to family members on their TV. On that time there was no home-computer to edit. I was editing the videos by recording my footage to a VHS tape from a Handy cam by hitting stop, play and record of course.In 1994 I discovered that I can study in an art school in Istanbul. With my drawing skills I applied to the Mimar Sinan University and I was accepted to the Industrial Design department. I studied there for 4 years and didn’t make any movies during that period.
After my study I worked on product design scene but It was not satisfying for me. I met my wife and moved to Amsterdam applied to a very conceptual art school Gerrit Rietveld Academy with a short film and accepted within thousands of applications. With this school in 2003 again I was back to my camera. Technology was more developed on the mean time. I was able to edit on an Apple computer. All my study I did a lot of Video work and participate many exhibitions in Istanbul, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris.Around 2007 Marc Zuckerberg released Facebook. I opened an account but not on my name. With using my video and sound design skills I created a Turkish digital pop-star. He became viral and got quite popular on that time. An advertisement agency called Wieden + Kennedy discovered me through this digital pop-star. They signed me a contract. For few years I worked with them as an Art director and Copy-Writer for their campaigns in Turkish market. My clients was Coca-Cola, Nike, Lego, etc… All of a sudden, I was in million dolar film sets working with biggest directors and producers for global brands. I did mostly Nike projects for Turkey and in one of those sets I decided to be shooting my own films again, like back in the old days.After my agency career, in 2009 I made a funny documentary about Amsterdam doner shops called SUPER HELAL. This documentary was exhibited in Amsterdam’s biggest interactive gallery Mediamatic.In 2010 I moved back to Istanbul and opened my own Digital Viral Production company El Turco Digital. In a year we were the craziest production house of Turkey. We did more than hundred films and all off them are directed and written by me. After 4 years my company started to grow but I started to become a boss more than a director. I decided to shot my company down around 2016 and opened a Youtube channel called tunctop, I showed my viewers how I closed my company and moved out from my office in episodes. By using my editing skills I made some people cry even. At the end of the day this episodes watched a lot by advertisement world in Turkey.After these videos I have got an offer to be a director of a production house. Between 2017-2019 I did top notch commercial films for biggest brands with the best agencies. On the mean time I followed IDFA documentary festival since 2007 until 2019. In my work I use the essence of documentary/reality a lot. In the mean time my Youtube channel had 30 K followers, this channel also has that documentary vibe to be honest…I still keep my hundreds of Hi8 tapes in a box in my studio. Lately traveling around the world, writing new documentary concepts, my camera is always on me, open to any filming job opportunities where ever you want.Amsterdam, 2022
tunctop
Hybrid Artist + Film Maker
Amsterdam + İstanbul
1976 Born in Istanbul – Turkey
sinekkaydi@gmail.com
Education
2001 Mimar Sinan University / Product Design Department / Istanbul
2007 Gerrit Rietveld Academy / Graphic Design Department / Amsterdam
2008 No Academy / Social Design / Master Program / Amsterdam
Work Experience
2003 Bukalemun Design Studio / Product Designer / Moda, Istanbul
2008 tunctunctunc Design Studio / Creative Director / Volkskrantgebouw, Amsterdam
2010 Wieden + Kennedy / Art Director / Herengracht, Amsterdam
2011 El Turco Digital / Creative Director / Digital Production Agency / Balat, Istanbul
2015 tunctop / Film Maker / Amsterdam – İstanbul
Selected Works & Exhibitions
2007 Fear of God / Hafriyat Karaköy / Poster Exhibition, Istanbul
2007 Lost and Found / Lecture Performance / Waag. Society, Amsterdam
2008 Lente Zomer ’08 / Publication / Premsela Org, Amsterdam
2008 Perfect Lecture / Performance / Zeebelt Theater / Den Haag
2008 Mupi Project / Publication + Poster Design / Graphic Design Festival, Breda
2008 Invisible Borders / Poster Design / Lasecu / Paris
2009 Balkan Design / Artist Talk + Video Art / Sophia Design Week / Bulgaria
2009 Turkish Pizza vs. Broodje Kaas / Video Art + Performance / Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam
2010 Super Helal / Online Documentary + Exhibition / Mediamatic Amsterdam
2010 Gözel Geceler / Performance Night. / Istanbul Bienalle
2010 GÜMCELL sanat / Artist Talk / Garanti Platform / Istanbul
2011 TwentyThree / Animation / CineKid Film Festival / Amsterdam
2012 Art 4 What / TEDX / Lecture + Performance / Istanbul
2013 I Sell my Ego / Video Art / One Minute Festival Amsterdam.
2020 Bloody Broadcast / Digital Theater Group
Given Workshops
2009 Non-Existing Baby / Guest Teacher / Workshop + Lecture / HKU / Utrecht
2010 Garbage Orchestra / Guest Teacher / Interior Design Dep. / Workshop + Lecture / Kültür Uni. / Istanbul
2014 Huge Nothing / Guest Teacher / Art Teacher Dep. / Workshop. + Lecture / Yildiz Technique Uni / Istanbul
2015 Anti Football / Guest Teacher / Art Dep. / Workshop + Lecture / Istanbul Technique University / Istanbul
2019 HAS!TR / Guest Teacher / Theater Dep. / Online Class and Performance / Kadir Has University / Istanbul
2020 VTV (Verhalen te Vertellen) / Guest Teacher / Theater Dep. / Theater School / Amsterdam
FILMOGRAPHY
2008 Social Designer / Cartoon Documentary / No Academy / Slotervaart
2009 What is Balkan Design? / Documentary / Sophia Design Week
2009 Turkish Pizza vs. Broodje Kaas / Music Video / Stedelijk Museum / Amsterdam
2009 Saykola Jatta / Documentary / Gambia
2010 Super Helal / Documentary / Mediamatic Amsterdam
2011 I sell my Ego / One Minute Film Festival
2013 Twenty three / Animation / Cine Kid Film Festival – Amsterdam
2015 Horror in the Hood / Documentary
2016 Dans Et / Music Video / Dev /Turkey
2018 Vur Vur / Documentary Music Video / Eypio / Turkey
2018 Prasann / Short Documentary / Screened at Festivals like Short to the point, Rolling Ideas
2019 Molenwijk Originals / Feature Documentary / Framer Framed, Amsterdam
2020 Mokum Stories / Cartoon Documentary / Amsterdam Museum
2021 Coco Covid / Documentary / Colombia – Taganga
2021 Fearless Indigenous / Documentary / Colombia – Taganga
2021 What a LUCK down! / Documentary / Colombia – Taganga
2021 DUNK my LIFE / Sports Documentary / Red Bull TV