Orhun Mersin is an Izmir-born, Berlin-based transdisciplinary researcher, dancer and drag artist whose deeply collaborative work moves across theatres, exhibition spaces, academia and queer nightlife, often under the stage name kekik.
After training as a contemporary dancer in Istanbul, they obtained a B.Sc. in Computer Science from TU Berlin and an M.A. in Design and Computation from TU Berlin and UdK Berlin, supported by a scholarship from Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft. From this background, they explore drag beyond gender impersonation as a methodology for disidentifying with contemporary technology: working on and against dominant code to open up queer futures. Their performances bring this critical framework together with narratives drawn from diasporic archives, approaching nostalgia as a condition of diaspora.
Recent work has been presented at Maxim Gorki Theater (Berlin), Sophiensæle (Berlin), DOCK11 (Berlin), Schauspiel Dortmund, HEK Basel, Ars Electronica (Linz), b3 Biennale (Frankfurt), Kaynaş Club (Amsterdam), İÇ İÇE (Berlin), re:festival (Nürnberg), Ballhaus Prinzenallee (Berlin), Dansens Hus (Stockholm), and Münchener Kammerspiele.
2026Münchener Kammerspiele — Workshop and Performance: "Dragging Nostalgia – Perspectives on Drag and AI"more
2026Ballhaus Prinzenallee, Berlin — Workshop: "Reimagining Yeşilçam: Queer Reflections on AI"more
2026Ausland Berlin, All The Rivers Residency — Choreographer for "pre:submission" by an*dre neely, Melanie Sien Min Lyn, Frieder Miller
2025–26Sophiensæle, Berlin; Dansens Hus, Stockholm — "Apocalypso" by Justin F. Kennedymore
2025–26University of Freiburg, Imaging Memory and Consolidation Lab — Research Associate
2025HEK Basel, Attention Is All I Need curated by Jonny-Bix Bongers — "Dragging Banu Alkan"more
2025KW Berlin, New Practice — "The Imaginary Intelligence (I.I.)" w/ Nani Gutiérrezmore
2025HGB Leipzig, (Un)Learning Digitalities Symposium — Workshop: "Unlearning and Dragging: Speculative practices within AI" w/ Yağmur Uçkunkayamore
2025OnCurating Academy, Berlin — Workshop: "Fantasizing through drag, dreaming with deepfakes"more
2025University of Europe of Applied Sciences, Berlin — Workshop on drag in drag
2024/25NEOLA Art Projects x İç İçe Festival, Köln; Kaynaş Club, Amsterdam — "kekik x kimyon"more
2024/25re:festival Nürnberg; DOCK11 Berlin — "Attitude" by Tomi Paasonenmore
2024Kunstverein Heidelberg; Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin — "Bitches on their Deen" w/ Anna Ehrensteinmore
2024Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin; Schauspiel Dortmund — "Project O" w/ Anthony Hüseyin
2024Factory Berlin — Panelist at "DIGITAL MIRRORS"
2023/24Ars Electronica Linz; b-Seite Festival Mannheim — "OceanFlight" by Jonny-Bix Bongersmore
2024Ars Electronica Linz; UdK Berlin — "Ex-Human"more
2023/24b3 Biennale Frankfurt; Ars Electronica Linz; Factory Berlin; UdK Berlin — "Smile to Play"more
2022–23Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI), Speech and Language Technology group — Guest Researcher
2022DOCKdigital, DOCK 11 Berlin, AR LOOP MASHINE | CREATURE Residence — "Cell Farming"more
2022TU Berlin & Empiria Theatre Zagreb — Researcher in "Future of Performing Arts with XR Technologies"
2021–22Augmented Robotics Berlin — Developer
Education
2022–25UdK Berlin & TU Berlin — M.A. Design and Computation
2018–23TU Berlin — B.Sc. Computer Science
2016–18Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul — State Conservatory for Contemporary Dance
Stipends
2019–25Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw)
2024STIBET I - Grant for master's thesis
2018Deutschlandstipendium