Köken Ergun (born 1976, Istanbul) is a Turkish artist working in film and installation. His films often deal with communities that are not known to a greater public and the importance of ritual in such groups. Ergun usually spends long time with his subjects before starting to shoot and engages in a long research period for his projects. He also collaborates with ethnographers, historians and sociologists for publications and lecture series as extensions to his artistic practice.

Having studied acting at the İstanbul University, Ergun completed his postgraduate diploma degree in Ancient Greek Literature at King’s College London, followed by an MA degree on Art History at the Bilgi University. He obtained his PhD degree from the Performing Arts and Anthropology departments of Freie Universität Berlin. After working with American theatre director Robert Wilson, Ergun became involved with video and film. His multi-channel video installations have been exhibited internationally at institutions including Documenta 14, Paris Triennale, Garage Moscow, SALT, Jakarta Biennial, Para-Site, Artspace Sydney, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Protocinema, KIASMA, Digital ArtLab Tel Aviv, Casino Luxembourg and Kunsthalle Winterthur. His films received several awards at film festivals including the “Tiger Award for Short Film” at the 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival and the “Special Mention Prize” at the 2013 Berlinale. Ergun’s works are included in public collections such as the Centre George Pompidou, Greek National Museum of Contemporary Art, Stadtmuseum Berlin, Australian War Memorial and Kadist Foundation.

Ergun is part of After the Archive?, an Istanbul based initiative that questions the role and function of archives in public memory.