Yekhan Pınarlıgil is an art historian, researcher and independent curator. He completed his art history education, writing a dissertation on autofilmage through plastic arts and cinema, television, media. Following graduation, he attended Sorbonne where he wrote his doctorate under the title 'Formation of critical visual culture in Turkey, artists creating civilian solutions against normalization and control mechanisms 1997-2010'. The second dissertation where he argued museology, he shifted his focus on video and protection and preservation of media.
Pınarlıgil observes and discusses art through its critical power, presence and position on social structures, and focuses his professional practice on searching and questioning the effects and more importantly solutions created by art and artists against normalization and control mechanisms. He, after having his graduate degrees, started working on a new media collection and its conservation in Center Pompidou. Continuing his professional practice in the same institution, he ran multiple research and archive projects such as LGBTQI+ and art, and new creative centers in the times of globalization. He actively participated in the international consortium created for the purpose of writing and discussing European video art history, where he was also one of the founders.
Pınarlıgil started his curatorial exploration by attending various courses in Paris International Art History Institute (INHA) such as experimental cinema and video. Following the shows and exhibitions he created for various festivals and art centers, Pınarlıgil still continues to curate exhibitions concerning different mediums such as Etat d’âmes: une génération hors d’elle, Paris Academy of Fine Arts; Turquie, et alors!, Centre Pompidou; Paris Fashion Week, Versus, Karşı Sanat; Modernités plurielles (as a collaborator), Centre Pompidou; Hayal Pavyonu, TÜYAP; Gizli Yüz, Elipsis; 13 Aylı Bir Yılda, Galerist; Tekinsiz, Bilsart; Yukari Bak, Nilufer; Oblique, Galerist.
Yekhan Pınarlıgil is currently living and working in Paris. He provides mentoring support for Onur Karaoğlu.