Balca Arda

Aesthetics, Art Theory, Arts and Activism, Migration, Borders, and Mobility, Visual Social Media, Political Thought, Philosophy of Communication.
 

User Experience Research, UX / UI, Critical Studies of Emerging Communication Technologies, Design Justice and Inclusivity 

Balca Arda is an Assistant Professor in the Visual Communication Design Department of Kadir Has University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Political Science -Politics of Aesthetics at York University with her dissertation “The Sublime in Contemporary Art and Politics: The Post 9/11 Art of Middle Eastern Diaspora in North America” She also holds M.A. degree in Politics- Oppositional Art from Boğazici University, an M.A. degree in Digital Arts from London University of the Arts and B.A. in Political Science form Boğazici University. Dr. Arda’s primary research interests are visual culture, oppositional art, and political thought. Besides her academic work, her artworks were exhibited in Toronto, London, and Istanbul.

Galatasaray High Shool ( Lycée de Galatasaray) (Istanbul, Turkey)

B.A. in Political Science, Boğazici University (Istanbul, Turkey)

M.A. in Digital Arts, London University of the Arts (London, UK)

M.A. in Political Science, Boğazici University (Istanbul, Turkey)

Ph.D. in Political Science, York University, (Toronto, Canada)

(2018- current) Assistant Professor, Kadir Has University, Faculty of Communication, Visual Communication Design

(2017) Resident Visual Artist, Community Art Program, PWA - Toronto

(2010-2016) Teaching Assistant, York University, Department of Politics - Toronto 

(2008-2010) Artist Resident, Borusan Artcenter – Istanbul

(2002 – current) Founder and Art director of “Davetsiz Misafir”, A Journal of Politics, Philosophy, Science Fiction and Comics (available online in Turkish at www.davetsizmisafir.org) 

(2003 – 2010) Movie critic and Illustrator for Altyazı, Turkey’s monthly independent   cinema journal

• Arda, Balca (2023) “Political Engagement through Visual Mediation”. International Journal of Communication.
  Project: Management Commitee Membership Cost Action Project- CA21141: Grassroots of Digital Europe: from Historic Contemporary Cultures of Creative Computing
• Arda, Balca. March 2021. “Ephemeral Social Media Visuals and Their Picturesque Design: Interaction and User Experience on Instagram Stories”. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies journal. Article Doi: 10.2478/ausfm-2021-0010
• Arda, Balca. March 2021. “Görsellik ve Hakikat: Türkiye’deki Suriyelilere Dair Sosyal Medya Görsel Paylaşımlarında Hakikat Üretim Pratikleri”(Visuality and the Truth: Practices of Knowledge Making on Syrians in Turkey through Social Media). Ki Dergisi (Culture and Communication Journal). Article Doi: https://doi.org/10.18691/kulturveiletisim.770227
• Arda, Balca & Akdemir, Ayşegül. January 2021. “Activist communication design on social media: The case of online solidarity against forced Islamic lifestyle” at Media, Culture & Society. Article Doi: 10.1177/0163443720986002
• Arda, Balca. 2020. “Border Imagery and Migrant Abjection in Contemporary Art: “Ableism in the Artistic Representations of Refugee”. In Vildan and (Ed.)Communication of Migration in Media and Arts by Transnational Press London
• (In Turkish) Arda, Balca. 2020. “Abdülcanbaz'ın Çizgi Roman Yazınındaki Duruşu” (“Abdulcanbaz’s stance in the literature of Graphic Novel”). In Halim Şafak (Ed.) Turhan Selçuk’un Sanatı (Turhan Selçuk’s Art). Milas: Milas Belediyesi Yayınları.
• Arda, Balca. January 2020. “Cinematic Visual Representation of the Refugee Journey in Turkey in the Context of Precarious Class Dynamics”. Migration Letters
• Arda, B. (2019). Contemporary Art on the Current Refugee Crisis: The Problematic of Aesthetics versus Ethics. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 46(2), 310-327.
• Arda, B. (2017). Self -Image Making of the Diasporic Artists:" The Sousveillance Strategies in the Diasporic Art of Middle Eastern Diaspora". Mashriq&Mahjar, 4(1), 119-140.
• Arda, B. (2015). The Construction of a New Sociality through Social Media. Conjunctions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Cultural Participation, 2(1), 72-99.
• (In Turkish) Arda, Balca (2015) “Mad Max ve Tomorrowland: Distopyanın Bittiği Ütopyanın Başladığı Yer”( Mad Max and Tomorrowland: Where dystopia ends and utopia starts). Davetsiz Misafir Journal
• (In Turkish) Arda, Balca (2016) “Nostaljik Seyrin Kayıp Nesnesi: Yıldız Savaşları VII / Güç Uyanıyor (Star Wars VII / The Force Awakens)”. Davetsiz Misafir Journal Arda, B. (2014). Viral Pictures as a Tool of Resistance. In APSA 2014 Annual Meeting Paper.
• Arda, Balca. 2015. “Apolitical is Political”. Interface: a journal for and about social movements, Special issue: Movement Practice(s) edited by Cal Andrews, Laurence Cox, Lesley Wood. 7 (1): 9 -18.
• Arda, Balca. December 2019. “Border Imagery and Migrant Abjection in Contemporary Art: “Ableism in the Artistic Representations of Refugee”. Communication of Migration in Media and Arts by Transnational Press London
• Öztaş, Yunus Emre & Arda, Balca. 2025 "Re-evaluating creative labor in the age of artificial intelligence: a qualitative case study of creative workers’ perspectives on technological transformation in creative industries". AI & Society. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-025-02180-6 
• Arda, Balca. 2023. “Aesthetic Approach for Critical Sociology of Contemporary Communication Technology". Critical Sociology. DOI: 10.1177/08969205231206511
• Arda, Balca. 2023. "Multimodal online dissident culture in Instagram: A critique of the Turkish economy". International Journal of Cultural Studies. DOI: 10.1177/13678779231213991
• Akdemir, Ayşegül & Arda, Balca. 2022. “Visual Communication in Online Education: Social Analysis of Camera Usage in Virtual Classroom Experience”. 19 Mayıs Journal of Social Sciences. DOI: 10.52835/19maysbd.1013179
• Arda, Balca & Akdemir, Ayşegül. 2023. “Aesthetics of the Virtual Classroom: Visual Communication Technology, Participation & Heterochronous Communal Time”. İmgelem. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53791/imgelem.1328059 
• Arda, Balca. 2022. “Who Deserves to be Refugee?: The Instrumentalization of Art and Culture in the Solidarity Discourses of Ukranian Refugees in Social Media”. MSGSÜ Social Sciences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.56074/msgsusbd.1175562 
   

Proje Yürütücülüğü – TÜBİTAK 2515: İstanbul’u Dijital Oyunlaştırma Tasarımı ile Depreme Hazırlamak: Afete Hazırlığın Yaygın Bir Gündelik Pratiğe Dönüştürülmesi için Katılımcı Eylem Araştırması
Cost Aksiyon Projesi- CA21141 Proje Yönetim Kurulu Üyeliği: Tabandan Gelen Yaratıcı Bilgisayar Çalışmaları
Proje Yürütücülüğü – TÜBİTAK 3005: Halk Sağlığı Görsel İletişim Yöntemleri Analizi: Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi Tüberküloz Hastalığı ile COVID-19 Pandemisi Söylem Karşılaştırması
 

2022 “OCULUS”, Kadir Has University Department of Visual Communication Design end-of-year exhibition, CoBAC Workspace, Istanbul-Academic Supervisor

2018 “Öteberi”, Filmix Art Group, Exhibition Curator Project 04 MayFest at Bilgi University

2017 “This Is Not Art Therapy”, Public Art Exhibit, People With Aids Foundation (PWA), Toronto 

2015 “The Rope”, Cedar Ridge Gallery, Toronto

2014 “Contemporary Istanbul”, Art Fair, Istanbul

2014 “Reflex”, Galeri MCRD, Istanbul

2014 “The Quest”, Galeri MCRD, Istanbul

2014 “The Art Galleria Expo”, Cube, Queen St - Toronto

2013 “Chapullers in Toronto”, Beit Zatoun, Toronto 

2010 “Mind Models”, Artcenter, Istanbul

2019 Performance Studies International Dwight Conqueergood Award

2013 – 2015 York University Faculty of Graduate Studies Fieldwork Grant 

2013 – 2015 York University Faculty of Graduate Studies Research Fellowship