When Kadir „Amigo“ Memiş dances, stages or draws, he draws his creativity from memories of his childhood. He grew up as a shepherd in a village of 300 people in Anatolia and moved to Berlin to live with his parents in 1984.

It was then that Amigo found his way into hip-hop culture and breakdancing.

Like an urban nomad, he gathered impressions of the city and began to translate them into movements. Today he is best known as a dancer, choreographer and founder of the internationally acclaimed breakdance group „Flying Steps“ in 1993. In Germany, he was one of the first to combine hip-hop with other elements. In his production Zeybreak, for example, he mixed elements of the traditional Turkish folk dance Zeybek with breakdance.
After leaving school, Amigo trained as a technical draughtsman, a profession that requires a high degree of precision. This experience is later reflected not only in his perfectly rehearsed movement sequences, but also in his calligraphy, which he has been producing for more than thirty-two years.
Impulsive yet thoughtful, the black lines of his drawings seem to move in different directions, forming circles and making dots. Like the movements in his choreographies, the lines in Amigo’s calligraphy always strive for a form in which intuition and reflection are in harmony.

The boundaries between performance and visual art are becoming increasingly blurred in his work.
In addition to his dance productions, Memiş has been active in the street art scene for many years. In 2003, together with artists such as Banksy, Obey, Akim, Datagno and others, he was part of Backjumps – The Live Issue, an exhibition project in Berlin that was one of the first in Europe to explore the intersections of street art, aerosol culture and hip-hop and present the contemporary developments of the various art forms. The starting point for the show was the international network of artists and activists that was established in 1994 by Adrian Nabi and the magazine he founded, Backjumps. The Berlin authors Akim, Tagno and Zast from the legendary Jazzstyle Corner had a major influence on Memiş.
Kadir „Amigo“ Memiş was a fellow of the Tarabya Cultural Academy from January to April 2019.

When Kadir „Amigo“ Memiş dances, stages or draws, he draws his creativity from memories of his childhood. He grew up as a shepherd in a village of 300 people in Anatolia and moved to Berlin to live with his parents in 1984.

It was then that Amigo found his way into hip-hop culture and breakdancing.

Like an urban nomad, he gathered impressions of the city and began to translate them into movements. Today he is best known as a dancer, choreographer and founder of the internationally acclaimed breakdance group „Flying Steps“ in 1993. In Germany, he was one of the first to combine hip-hop with other elements. In his production Zeybreak, for example, he mixed elements of the traditional Turkish folk dance Zeybek with breakdance.
After leaving school, Amigo trained as a technical draughtsman, a profession that requires a high degree of precision. This experience is later reflected not only in his perfectly rehearsed movement sequences, but also in his calligraphy, which he has been producing for more than thirty-two years.
Impulsive yet thoughtful, the black lines of his drawings seem to move in different directions, forming circles and making dots. Like the movements in his choreographies, the lines in Amigo’s calligraphy always strive for a form in which intuition and reflection are in harmony.

The boundaries between performance and visual art are becoming increasingly blurred in his work.
In addition to his dance productions, Memiş has been active in the street art scene for many years. In 2003, together with artists such as Banksy, Obey, Akim, Datagno and others, he was part of Backjumps – The Live Issue, an exhibition project in Berlin that was one of the first in Europe to explore the intersections of street art, aerosol culture and hip-hop and present the contemporary developments of the various art forms. The starting point for the show was the international network of artists and activists that was established in 1994 by Adrian Nabi and the magazine he founded, Backjumps. The Berlin authors Akim, Tagno and Zast from the legendary Jazzstyle Corner had a major influence on Memiş.
Kadir „Amigo“ Memiş was a fellow of the Tarabya Cultural Academy from January to April 2019.