[3] Her work has been shown at numerous international institutions such as Musée cantonal des Beaux-arts, Lausanne[4] (2022); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna[5] (2020); Ständehaus, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfallen, Düsseldorf[6] (2019); SculptureCenter, New York[7] (2019); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2018), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2018); documenta14, Athens and Kassel (2017);[8] Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2015); Kunsthalle Basel, Basel (2011); Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2014), Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010); Walker Art Center (2007); Istanbul Biennial (2007); and Berlin Biennial (2003).
She is the founding director of BAS (2006–ongoing), an Istanbul-based artist-run initiative that collects and displays artists’ books and printed material as artwork.
Since 2007, Cennetoğlu has been developing The List[14] in collaboration with UNITED for Intercultural Action, an Amsterdam-based network in support of migrants and refugees.
[15] The work is a collection of data about thousands of immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees who died on their way to or at the border of the European Union since 1993.
[31] As part of Lapses, the two-artist exhibition (with Ahmet Öğüt) curated by Başak Şenova for the Pavilion of Turkey at the 53rd International Venice Biennale, Cennetoğlu produced CATALOG 2009 (2009),[32] a book that mimics the format of a mail-order catalog, comprising 450 photographs organized in fifteen categories inspired by stock photography:[9] composition, color, assumption, negotiation, operation, vanity, adjustment, excursion, caution, love, seizure, exploit, act, invasion and replacement.
[33] For the duration of the exhibition in Venice, the viewers were encouraged to order and download the featured photographs from the Internet free or charge.
In the early 2010s,[34][35] Cennetoğlu started creating bound collections of daily newspapers printed in one day and has produced different editions of this work in several countries, including Turkey, Switzerland, and Germany.
Commissioned by documenta14, Gurbet's Diary is a work that comprises 82,661 words in mirror image placed on 145 press-ready lithographic limestone slabs.
As part of the exhibition in Kassel, Cennetoğlu also created a related work, replacing the usual inscription of "Museum Fridericianum" with "Being safe is scary"—as a tribute to Ersöz.
[42] Selected group exhibitions include Musée cantonal des Beaux-arts, Lausanne[4] (2022); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna[5] (2020); Ständehaus, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfallen, Düsseldorf[6] (2019); Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2018);[43] Stories of Almost Everyone, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018);[44] 3rd Berlin Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin (2017);[45] documenta14, Athens and Kassel (2017);[36] It is Obvious from the Map, Redcat, Los Angeles (2017);[46] The Restless Earth, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2017);[47] … und eine Welt noch, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg (2016);[48] Burning Down The House, 10th Gwangju Bienniale, Gwangju (2014);[49] Frozen Lakes, Artist's Space, New York (2013);[50] Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010);[51] The Pavilion of Turkey at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009);[52] 3rd Berlin Biennale (2008);[53] 1st Athens Biennale (2007);[54] and 10th Istanbul Biennale (2007).
[55] In February 2024, Cennetoğlu, alongside artist Pilvi Takala, released a statement regarding her decision to join Strike Germany and withdraw from her solo exhibition at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein e.V., which was scheduled to open in June 2024.
[61] To develop the BAS Collection, Cennetoğlu prioritizes diversity over personal taste as she has an open acquisition policy when buying, accepting, and bartering artists' books.