The Actual and Transcendence
Artists: Suat Akdemir, Deniz Aktaş, Ansen, Sırma Doruk, Genco Gülan, Seydi Murat Koç, Sıtkı Kösemen, Onur Mansız, Seçkin Pirim, Gülin Hayat Topdemir, Hande Varsat
Curator: Hasan Bülent Kahraman
This exhibition was going to be opened on another date, under different conditions, and with other works: we were there and that was yesterday. Now it opens with new works, a new set of circumstances, and a different configuration: here it is. The difference between these two periods of time, and the respective conditions they present, also determines the reality of the exhibition.
The difference between the two phenomena is related to time and the subjectivity of the human being. There can be no subjectivity that defies time. Consciousness and memory are registered in relation to time. But this record does not make the human being a prisoner of the past and of memory. The human being travels through time — together with the whole universe — and he knows where he is heading, he knows his end. The only thing he lacks any knowledge of is the time of that end. And he creates. Through creating he resists the end, his end. To create is to make a mark in time, it is to ascend into the future. The human being is the one who says, de capo — to use Nietzsche’s words — and starts over from the beginning.
In the past year and a half, we made our way through pain, death and destruction. This great plague did not just come with deaths. It also brought the “Great Closure”. And that period still continues.
The human being can always start all over again, and the only thing he needs to be able to do this is his inner peace. In the midst of all the devastation, all the pain, the sorrow, and the blazing infernos, the human being manages to find inner balance, and even though this balance blows like a storm sometimes, he starts again. He resists and starts over: starts over and resists. The most magnificent case of starting over and resisting is the work of art. Art is not just a rebellion against the tragic. It is to challenge the endlessness of time. It is to stand up to death. The work of art is transcendence. Death, which is another transcendence, is only defeated in the face of the work of art. Furthermore, there is not much that can go beyond death. The work of art is always destined beyond itself. It transforms beyond itself and is re/produced again in an endless cycle.
Actuality is real. Transcendence is not a secret. It is a mystery. The work of art is both actuality, that is to say, real, and beyond: transcendence. The artwork even resists itself. Its transcendence also defies itself, awaiting its place and time. There, in those days of devastation brought about by the coronavirus, presented in a state of actuality, the transcendence of the works of art right here, resurrected within/from that havoc, produced by the artists who were resisting through the act of creating, is proof of this. The actual is the passing of time. Transcendence, however, is what lies beyond: beyond everything.
Entrance to the fair is paid.
In order for you, to have a safer exhibition experience, HES code will be applied at the entrance to the fair.
During HES code checks, we kindly ask you to prepare your HES code in advance in order to speed up the entrance and prevent queues.
Entrance to the fair will be closed on Sunday, June 6 due to lockdown.