Gülfem Kessler Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Labirent Sanat is pleased to host Gülfem Kessler's solo exhibition titled "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", curated by Nergis Abıyeva, which will take place between 2 September – 2 October 2021.

The exhibition takes its name from the documentary film “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” by Werner Herzog. The entrance to the Chauvet cave in France, which was used by people 32,000 years ago, was closed due to an earthquake and when it was discovered in 1994, the paintings inside were a game changer. In the naturalistic paintings of the Chauvet cave, there are no human depictions other than a woman's image and the expressions on the animals' faces are emotional and humane are associated with the fact that the Paleolithic people did not see themselves as different than the other species in the world, the disconnection between human and non-human had not yet occurred and they were aware that they shared the world with other species.

Human and non-human relationship in cave paintings, being interspecies, in Donna Haraway's words "companion species", also appears in the works of Gülfem Kessler and forms the skeleton of this exhibition.

The curatorial theme of the exhibition develops around certain questions: What could be the source of the sensory affinities between the cave paintings which are thought to be at the beginning of humanity's adventure of creating images, and the paintings of a contemporary artist? What can these affinities tell us in the context of the unconscious, genetic memory and posthuman studies?

The images created and made felt by Gülfem Kessler, just as one feels when looking at cave paintings, while going to the most primitive parts of the consciousness, remind us that there are aspects of art that cannot be explained only by reason and knowledge. At a time when we experience the fragility of humanity's established knowledge, we invite art audiences to look at Gülfem Kessler's paintings, which show primitive, instinctive, and expressive features, from the paleolithic image-contemporary art axis.

Gülfem Kessler's solo exhibition titled "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" can be seen at Labirent Sanat until 2 October 2021.

Curator: Nergis Abıyeva