Artist rezzan gumgum explores our red lines in new exhibition

Kıraathane is well-known for not setting “red lines” when it comes to free speech. It takes pride in being a center for “free word,” where sensitive topics that might be censored elsewhere can be openly discussed. The latest exhibition in its spring program offers a visual exploration of this concept. Artist rezzan gümgüm’s new work, “my / red lines,” presents documentation of a long-term performance in Ankara in 2019.

The exhibition includes videos, photographs, and site-specific installations. Red lines created with paint reflect the ongoing rhetoric of “our red line” expressed by authorities. They are depicted on the streets and are meant to be crossed. These red lines symbolize the boundaries imposed on geography, gender, body, language, thought, action, rights, and freedom. They encourage a reconsideration and a discussion of coping strategies.

rezzan gümgüm was born in the rural town of Varto, in the Eastern Anatolian province of Muş. She studied fine arts at Macerata Fine Arts Academy in Italy and completed a PhD degree at the Complutense University in Madrid. Her works cover a wide array of fields and techniques, including performance, photography, and video installation. She particularly focuses on ecological and political issues that arise in urban and rural areas. Her work often intersects topics such as gender, identity, forced displacement, and biodiversity, offering a thought-provoking observation of our social reality through an ecofeminist lens.

As Kıraathane’s final exhibition before the summer break, this event is both timely and thought-provoking. It encourages us to contemplate the connection between the personal and the social, and to examine the origins of our boundaries. Are they imposed by authority figures such as the government, society at large, or patriarchy? This exhibition guarantees to provoke critical thinking and offer food for thought to all visitors.

The exhibition will be open to visitors until Friday, 26 July 2024, every day except Sundays between 11:00 and 19:00.