Sacred Trees brings together Ahmet Güneştekin’s works that reinterpret tradition through forms reminiscent of the circular structure of trees. At the heart of the exhibition lies the artist’s philosophy, expressed through the term ek(meaning “addition” in Turkish), embodied in the work Gelene-ek (“addition to that which has come”). For Güneştekin, reshaping the word gelenek (“tradition”) as gelene-ek creates a concept in which tradition is not static, but an evolving form that carries inherited experience into the present.
Curated by Selcan Atılgan, the exhibition underscores that Gelene-ek is not about preserving the past as a fixed entity, but about a continuity—an unbroken whole that expands, multiplies, and renews itself through constant reinterpretation. This extension, repetitive and enduring, is what bridges past and present. Its interruption, in turn, signifies an interruption of thought itself.