Crossing Carnevale

02/04/2021 - 31/07/2021


Parallel to Guido Casaretto’s solo exhibition entitled Of Goats, Appropriations and Scapes, which will take place at Zilberman Berlin between April 30 and July 31, his video art Crossing Carnevale shall be demonstrated at the project space, second floor of the historical Misir Building at Zilberman Istanbul.

The artwork will be viewed in parallel with the artist Yaşam Şaşmazer’s new solo exhibition entitled either/or between April 2 and May 29, 2021 at Zilberman Istanbul’s third floor.

Crossing Carnevale, a 15 minute-long video art dated 2019, is comprised of the artist’s shootings carried out in Gökçeada Salt Lake which is across Gulf of Saros to the northern side of Turkey’s Aegean Sea, and is a mixture of Land Art and performance art that blends contemporary artistic ways of expression.

The work, which was also displayed at Casaretto’s solo exhibition entitled The Ghosts of Matter, held at the Krakow Museum of Contemporary Art in Poland between October 25, 2019 and March 22, 2020, will carry the Mamuthone ritual of at least two thousand years to Istanbul and Berlin.

According to this pre-Christian ritual, Mamuthones appear on the island in the first days of the new year for the healthy cycle of the seasons and the abundance of nature, especially rainfall. With their wild primitive costumes made of animal skin and horns, preferably that of black sheep, these creatures carry heavy Carriga bells weighing up to 100 kilograms, and their scary behavior that disturb the evil spirits, as well as frightening younger and older residents alike.

Mamuthones also attract much attention with their unique masks, almost all of which are made from local plants and shells. Relevant ceremonies and actions go on until the next month and across different villages. Meanwhile, one of the theories about this ritual is that the island natives initiated this tradition to honor the animals to which they owe a lot for their lives, such as meat, milk and peltry or wool. According to another theory, these ceremonies correspond to the celebrations of the shepherds when the Saracen liberated the island from occupation.

Guido Casaretto finds the opportunity to re-emphasize the healing potentialities of art or the shifts in meaning that occur due to the distance between us and history in today’s world, also referring to the duality between Genoa and Sardinia, and Genoa and Istanbul in a historical and geographical context.

Also, this action/performance, which has gradually turned into a touristic carnevale over millennia, takes up a more urgent and critical form with a new interpretation formerly at MOCAK, and now in Istanbul and Berlin.

Crossing Carnevale can be seen as part of SENKRON Synchronized Video Exhibitions between April 15-30 with the participation of several art venues in order to monitor video art in general. Forty eight participants, including galleries, museums and initiatives, have joined SENKRON. Zilberman is among the forty-eight participants of SENKRON including galleries, museums, and initiatives.

As part of the exhibition, Casaretto will present his 2017 hyper-realistic abstract work, which he created with epoxy and metallic particles, making a suspicious and illusionary interpretation of cosmic existence. This work dated 2017 also met with art lovers in Poland at MOCAK.




Guido Casaretto (1981) lives and works in Istanbul. One of the founders of Sanatorium, some of his solo shows are: The Ghosts of Matter, (MOCAK, Krakow, Poland, 2019), The Pope and Galileo Had a Minor Disagreement, (Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey, 2017), Synesthesia (Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015), Extrasystemic Correlations (Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey, 2012), Default (Sanatorium, Istanbul, Turkey, 2011); and some of his group shows are: Restless Monuments, (Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey, 2018), Urban Justice (CerModern, Ankara, Turkey, 2015), Venice Biennial Italian Pavillion (Venice, Italy, 2011), and Teatro Comunale (Italy, 2000). His work is included in MOCAK–Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (Krakow, Poland), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourn, Australia) and many important private collections in Europe and Middle East.


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