RE-

“She had always thought that things were certain. Everything about her life, her place in the world, the people she met, her everyday routine, seemed predetermined, like the plot of a story she already knew. She would get up at the same time every morning, walk the dogs, and say hello to the same people. As the seasons changed, everything appeared to be in proper place. But gradually things started to change.”

At first, hardly noticeable changes. Occasionally, she would find herself mid-conversation, abruptly overcome with the realization that she had been here before. Not in a blurry kind of déjà vu, but as though this same moment has happened countless times before. She started to see echoes of things she couldn't quite place—patterns where none should have existed. Time seemed to be folding back on itself in odd and surprising ways, instead of moving forward.

She began to wonder. What if? What if these parallels are expressions of a deeper consciousness rather than coincidences? What if the story, — or better yet, history is not behind but all around her: living, breathing, changing. A continuous cycle of repeated actions and moments spiraling endlessly.

In RE-, time doesn’t move forward or back; it loops and refracts, shifting shape like a continuous echo. Here, moments return not as identical repetitions, but as layered reflections of everything that has come before. History isn’t something behind us—it’s interwoven with the present, resonating through actions, thoughts, and memories that ripple through each moment. Every moment has echoes that pulse and replay throughout our lives, recalling us of all the times it has happened before while also seeming oddly familiar and brand-new.

This perspective gives everyday things a sense of timeless quality, where familiar rituals and routines take on new meaning. What if our most ordinary gestures hold the weight of centuries, embodying the rhythms of ancient practices? In this world, myth and reality don’t seem so separate from each other. Figures from long ago seem to reappear in contemporary disguises, performing tasks that feel ordinary and effortless as well as eternal. In RE- , these figures seem to be suspended, derived from historical echoes while still being in a state of change. They exist in a moment that is distinct from the conventional flow of time.

Dilara Altınkepçe Arslan’s first solo exhibition, RE-, shifts our way of seeing: in her work, “what if” focuses more on viewing the present from a different angle than they do on the distant future or the past. Her pieces challenge us to think of time not as a straight line but as an energy woven continuously into the now. Rather than pulling us forward or backward, her works encourage us to fully occupy the present, seeing it from multiple angles.