Newold europe

Series of objects (fiberglass, mineral coating, pigment, metal), 3-d prints, screen prints, 2026

temple model (fiberglass, mineral coating, pigment, metal), newold europe, 2025

Even on the European side of Istanbul, Europe has long been perceived as a distant place. That distance has only increased as the EU has hardened into a frontier union. Against this closure, newold europe seeks to reclaim the idea of a more elastic europe. Situated on the Asian side of the city, the project imagines a europe moving both in space and in time, one that has to trace its geography and chronology back to a past before territorial history. The work draws on what the archaeologist, prehistorian, and anthropologist Marija Gimbutas** identified as “Old Europe,” a Neolithic culture characterized by more open and generous forms of collective space and life. Known through cultural remains such as prehistoric clay models and figurines found at sites stretching from the Danube Valley to Anatolia and the Levant, this culture appears new and worth striving for not only because it decenters dominant narratives of Europe by shifting its geography and genealogy, but also because it was egalitarian, heterarchical, peaceful, and highly developed.

newold europe displays two prehistoric temple models as overscaled objects and reconstructs them as small 3d-printed keychains or handbag charms. Originally crafted in clay, the ancient models were used in rituals associated with the communal houses where the ritual celebrations actually took place. The shared houses were also used as workshops where textiles, household items, and tools were collaboratively produced. They fulfilled a myriad of other functions, from baking bread to serving as places for childbirth. Such architectures embodied the proto-public spaces of societies that developed from 6500 B.C. onward. They echo the egalitarian relations, limited wealth, and minimal status differences of these societies, as well as their collective cultural practices.

Within these Neolithic societies, women* played a significant role in evolving a culture based on the cyclical concept of time, regeneration, and profound connection to nature. Their culture persisted well into the second millennium B.C.; however, beginning around 3500 B.C., it was gradually destroyed by multiple waves of invasion from patriarchally organized Indo-European tribes.

The small keychains and handbag charms also refer to Goddess figures, dating from 6500 to 5000 B.C. The Goddess was seen as a force manifested in various forms: a material condensation of life cycles, a symbol of birth, death, and regeneration, or an interface between human time and cosmic time. The figurines display bird attributes (symbolizing life, death, and the sky), egg-shaped buttocks, and often exaggerated breasts and hips – symbols of abundance and continuity. Some feature horns, while others appear almost alien-like. They all originate from "Old Europe," spanning present-day Hungary, Crete, Anatolia, Macedonia, and Ukraine.

newold europe aims to reclaim the history of a temporally and geographically shifted Europe, usually hidden behind the dominant and naturalized narrative of a patriarchal Indo-European lineage. Through a shift in scale, the clay fragments are translated into both political monuments and intimate, everyday charms – objects that can be taken away and mobilized as speculative means of thinking otherwise about the present. The project is grounded in the belief that forms can travel across time and space, opening alternative political imaginaries.

** The insights into Neolithic societies are indebted to Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), a Lithuanian-American archaeologist, prehistorian, and anthropologist. Through her extraordinarily systematic research, she developed an extensive reconstruction of the social conditions within settled Neolithic villages across the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, extending into parts of Central and Northern Europe prior to the Indo-European migrations. Gimbutas argued that these societies were characterized by egalitarian social relations, minimal wealth and status differences, and a cultural framework in which women and men were equally valued. Central to her work was an interdisciplinary methodology combining archaeology, linguistics, ethnology, and the history of religion. She could read texts in thirteen languages enabling her to synthesize material culture, mythological motifs, and linguistic patterns across vast regions and historical periods. Following her death, her work faced decades of sharp critique and dismissal from large parts of the archaeological establishment. Her interpretations –particularly those concerning gender relations and social organization– were often rejected as speculative or ideologically driven. However, this reception has begun to shift with the emergence of new scientific techniques, such as ancient DNA analysis.

By bringing the temporal and geographic margins of Europe to the forefront of the narrative of Western civilization, Gimbutas challenged the dominant Eurocentric genealogies. In this sense, her work on "Old Europe" can be understood as negotiating European belonging from the perspective of historically marginalized regions and times. Read today, her work provides a valuable perspective on anti-hegemonic feminist debates, particularly regarding cultural appropriation, Eurocentrism, and the politics of origin narratives.

As a part of PresentAbsent, curated by Merve Elveren and Meriç Öner, at YUNT from October 11, 2025, to August 16, 2026.

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