The Kurdish art scene has been developing in particularly strenuous political and economic conditions. The long-term pressure of neo-liberal economy, the as yet futile dreams of an autonomous state, the innumerable international Kurdish diaspora, and the characteristic shortage of any conceptual watershed experience on the scene have all had significant impact on social life and crucial artistic attitudes.

The title of the exhibition – “May Flames Pave the Way for You” – references the case of artists burning paintings in the streets of the Iraqi city of Sulaimani* in the 1990s, a time when many artists of the older generation had already left the country while the younger generation sensed a depletion in the formerly used language of art, given the geopolitical positioning of a state troubled with war and insurgence. The dramatic demonstration became an announcement of an artistic breakthrough, as it were, comprising a breakaway from continuing modernist tradition, quest for inspiration in daily life practice, and use of the visual vernacular.