Let me back into the cave, please

Over time, mankind pursued a changing understanding of the truth. For a long time, truth based on science was prevailing. However, in today's post-truth era, scientific evidence is no longer in the lead to construct a ​​unilateral view of the truth. We do not obey one ‘objective’ truth anymore, there is room for a multitude of veracities that are for example based on alternative facts or feelings. We live in a society where fake news is spread through social media, where there is no way of making a distinction between what is fact and what is fiction. The truth has become a tool for accumulating power and is used and abused by whomever has an audience that is willing to listen to their version of the truth. 

‘Let me back into the cave, please.’ circles around concepts of human perception, truth seeking, transformation and conditioning processes. In his book The Shadow of the Object, Christopher Bollas describes how the first so-called ‘transformational object’ is the mother of the child, who for a certain amount of time conditions and controls the whole known environment of the infant. Starting from birth we rely on our environment to shape us and transform us into the human-beings we are one day ought to be. Throughout our life, we encounter many different phenomenons that alter our self experience as well as they form our reality. In this process we are continuously receiving and sending information through social interaction. With these encounters, we are confronted with the multitude of truths that is at the heart of the post-truth era. 

The title of the exhibition is inspired by the old Allegory of the Cave written by Plato. The Allegory tells the story of three prisoners who are restrained from going outside, their whole world is the inside of the cave they are held captive in. Faint images are projected by the ‘puppeteers’ holding shapes in front of the flames of a small bonfire, creating a singular reflection of the ‘truth’. ‘Let me back into the cave, please.’ is a reaction to the complexity of the multivaracity of truths that characterises the post-truth era. It is a longing for times where there was only one truth, a truth that gave direction, guidance and meaning in life.

In his work, multi-media artist Lennart Creutzburg (1994) tries to exemplify human-transformation processes by using his own psyche as the main medium for his practice. “I reflect on the way humanity is psychologically conditioned and transformed by its direct society and environment.” Through analysing and reflecting on his own ego Creutzburg constructs symbols and shapes that symbolise his view of the truth about humanity and its inevitable transformation.