Gönül Sen-Menzel: Carrying Art into Everyday Life with Köl-Tür

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Chorweiler – The Cologne artists’ group “Köl-Tür” wanted to bring movement into Chorweiler’s art landscape.

Under the auspices of the community center, the twelve men and women created a mobile artwork on Pariser Platz with their car-painting event and then rolled through the district with it. Equipped with spray guns and lacquer paints, they turned a blue minibus into a colorful mobile work of art. “After all, you can’t go to the museum every day, so we have to carry art into everyday life,” explained Gönül Sen, who had founded the group two years earlier. The artists then “trumpeted” this message with a small parade through the district. Accompanied by the sounds of a jazz band, the men and women drove toward the Handwerkerhof to open their exhibition “Intoxicated by Color” there.

“Köl-Tür” presents contemporary works with oversized motifs or delicate drawings. The 27 works, ranging from screen prints and oil paintings to clay sculpture, reflect the international composition of the group. Turks, Czechs, Poles and Germans work together in “Köl-Tür”. “With this exhibition, the group conveys to us the way visual art brings peoples together,” said district head Jürgen Walker. After all, unlike language and music, painting, graphic art and sculpture are “understandable to everyone internationally”.

The exhibition can be seen at the Handwerkerhof until August 28. On Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m., the artists are available for conversation.

Original caption: In the middle of Pariser Platz in Chorweiler, the artists’ group “Köl-Tür” staged a car-painting event. During the performance, a minibus was painted in bright colors.