Gönül Sen-Menzel: Experiencing Art in Real Time with KölTür

Read the German original ↗
This article was published in German. The original text opens in a new tab in the German section of this website.

Volkhoven. With sweeping movements of his hand, Walter Theunynck works the surface.

With his fingers he spreads red, then yellow or green oil paint on the canvas, and visitors to the KölTür group’s spring art market experience the creation of a new work by the painter live and up close.

After the last Christmas art market in 2010, 13 artists have joined forces again to present a cross-section of their work. “The group’s line-up has changed over the years, but we are all friends. That is important for solidarity. We support one another, for example with exhibitions,” says the Turkish artist Gönül Sen-Menzel, in whose studio on Volkhovener Weg the art market took place. KölTür is a German-Turkish artists’ group that came together about 20 years ago. Strictly speaking, it is even an international association, as two Belgians also belong to it: Walter Theunynck and Georges Herregods, a former Catholic priest, painter, sculptor, author and historian who, at 86, is the oldest member of KölTür.

One corner of the exhibition space is dedicated to the works of the artist Gerda Türke, who died in March. “Gerda, we miss you,” reads a small poster.

Next to it, Alper Kara, born in Cologne in 1970, has set up his watercolors. “I only paint from memory.” Guido Mario Mosler, a self-confessed Hölderlin fan, author of several books and lecturer in creative writing, focuses on artistic photography, for which he uses unusual tools such as a pinhole camera or even a camera obscura.

Hanna Dirk from Bensberg only started painting three years ago, and meeting Gönül Sen-Menzel was a stroke of luck for her. “She is my adviser and teacher,” says the artist. Nuray Turan, who is self-taught, originally studied business administration and worked in the fashion industry. She experiments with different materials such as mirrors, onto which she applies paint and then scratches out the motif, usually her favorite theme of women’s heads. Ute Kenzler’s works are characterized above all by their powerful joy in color. Irmel Pepperhoff from Düsseldorf uses different techniques to explore her theme “Breaking out of encrustations”. And Yonca Schätte is already looking forward to her solo exhibition in September.

The heart of the group, as everyone agrees, is Gönül Sen-Menzel, who studied in Turkey and in Düsseldorf. The 63-year-old is currently writing her doctoral thesis at Paderborn University, in which she takes a critical look at the development of art in Turkey.

“Artists are hindered in their work. Islam, for example, forbids the artistic depiction of the human face,” reports the painter and performance artist. But artists have begun to fight for their creative freedom, she says.

Original caption: 13 artists have joined together in the KölTür group to support one another.