Anna Laudel makes its inaugural participation in Art Cologne, the world’s oldest art fair, to feature the latest works by the talented artists Ramazan Can and Cem Sonel, offering a glimpse into the vibrant Turkish contemporary art scene.

Dating back to 1967, the oldest art fair in the world, Art Cologne brings together important collectors and representatives of high-ranking institutions, giving space to more than one hundred galleries and their exceptional artists. Upholding the tradition of building a bridge from the Bosporus to Cologne, Anna Laudel will debut strongly by representing Türkiye at Art Cologne 2023.

This year, the fair differentiates galleries into seven sectors: Contemporary, Modern/Postwar, Collaborations, Neumarkt, Editions, Art + Object and New Positions. Anna Laudel has been selected to showcase in the collaboration sector with the collaborative work of Ramazan Can and Cem Sonel, who are particularly exceptional owing to their inventive approaches in multimedial dimensions.

Ramazan Can has worked with Anatolian themes, patterns and fabrics incorporated with shamanism and contemporary mysticism since the beginning of his career. The artist’s use of concrete in conjunction with other materials may be seen as an illusion of the vast extension of urban regions into the surrounding natural landscape and their transformation.

Cem Sonel, on the other hand, started his career painting on the streets. His creations, whether abstract sculptures or LED displays, maintain site uniqueness by reinterpreting visual components that are undeniably associated with urban surroundings.

The two artists base their research processes for the framework of their artistic expression on the father of the philosophy of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida’s critique of "Logocentrism." Derrida argues that our way of thinking is almost exclusively determined by dichotomies, which in turn are to be understood as interdependent binary definitions like male-female, inside-outside, old-new, absence-presence.

The core of the joint sculpture by Ramazan Can and Cem Sonel artfully conveys the duality described by Derrida. In their artwork, two artists meticulously combine contradictory materials like concrete, carpet, neon and LED installation in harmony to reflect old and new, modern and traditional, forgotten crafts and new technologies. Through their work, Can and Sonel provide a fresh perspective on long-standing customs, motifs and culturally recognized patterns that portray Anatolian history.

The collaborative artworks of the artists will be displayed at Anna Laudel’s Booth from Nov. 16 to 19.