Turkish artist Mert Ege Köse presents a mirrored sculpture at Giza that transforms the ancient shen symbol into an immersive encounter.
On the timeless sands of the Giza Plateau, where civilisation first learned to build in dialogue with the cosmos, Turkish artist Mert Ege Köse unveils The Shen (2025), a monumental sculpture created for the fifth edition of Forever Is Now by Art D’Égypte. Standing before the ancient pyramids of Giza, The Shen is simultaneously futuristic and primeval, its shimmering interruption in time drawing together the desert, sky and the viewer into one continuous reflection.
Curated by Ayça Okay and in collaboration with AWC Contemporary, the sculpture marks both a personal milestone for Köse and a poetic gesture of connection between cultures, linking Istanbul’s creative pulse to the infinite rhythm of Giza. For Köse, who has long investigated the relationship between material and metaphysics, this project represents both a culmination and a beginning. His works – often composed of modular systems and engineered precision – question how physical structures can embody philosophical ideas, expressed through a practice grounded in experimentation and merging material science with a form of spiritual engineering.
The Shen emerges from a year-long research and production process that stretches across borders and disciplines. Forged in aluminium and specially developed alloys at ASAŞ Sanat, the sculpture measures six metres in width and five metres in height. Its mirrored surfaces reflect the pyramids and surrounding dunes, folding the world back upon itself. From a distance, it appears as if two immense discs, suspended mid-air, are facing each other in silent communion. As one draws closer, the precision of the latticework reveals itself, a pattern intersecting metal lines and vibrating with light and movement.
The installation title derives from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph known as the shen, symbolising eternity and divine protection, a ring without beginning or end. Köse, with his background in engineering and philosophy, reinterprets this symbol into an exploration of harmony and balance. By transforming the shen into a contemporary material language, the sculpture envelopes the viewer as part of the composition, merging body, landscape and monument into a single field of perception.
Within the wider curatorial vision of Art D’Égypte, The Shen resonates with the exhibition’s ongoing mission to build a living conversation between heritage and the present moment. The work is intimate, its simplicity concealing an intricate interplay between history and modernity, between the permanence of stone and the fleeting shimmer of light. Each curve of the sculpture articulates the logic of equilibrium, echoing the geometric and cosmic logic found in nature. Yet, beyond its physical form, it carries a profound philosophical enquiry, translated into the vocabulary of contemporary material practice.
Standing before The Shen, one becomes aware of how small yet significant the human presence is within the vast landscape of time. The polished metal reflects everything around it, but ultimately it returns the gaze to the viewer. to ask a quiet question: what is eternal? Is it the monument, the idea or the act of reflection itself? In that mirrored surface, the boundaries blur. The pyramids appear beside the human silhouette, the present folds into the ancient and the endless horizon becomes a continuous loop.
This article is in partnership with AWC Contemporary Dubai
