Picture this: you’re standing on the Giza Plateau, the Great Pyramids towering behind you as they have for 4,500 years, and suddenly there’s something new in this ancient landscape. A massive aluminum ring that looks like it fell from the future, catching sunlight and throwing it back at history itself. That’s exactly what Turkish artist Mert Ege Köse just dropped on us with “The Shen,” and honestly, it’s the kind of art installation that makes you stop scrolling and actually want to book a flight to Egypt.
“The Shen” is currently on display as part of Art D’Égypte’s “Forever Is Now” exhibition, now in its fifth edition, and it’s doing something really special with how we think about contemporary art in historical spaces. The sculpture isn’t trying to compete with the pyramids or overshadow them. Instead, it creates this incredible dialogue between ancient Egyptian symbolism and modern design sensibility.
Designer: Mert Ege Köse
The name itself is a clue to what Köse is up to. In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Shen symbol represented eternity and protection, depicted as a circle of rope with no beginning or end. It’s basically the OG infinity symbol, showing up in royal cartouches and religious texts throughout pharaonic history. Köse took that concept and supersized it into a monumental aluminum structure that frames the pyramids like the world’s most epic viewfinder.
What makes this work so compelling is how it plays with reflection and perception. The polished aluminum surface doesn’t just sit there looking pretty. It actively engages with its surroundings, capturing the shifting desert light, the blue Egyptian sky, and the ancient stones in a constantly changing display. Depending on where you stand and what time of day you visit, you’re basically looking at a different artwork. It’s responsive design taken to a literal, sculptural extreme.
Köse has built his practice around creating these kinds of sculptural works that bridge tradition and innovation. His pieces typically feature smooth surfaces and malleable aluminum alloys, materials that feel distinctly contemporary while still carrying a sense of timelessness. There’s a poetic quality to his work that doesn’t hit you over the head with meaning but instead invites you to find your own connections.
The location matters enormously here. Art D’Égypte has been pushing boundaries with “Forever Is Now” since 2021, transforming the Giza Plateau into an open-air gallery where contemporary artists from around the world respond to one of humanity’s most iconic historical sites. It’s not just about plunking modern art next to ancient wonders for the shock value. The exhibition carefully considers how contemporary creative practice can illuminate and honor historical context rather than clash with it.
“The Shen” succeeds because it understands this balance. The circular form echoes not just the ancient Egyptian symbol but also the eternal cycle that the pyramids themselves represent: life, death, and the continuity of human creative expression across millennia. When you look through the ring toward the pyramids, you’re literally framing history through a contemporary lens. It’s a visual metaphor that works on multiple levels without feeling forced or pretentious.
There’s also something to be said about accessibility here. Unlike a lot of monumental sculpture that feels designed for art world insiders, “The Shen” is immediately photographable and shareable. It gives visitors a way to interact with both the artwork and the pyramids in a fresh way. In our current moment where experience and documentation are so intertwined, that matters. The sculpture becomes a portal, not just literally but also digitally, connecting people worldwide to this ancient site through contemporary art.
As an emerging voice in Turkish contemporary art, Köse is making moves that position him well beyond regional recognition. Bringing “The Shen” to Egypt, working at this scale, and creating something that genuinely enhances one of the world’s most significant historical sites is the kind of project that defines careers. What “The Shen” ultimately offers is something increasingly rare: art that makes you feel something without requiring an art history degree to understand it. It’s beautiful, it’s thoughtful, and it reminds us that the conversation between past and present doesn’t have to be complicated to be profound. Sometimes all you need is a perfect circle of light.
The post A Ring of Light: Ancient Symbols Meet Modern Art at Giza first appeared on Yanko Design.