Please do not touch.
Referencing Frankfurt’s design history as a driving force of Neues Wohnen in the 1920s, Fatma Çankaya’s work operates both as a serious engagement and as a deliberately exaggerated, provocatively appropriative gesture.
The installation, consisting of a cabinet with LED panels, an oversized brass knuckle covered in rhinestones, an enlarged crack pipe, and two sex dolls dressed in custom made luxury designer clothing, creates a condensed microcosm of Frankfurt. Çankaya deliberately invokes the city’s extremes — sex, drugs and violence — placing them in contrast with luxury objects and the institutional framework of the museum.
At the same time, the work references so-called “Talahon” culture. The term derives from the Arabic “taeal huna” (come here) and was popularised by the Kurdish-Syrian rapper Hassan, who performs this persona in his videos. Since 2024, “Talahon” has developed into a prominent, often satirical TikTok trend, with Frankfurt frequently portrayed as its unofficial capital.
Against the backdrop of Çankaya’s own migration background, the work can also be understood as a form of reclamation. It translates codes and imagery from digital spaces into a physical, institutional setting. Exaggeration functions as a central stylistic device — not to distort reality, but to render existing cultural practices and social realities visible within a privileged context.
In this way, the question of freedom shifts: away from the intention of artistic provocation, and towards the question of who feels provoked — and which aspects of lived social reality may be being denied or overlooked.
Fatma Çankaya is a Berlin-based designer moving between art and design. She uses familiar forms to question consumer culture, social norms and the pressures of modern life. Drawing inspiration from memes, pop culture and digital trends, Çankaya translates online energy into physical objects that are both playful and critical, challenging conventional ideas of functionality and taste.
Please do not touch.
Referencing Frankfurt’s design history as a driving force of Neues Wohnen in the 1920s, Fatma Çankaya’s work operates both as a serious engagement and as a deliberately exaggerated, provocatively appropriative gesture.
The installation, consisting of a cabinet with LED panels, an oversized brass knuckle covered in rhinestones, an enlarged crack pipe, and two sex dolls dressed in custom made luxury designer clothing, creates a condensed microcosm of Frankfurt. Çankaya deliberately invokes the city’s extremes — sex, drugs and violence — placing them in contrast with luxury objects and the institutional framework of the museum.
At the same time, the work references so-called “Talahon” culture. The term derives from the Arabic “taeal huna” (come here) and was popularised by the Kurdish-Syrian rapper Hassan, who performs this persona in his videos. Since 2024, “Talahon” has developed into a prominent, often satirical TikTok trend, with Frankfurt frequently portrayed as its unofficial capital.
Against the backdrop of Çankaya’s own migration background, the work can also be understood as a form of reclamation. It translates codes and imagery from digital spaces into a physical, institutional setting. Exaggeration functions as a central stylistic device — not to distort reality, but to render existing cultural practices and social realities visible within a privileged context.
In this way, the question of freedom shifts: away from the intention of artistic provocation, and towards the question of who feels provoked — and which aspects of lived social reality may be being denied or overlooked.
Fatma Çankaya is a Berlin-based designer moving between art and design. She uses familiar forms to question consumer culture, social norms and the pressures of modern life. Drawing inspiration from memes, pop culture and digital trends, Çankaya translates online energy into physical objects that are both playful and critical, challenging conventional ideas of functionality and taste.