POINTS OF VIEW

Emese Benczúr, BIG HOPE (Miklós Erhardt & Dominic Hislop), Csaba Uglár, Ádám Kokesch, Pál Szacsva y, Szabolcs Kisspál, Zsolt Keserue

January 5 – February 2, 2006
Opening on Thursday, January 5 at 8 pm in Škuc Gallery

Rapid and constant changing of the world, which stems from the insatiable human desire to have more and outdo oneself, forces the humankind into a relentless race towards the white finishing line. Beyond it lies a new track and at the end of it new victories. With no end in view, we eagerly rush forward faster and without reservation. We are turning into insensitive creatures filled with the desire to succeed; like hamsters spinning the wheel of voracious capitalism. We have everything we need yet we are unsatisfied, and nobody knows why.  Perpetual yearning and anger render our feelings numb. The images of corpses on television have become still-lifes – natura morta, which fails to arouse profound compassion since wars and killings have become a part of our everyday lives. When we see these atrocities, we are momentarily stirred from our apathy, until we sink back into the comforting thought that it is all happening on the other side of the world, a safe distance away from our bell jar.

Rapid changes are a constant feature of modern society. We do not even seem to notice them any more. The environment triggers in us different feelings and different emotional states. It is our own choice how we are going to handle them.

Every question has an answer, and every lifestyle has its protagonists; those who approve of it and those who do not. We respond to systems in different ways; we either accept or reject them. The worst is to allow oneself to remain insusceptible. Insusceptibility or indifference does not raise issues, does not offer alternative strategies and does not put up a fight. It is a concept that cannot be found in art. Regardless of the approach or the medium the artists employ, they respond to the time and place they live in. There is no other way. »The work of art is an assertion of the human in the context of the real. Although the values of humanity are seen as 'relatively constant', art of 'quality' is a form of stimulus to spiritual change.«*

It is possible to escape from the Real, but that can make the return much more agonizing, unless dealt with on a daily basis. Some flee to the material world, others manage to live in blissful ignorance, while the rest tend to find comfort in religion. The video by Csaba Uglár shows a non-existing religion and its ceremonial ritual practices, thus presenting one of the ways of elopement. Irony turns into comedy, into a popcorn film, which provides instant gratification and although we are unable to escape from our own universe, it makes us feel better for at least a couple of hours. The video Edging by Szabolcs Kisspál examines the theme of entrapment and inability to escape metaphorically. A bird, trapped into the artist's lens, repeatedly bumps into the walls of the limited space to no avail. There is no escape. 

On the other hand, the Threepenny Video by BIG HOPE (Miklós Erhardt & Dominic Hislop) scrutinizes the society more directly. The cruel everyday reality mirrors the film stories in different ways. The real world is permeated with consumer commodities, which often end up on the city refuse dumps, and which can be readily transformed into a work of art. The artist Ádám Kokesch makes sculptures from found objects, the civilisational junk, which he paints and gives them a gloss finish to create sculptures that resemble factory buildings. The artefacts thus assume the air of the space in which they are created.

 The work of Zsolt Keserue playfully touches on seemingly trivial, unobtrusive life episodes. Neatly packaged in food containers, the everyday images pierce us in the form of light boxes. The video by Pál Szacsva y is saturated with images, intertwining video recordings from his travels with the moving of an ant on an open book. (Non-) incidental mixture of words and personal video accounts offers different subtle meanings and interpretations. Never Close Enough to Things is a work by the artist Emese Benczúr, which creatively unites short text excerpts with the bases that carry them.

 The exhibition of the work of six Hungarian artists and a tandem (Hungarian and Scotish artist working together) questions the values of a turbo-capitalist society. The displayed works examine the position of an individual in a society and against powers-that-be, which operate on different levels. These issues can be read as stories of the everyman. However, the interpretation is free – perhaps the last remnant of democracy in which we (mistakenly) think we live.

The project was made in collaboration with Stúdió Gallery from Budapest.
Special thanks to Edit Molnar.

 For further information contact Alenka Gregorič, artistic director of the Škuc Gallery on +386 1 251 65 40, galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si.

The programme of Skuc Gallery is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and Cultural Department of the City of Ljubljana.