Under construction – Im Aufbau

In recent years, I have been working on a creative program in which I attempt to create a loosely and organically emerging network of meanings. However, my goal is not a simple visual accumulation, but rather the exploration of a creative interpretative game. Along with this concept, I have created objects and spatial elements that can be well varied with each other both formally and in terms of meaning, capable of triggering different meaning-forming automatisms in various situations. As part of the process, I consciously experiment with transformability on both a physical and symbolic level. The concept of the game provides a foundation for this, capable of depicting complex processes in an elementary way and carrying the possibility of continuous repositioning. Therefore, I consider my installations not as fixed rigid constructions, but as elements of a game set that can be varied according to the concept and artistic intention.

The initial idea for my exhibition was inspired by a psychological phenomenon called the illusion of frequency. The illusion of frequency is a cognitive distortion in which, after first noticing something, it suddenly seems to appear everywhere, creating the illusion in the experiencer that the thing is a particularly common phenomenon. Seeing red cars all the time is a common real-life example of the frequency illusion.

This is exactly what happened to me. While walking through the streets of Linz, I noticed not only that there seemed to be more red cars than in Budapest, but also that the dominant color of the Linz cityscape is the red and white color combination that defines the national and provincial flags and the city’s coat of arms.

During the first days of the residency program, I created a photo series specifically dedicated to capturing this color combination, focusing on the interesting architectural elements of Linz. Inspired by these photos, I reinterpreted the visual elements of the city in my space installation, combining its classical and modern architecture with the overlaying artificial environment. 

Among the found forms, the most exciting were the ‘zig-zag’ barriers, which simultaneously embody the concepts of movement, transformability, stopping, delineation, enclosure, symbolic boundary formation, and spatial filling.

Architectural structures, ornamentations, and barriers inspired objects, I created a liminal space that expresses the transitional state between construction and reconstruction. Transformation and reconstruction are some of the most expressive symbols for depicting the transitory state experienced when temporarily separated from our home, for example during a residency program.  

Living abroad amplifies themes of identity, belonging, and finding a home. The installation simultaneously reflects the experience of protection associated with home, the transience of homelessness, and the borderline between the two. These themes are channeled into a much more light-hearted, playful world within the installation. The resulting space evokes a playground dotted with obstacles, where the central building resembling the façade of the afo gallery serves as the ‘house’ we rush into for protection, akin to a game of tag, or the ‘castle’ that needs defending.