Attila Csörgő : Attila Csörgő

Attila Csörgö patří mezi nejznámější mladé maďarské umělce. V roce 1999 zastupoval Maďarsko na Bienále v Benátkách, o dva roky později získal cenu Munkácsy, v roce 2003 se účastnil Bienále v Istanbulu, dále Bienále v Sydney v roce 2008 a jeho Möbius Space mu přineslo to nejdůležitější evropské uznání v oblasti umění – cenu Nama June Paika. Ve svém díle se zabývá uměním a vědou. Experimentuje s pečlivě sestrojenými přístroji svého vlastního designu, s kamerami a optickými přístroji a jeho zkoumání svědčí nejen o přístupu hravém a humorném, ale i filozofickém. Svými často překvapivými a humornými experimenty se pokouší představit si a vytvářet pohyby a fenomény lidským okem stěží postřehnutelné.

V rozhovoru popisuje způsob své práce, od nápadu přes experimenty až k samotným objektům. V souvislosti se svým dílem mluví o inspiraci, kterou čerpá z lidí, objektů i cestování a samozřejmě nám ukázal několik děl ve svém ateliéru.

 

 

- Do you like being a resident artist abroad?
- Yes, a lot.
- Really? - Yes.
I really like it, as this is the best way to travel.
You can stay for a longer period,
and of course you remain an outsider, you don’t become part of the society,
but in a way you’ll have a lot more to do with…
a lot more, well…
I don’t know if this is realistic, but you form a less superficial picture of the world there.
- Than a tourist, you mean?
- Than a tourist.
Or than in these hectic exhibition installation and opening situations.
- But is there some kind of schedule, when you arrive,
to check out the neighbourhood, do you get inspiration from it?
- No, never.
I don’t get site-specific inspiration,
as the problems that preoccupy me aren’t related to locations.
Not even taking a photo of something.
It’s simply good to have a photo of a given location. But it could be anywhere.
No plans are born there just because I’m staying there, you know,
and I’ve seen something special, no, it’s not like that.
What’s good about a residency is that there is incomparably more time.
I don’t know why, but it’s the nature of being at home, that time is wasted.
One always has to do something that…
…circumstantial things. Not always, but a lot.
At a residency, it’s the other way around, there’s mostly useful time.
And these residencies are generally at interesting places,
so you can see beautiful landscapes, nice places…
- And people, perhaps…
- That may also happen.
- Do you meet people? Or it’s not typical.
- Well, I’m not busy making contacts.
But I do meet people, sure.
A global centre and a village house are a world apart. - Obviously.
That’s why I’m asking, the New York residency…
- It was good, but New York is not the best example,
because there was this London residency in the 90s, “In and out of touch”,
I was together with several people for a month.
Antal Lakner was there.
And we’ve been laughing about this ever since, that this was the only residency, in ’96,
where we didn’t even have to open our portfolio.
No one cared what was in it. No one.
- You mean portfolio reviews? - Yes.
- There was none of that.
- Because no one cared what Hungarian artists did.
It’s also a global centre and they are preoccupied with other things,
their life is stressful as it is, they keep rushing, there’s a battle for life.
They don’t tire themselves with viewing portfolios.
To some extent this is typical of all other centres.
OK, in New York, they did glimpse at my portfolio, but you instantly feel that you’re just…
- So residencies are not for networking, but rather for creating your own work.
- And if you don’t frustrate yourself with what a pity it is that no one bothers what you do,
you can have fun, as there are tons of interesting things.
- Speaking of acknowledgement,
how did the awards, such as the Munkácsy Award affect you?
Were you surprised, or you felt it was high time you got them?
- Well, it’s not like that.
Usually you get nominated once, twice, and the third time you get it.
So it won’t take you by surprise.
It’s a bit like military ranking.
You wait a while and then you get it.
- Was it the same with the Nam June Paik Award?
- No, that’s different, but…
that’s a different award, the way it’s achieved, every circumstance.
The only similarity is the word “award” and that it was also named after an artist.
Look… - The two obviously can’t be compared, but…
- To tell you the truth, I was happier about the NJP Award than Munkácsy,
of course I was happy about that too, for it’s not bad to get awarded…
- The ceremony?
- That’s awful.
You don’t wish to be at places like that, to sit for half a day in a vast hall,
watching awardees proceed to the stage one by one.
And ultimately this always has a political dimension,
or some relation, since it is awarded by a minister.
- But the NJP…
- I didn’t see a politician there.
- Yes, I can imagine…
But how does it work,
does someone nominate you, or does the given year’s board of curators make a list?
- Well, the NJP is a biennial award, and it’s quite new,
this was the fourth, or third? I don’t know.
- The third, as it’s since 2004.
- And there was only one since mine.
And it has a board of curators, which…
- Changes partly.
- Changes partly.
- At least the jury.
- There’s a jury and a board of curators. - Yes.
- And the board of curators is more fixed…
- The jury is different each year… - …but I can’t say it’s always the same.
- Yes the jury is quite different. - Yes.
- So the curatorial board, maybe I’m using bad organisational terminology,
but let’s call it a board of curators.
So they select artists to nominate,
and they decide who out of those will participate at an exhibition
which will then be visited by the jury, who are different from the curators,
and they decide who gets the award.
But it’s based on an exhibition.
- Yes, yes.
It was a rare exhibition, you see.
Generally artists exhibit with their contemporaries, this is a tendency, 90% of the time.
Then there’s a small group, it’s a new trend, when…
this is a technicist trend, when it’s related to some technological problem,
or it’s based on the relationship of art
and the new technological problems, innovations, changes, whatsoever in general.
There have been a few of these,
such as that Innovation show at the Kunsthalle, it was about 10 years ago.
But there have been other such shows.
Or when contemporary works are exhibited along with the art of old times, although it’s rare.
I’d never participated in such a show before,
and this one was in Cologne, at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum,
which displays works from the middle ages through Van Gogh, or the early 20th century.
I was exhibited there in two of the Dutch halls,
one with 17th century telescopes and camera obscuras and such,
and there was my “Moebius Space” camera on display,
and in the other hall, there were serious masters like Franz Haas,
also a Rembrandt, if they hadn’t just lent it, so there was an empty frame,
but other significant masters, too.
- Do you prefer group shows,
or if you have the option to choose, which do you prefer, if the solo show is…?
- Well, the two are… group shows are always strenuous, as…
usually you have to display more than one work…
- As in solo shows. If it’s not a small gallery.
- Yes, that’s also true.
But it’s difficult to generalise, as there are tiny places, like the Óbuda Cellar Gallery,
where it’s possible to exhibit just one work.
Not in Ludwig Museum.
- Right. There you can't.
- But you haven’t had comprehensive solo shows in Hungary other than Ludwig,
except for the one in Székesfehérvár,
which I curated. - Yes, only those two.
- Well, apart from those I haven’t had solo shows with more than two works.
Before, when there was an exhibition, no one would help
and the artist had to install it all by himself.
I prefer working alone anyway, I don’t like teamwork, it’s not for me.
So this has never been a problem, except if an exhibition is so complex that I need help.
Not with the small ones.
- So did you install the show in Ludwig?
- It took two weeks to build, from morning till evening, so I needed others to help.
I couldn’t do it alone.
- But it might as well have been your two weeks.
- Like living there?
Well, there’s only so much energy and time… - …is generally short…
- Yes, it’s short, and that defines how…
and there’s the character of the artworks, it defines whether there’s need for help.
- And now, as you’ve mentioned that the show in Ludwig is a travelling exhibition,
- ...was...
so Hamburg was its last stage, then?
Did you always go and build it yourself? - Of course.
- You didn’t entrust…
- I can’t entrust anyone, I need to set things in operation and no one else can do that.
My first solo exhibition was at the cellar of the Zichy Castle in Óbuda,
of course, that’s important…
No, before that I had a one-night solo show in Amsterdam.
That was super, because...
I made an orange,.
I ground...
Well, first I peeled several kilos of oranges.
I collected the pigment, ground it, and I got this beautiful orange-powder essence.
I shaped a sphere out of it.
So the result was an orange made up solely of orange peel. And that was what I exhibited.
It was a gallery like the Tűzoltó Street site of Újlak.
Similar space, only smaller. A hundred times smaller.
And, similarly, there was no heating, it was a cold November,
it was Saturday and no one came.
No one showed up between 4-8 pm.
Then they arrived, got drunk, and a wasted visitor destroyed the piece.
So this was my first exhibition.
- Memorable. - It was good for a start.
I didn’t get to like that place, even though it was my first show.
But the second one, the first real show that lasted more than one night, was at the Zichy Castle.
For several reasons, one of the most important features in the operation of a gallery is its sales.
Gallery owner and artist are both happy if works are sold.
But this isn’t so simple, as the gallery can also do things for the artist.
They can export their exhibitions,
that is, bring the artist to institutions, galleries, places they wouldn’t be able to reach alone.
They can take part in production if necessary, and such.
But beyond the practical things, it is worth to mention something else.
It is a problematic issue, the role these galleries have in terms of orientation.
The big events of today’s world are art fairs, as we know.
There are ones of special importance, like Art Basel and Frieze, etc.
This is a very hierarchically structured world,
everyone wants to get into big fairs, but the space is limited, so not everyone can.
The ones who are there enjoy the benefits of the upper caste,
they have a much better position at the art market than the rest.
Of course, they need to produce an incredible sum of money in order to participate.
The zeros just keep rolling when they tell you how much it costs to rent a booth.
Also, as they have become places of orientation,
biennials and fairs, as these occupy the two axes of the coordinate system,
they are also visited by those working in the non-profit art scene, to get oriented.
So they are not only visited by patrons, or collectors or gallerists,
but also by all kinds of art-related people, as what is seen there is the leading paradigm.
In addition, there is an exclusive shadow paradigm,
namely what isn’t there is not necessarily important, as it has no value as such.
We have to disagree completely,

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• Kamera: Endre Koronczi
• Zvuk: Endre Koronczi
• Editace: Endre Koronczi
• Interview: Endre Koronczi