Kopin Katalin: Idővonal. Szentendrei Képtár, 2013. június 13 - augusztus 31. - MűvészetMalom kiadványai 6. (Szentendre, 2014)

The title of this chapter refers to subjective time defined by Henri Bergson. Subjective time is man’s inner time perception which is abstracted from the external world, and whose speed and dynamism are determined merely by experienced events and other experiences Our past has a continuous effect on our present: our past is actively alive in every present moment, as defined by Henri Bergson in 1923. Our relation to the past affects our everyday life, decisions, their consequences and the lessons we learn. The installation entitled ’Random’ by Alexandra Emese Lázár is a selection from her pictures created in the past 5 years, therefore it can be considered as a summary. Formally, the photos shown on digital displays can be regarded as a random series. The work becomes interactive due to the fact that the random display of the photos is generated by spectators by pressing a button. This simple solution gives new meaning to the images and series based on a concrete concept every time. The memory flakes, out-of-context still images can be reinterpreted and received only by the active participation of the spectators. The associations evoked by the images help us get closer to ourselves rather than to the subjective ego of the artist. ’I would like to use photos as essential message carriers, and make spectators realise their varied meanings. I would like to show how images can change in a different context, owing to the fact that visual signs transmitted by images interact in every case, either strengthening or extinguishing each other.’, writes the artist.

Csaba Aknay’s life-work focuses on the genre of portrait, his career has been characterised by artistic portrayal of humans and project-level ideas. Starting from a high-toned nude portrait material including several years and hundreds of photos, he has got to shorter, more compact and personal series. Aknay’s characteristically unadorned and simple-mannered style is tight but never artificial. He believes that the uniqueness of his photos lies in his ’snagged’ world of spectacles and the fact that he gives the fewest possible instructions to his models. His series entitled ’Past Perfect’ is a confrontation with the past and disrupted human relationships that used to be important. Personal comments have been added to the portrait series consisting of 8 photos, throwing light on the relationship between the portrayed person and the artist. The evocation, visualisation of the past reveals a kind of life story, thus transforming the objective portraits to subjective self-analysis.

Besides traditional graphic and pictorial techniques, Lajos Csontó has dealt with photography, video art and installation since the mid-90s. The works by the artist, who has been exhibiting since 1988, can be found in several private and public collections. The exhibited pair of photos focuses on a characteristic feature of the Facebook phenomenon, the constantly changing selfimage building activity of users. However, in contrast with traditional selfies, this time the photographer does not pose next to a famous building or person or at an important event, but with a topos of cultural or art history, evoking the common attributes of classic self-portrait and today’s selfie at the same time.

The photo ’Infinite Space/Relative Time by Gergely Barnás, which focuses on matters of life and death from a subjective point of view, represents a human figure standing next to a pitch from a bird’s eye view. The figure standing next to the horizontal ’penalty line’ has to find his way in the labyrinth of possibilities and options offered by life. The photo, evoking versatile associations, symbolises presumed or real barriers, our own limits as well as the bends of our career cut by fault-lines.