Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó
area: Installation, Media Art, Artistic Research
Key Facts
nationality
Hungaryarea
Installation, Media Art, Artistic Researchresidence
Budapestrecommending institution
tranzit.org / ERSTE Foundationtime period
October 2021 - November 2021*1985, Budapest (Hungary), lives and works in Budapest.
Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó’s diverse works can be considered as a continuous long term-project started around 2012. His interest is revolving around two topics: the concept of knowledge and the relationship between imagery and spatiality. In his framework this two is deeply entangled and can be grasped through a sort of critical perspectivism, which is partly a spatial sensitivity and awareness and partly a critical approach towards the defective and arbitrary nature of image-based sources. During the years he examined these from several points of view both in theory and practice. Currently this inquiry culminates in his doctoral research on the phenomena of post-truth, alternative facts and conspiracy theories.
At the end of his sculptural studies, he was creating welded metal structures visualizing the hidden, intangible layer of personal mindsets as mental networks and also the constructed nature of human thinking. In his later projects he was investigating the fallacy of perception and remembrance as well as the various cognitive distortions which are shaping our general worldview and our beliefs on a daily basis. He was also working with epistemic problems and the concepts of counterknowledge and counterfacts, which we can observe by the climate change denialists, QAnon believers or flat earthers as competing alternative narratives against the scientific consensus. Lately he was focusing on the symptoms of the current post-factual era and its antecedent: artificially induced doubt, hyper-skepticism, science denial, and the increasingly fluid and weightless notion of fact and truth.
Due to his former studies in the field of philosophy and humanities his approach is mostly research-based and conceptual. He uses a wide range of materials and visual tools, often mixes manual and digital techniques and also incorporates site-specific elements. Recently he has been shifted towards photography, the use of graphic design and 3D software, resulting in framed collages and wall mounted vinyl cuts. His artistic practice is still primarily based on mixed-media installations where the viewer needs to walk around the space to reveal all the layers and possible aspects of the artwork, especially since the arrangement of the elements followes an inner linkage. This sums up the core of his method, where the change in perspective and the way we are connecting the dots are the key factors to determine any kind of meaning.
Solo and Duo exhibitions:
2021
Klára Herczeg Prize (with György Jovánovics), Labor Gallery, Budapest
2020
Deep Down in the Rabbit Hole, Glassyard Gallery, Budapest
2019
Flatiness (with Ines Karčáková), PINCE, Budapest
2018
The Other Side of the Fourth Wall, Gallery Panel, Prague, CZ
Patterns of Counterknowledge, G99 Gallery, Brno, CZ
[B/R]elief, Parthenon Frieze Hall, Budapest
2017
Gettier's Cave, Óbudai Társaskör Gallery, Budapest
Clustering Illusions, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, D
Distortions, Chimera-Project Gallery, Budapest
2016
Ignorances, Labor Gallery, Budapest
In Between Grids, Plusmínusnula Gallery, Žilina, SK
Group exhibitions (selection):
2021
#IFeelSeen, MODEM, Debrecen
Breathturn – OSTRALE Biennale O21, Dresden, D
Universum – SEFO 2021 Triennial, Olomouc Museum of Art, CZ
2020
Wittgenstein, aqb Project Space, Budapest
2019
Seasonal Effect, Glassyard Gallery, Budapest
Esterházy Art Award, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Leopold Bloom Art Award, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Anatomy of Photography, Rómer Flóris Museum, Győr
2018
Optimistic Exhibition, Barcsay Hall, Budapest
Distracting Modernity, Šopa Gallery, Košice, SK
Time of our lives?, MODEM, Debrecen
Wave, net, sand, acb Gallery, Budapest
2017
Esterházy Art Award, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Deep end, m21 Gallery, Pécs
Viennacontemporary, Chimera-Project Gallery booth, Wien, A
Autism as metaphor, Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros (ICA-D)
2016
Interference, Trafó Gallery, Budapest
On the edge, Tabačka Gallery, Košice, SK
Ongoing h/Histories, Studio Gallery, Budapest
Derkó 2016, Kunsthalle, Budapest
Standing in front of objects, Deák Erika Gallery, Budapest
2015
Radical Memories, Chimera-Project Gallery, Budapest
Mindsets, Studio Gallery, Budapest
POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Chimera-Project Gallery booth, Berlin, D
Recollection, OFF-Biennále Budapest, private apartment, Budapest
2014
Free Fall, Chimera-Project Gallery, Budapest
The Future is Today!, Institute of Contemporary Art in Dunaújváros (ICA-D)
Enter/ing, Studio Gallery, Budapest
Awards / Grants (selection):
2021
Klára Herczeg Prize (with György Jovánovics)
2019
Nomination for Esterházy Art Award
Nomination for Leopold Bloom Art Award
2018
Visegrad Research Scholarship at the Open Society Archives
2017
Nomination for Esterházy Art Award
2015-17
Derkovits Gyula Scholarship
In the last couple of years, my works were revolving around the topic of post-truth, alternative facts, and conspiracy theories. Both in theory and practice, I’ve been particularly interested in the role of images and spatiality in knowledge creation and the formation of opposing alternative interpretations. These subjects are part of my long-term artistic research which I currently pursue in the framework of my DLA (PhD) program at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, under the title Post-Truth Phenomenon in the light of critical perspectivism.
As I’m getting closer to finalize my thesis and start writing my dissertation I believe it would be crucial to discuss my findings with other non-Hungarian professionals, who could have a different perspective on the field. Therefore my primary goal for the residency program is to consult and hopefully collaborate with several Vienna-based academic researchers working at Universität Wien.
Beside these promising conversations, I also plan to develop a new body of work during my stay in Vienna. My aim is to grasp the artificially induced doubt ‘as a product’ (such as hyperskepticism or anti-expert sentiments) as it appears in various levels from the field of science to political communication. I intend to work with the toolset of PR and advertising industry in a way that can reveal the underlying methods and practices of the present-day ‘merchants of doubt’. Since Austria has always had an outstanding and progressive visual communication / graphic design scene, I believe it will be very helpful to immerse myself in those visual impacts during the development of the project.
Interview:
Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó in conversation with Sabine Winkler
In cooperation with tranzit.org/ERSTE Foundation, the Hungarian artist Áron Kútvölgyi-Szabó spends the months of October and November 2021 as Q21 Artist-in-Residence in the MuseumsQuartier Wien. He works in the fields of installation, media art and artistic research. For Vienna Art Week, Sabine Winkler talked with him about his recent projects.
read more