Liquid brings together UK artists and Hungarian artists whose work focuses on water through the media of film, photography and sonic work. Liquid was first exhibited at Cleveland Pools in Bath as part of Fringe Arts Bath 2016. It is with great pleasure that the exhibition now comes to AQB in Budapest. Curated by UK artist Laura Denning:
‘Why Liquid? Why water as a theme? Water as a marker of the effects of climate change is a powerful theme, and this is one of the reasons for choosing it as a curatorial thread.Environmental concerns are one way into this theme. There are, of course, many other ways in which artists bring water into their work and these other reasons are of great interest too. As a guest curator I have an ulterior motive! A practicing artist myself, I have sought to build on a recent residency at Art Quarter Budapest and am keen to generate a sustainable dialogue between artists in the UK and artists in Hungary. The work I will be showing in Liquid are a series of short ‘moving-paintings’ called Hot Water that take the viewer into the sensuous yet public space of a geothermal baths’.
The 4 Hungarian artists are Zita Gyurkovics, Ábris Gryllus, Klára Petra Szabó and Erik Mátrai. Zita Gyurkovics grew up in a small village in South Hungary, next to the Croatian border. The southern borderline and the river (Dráva) formed an interesting parallel. Zita’s
artworks investigate the dynamics of the two lines, and how this has affected the community there. Ábris Gryllus creates ambitious installations with complex themes. Video, photographic and textual documentation of some of his projects at Liquid will form an introduction to his impressive work. Klára Petra Szabó has created a series of large works called Frostworks, a selection of which will be on show at Liquid. “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla.
Klára’s project starts with the water and theories connected to it. Erik Mátrai has produced a large, walk-through installation of the Parting of the Red Sea, and documentation of this project will form part of the exhibition.
The UK artists taking part include Laura Hopes who has been working with the University of Plymouth Coast Lab to enact an art experimentation, which draws on an audience’s physical and emotional responses to the sublime. ‘Tank’ is the result. Based in Oxford, Cities and Memory is a global field recording & sound art work that presents both the present reality of a place, but also its imagined, alternative counterpart – remixing the world, one sound at a time. Sound Waves is a project that celebrated and built on World Listening Day’s 2015 theme of water by presenting a collective reimagining of the sounds of water around the world. Thirty-eight sound artists from around the world submitted a field recording and reimagining of water somewhere in the world. These recording form part of Liquid. Rachael Allain is from the Channel Islands. She uses Lens and Lens Less Photography, Optical Devices, Scientific Data, Moving Image, Light& Sound in her work. For Liquid we will be screening two of her films – Double Eclipse, and River Teign.
