Stations 8.2 ‒ Humiliated Human
2017. Mar. 19. - 2017. May. 04.
Viktor Lois (1950) became one of the most original representatives of Hungarian art not only through his unique furniture, vehicle, bodybuilder and instrument sculptures assembled from discarded metal parts or his trademark washing machine drums.
One of the inspirations for his work is the industrial environment of his hometown Tatabánya, the machinery left behind as a memento of the disused mining sites. During his career, he recorded the rural environment ‘consumed’ by mining with photographs, slides and film, creating seemingly absurd yet logical structures and playful associations from the objects he found.
Since 1974, he had been a regular visitor to Szentendre, where he was active in the neo-avant-garde Lajos Vajda Studio, and moved to the town in 1982. His works were produced in successive series, which he presented in solo exhibitions as a kind of conclusion. The furniture and then the vehicle programme was followed by a series of instrument sculptures of international renown, which were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1993. This was the basis for the permanent exhibition entitled Sound Bath, which opened in 1996 at the Open-Air Mining Museum in Tatabánya, and in 1997 the International Metal Sculpture and Music Workshop was opened in connection with this. His orchestra, Tundravoice, has performed regularly at festivals in Hungary and abroad, playing his instrumental sculptures.
Following a more recent series, Body Building Machines, he completed the Music Altar in 2002, a series of twelve instrument sculptures, and the Container Man project, a performance and concert project. Since 2005 he has been living in Acton, near Boston, in the US, with sculptor Yin Peet, with whom he runs the Contemporary Arts International art centre.
For ten years, his latest series, which focuses on human relationships, specifically on the humiliation of man by man, has been evolving and growing.The eight pieces on display consist of a metal frame with a washing machine drum, which can be activated electronically at the touch of a button, and a man-sized wooden sculpture of exaggerated design attached to it. When activated, the mobile element of the mechanical device touches the sculpture with a shaking explosion of force, and, with a metallic clang, slowly and irresistibly abrades the sculpture, as indicated by the tiny wood chips that constantly accumulate underneath it over time
The viewer must recognise not only the consequence of pressing the button, but also his or her own responsibility in bringing the mechanism into action. However, they may also wonder if they have been in a similar live situation and on which side. But the irony that permeates all of Victor Lois’s art does not leave us alone: remember, only those with a spine, which you can feel by reaching through one of the sculpture’s carved openings, can remain standing.
Curator: Bodonyi Emőke
Artist: Lois Viktor