Clony
2020. Nov. 21. - 2021. Jul. 18.
The title of the fine artist Ferenczy Zsolt’s exhibition is Clony. This wordplay condenses at least three concepts which are “colony” (colonial empire), “cloning” (genetic, cellular identity that excludes randomness), and “clown” (zany or unsophisticated rural man in archaic). Through the ending -Y the exhibition is able to create a New World, namely Clony. In this world, paraphrases and expropriations appear together with sharp critical attitude. The exhibition is a Kunstkammer which presents rarities, astonishing content, and a real uniqueness to visitors as part of this cabinet of curiosities.
Ferenczy’s basic position is that society and nature operate in unity, in relation to each other. Consequently, he focuses on interacting relationships: “man in nature” as well as “nature in man”. He examines these links through the structures of power from diverse epochs which are the Dutch colonization, the Monarchy, the state socialism, and also the colonies living in nature. The artist outlines his criticism on capitalism by showing these phenomena as fluid forms merging into each other. Through the visually interwoven social-political-economic systems, Ferenczy suggests that there are some genetic, cellular identity and abnormal proliferation in those.
The wonder-rooms are often referred to as collections that want to show the cosmos in a micro format. Here, this is accomplished by interpreting Ferenczy’s own garden and pieces of his studio in broader spatial and temporal systems. This is the was the garden bamboo grove becomes a private collection of weapons that is as much a symbol of the subjugated people as it is a tool of the hopeless hero’s resistance, or a relic of self-defense.
Artist:
Ferenczy Zsolt
Curator:
Virág Ágnes, art historian