The Fading Earth

The goal of the joint project of Csilla Nagy and Erika Szőka, called The Fading Earth, is to create an installation that will be a reflection on the relationship between man and nature. Mesolithic man began to tame, influence and interfere with nature long before settlement and grain cultivation took place. The first gardens were forest gardens – hybrid flora between naturally growing vegetation – mixed with man’s preferred species.

With their selection, cultivation, breeding and accumulation – today in vast monoculture agricultural areas – the fragile balance between man and nature has been disturbed, threatening other species, soil and biodiversity. Even these aggressive approaches have led to today’s situation where we have to face catastrophic ecological consequences and scenarios in the present and the near future. When did people cross the line of fair treatment of nature? / At what point did humans lose respect for nature?

Searching for answers to the questions of whether extinction is a space for the creation of something new is the starting idea of ​​the installation. The output of the project will be tangible and “intangible” works, using natural materials, ancient but also contemporary techniques. The main feature of the procedural works will be the phenomenon of transformation and disappearance.

Erika Szőke often reaches for unusual “non-traditional”, experimental procedures, while also creating ephemeral objects and unique items. Graphic artist, sculptor, and performer, she works with a range of different media and conceptual approaches. She once again deals with classic, downright paradigmatic themes and problems of photography – reflections that revolve around questions of indexicality. Her photographs depict a kind of poetic fleetingness and impermanence – an effort to grasp the perceived “moment” and at the same time a reflection of the futility and problematic nature of this effort. A recurring moment in Erika Szőka’s work is the focus on capturing various traces, imprints, “fossils” of the past. Traces also fascinate her as symptoms of “auraticity” and all of this is closely related to the reflection of the medialization of contemporary photography in the post-internet environment. She regularly exhibits both in Slovakia and abroad. In 2014, she won the grand prize of the Sikul Graphic Biennale (Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania). Her most important exhibitions in recent years are: Speculum Mundi (2020), MEDIUM VŠVU Gallery, Bratislava; 14th annual international photography festival (2021), Tekovské múzeum, Levice; Teritsds ki a lepedőt! / Lay out the Sheet! ( 2016), Magma Contemporary Medium, Sfântu Gheorghe (RO).

The main theme of the artist Csilla Nagy is the research of tools and ways of remembering. In her works, she often thematizes memory, be it individual, family or collective. She understands art as a space in which memory traces can be extended and reinterpreted. Her works, which often take the form of installations, represent experimentation and the search for new expressions in her choice of materials. The form, medium or material is subordinated to the overall concept. Recently, she has been working on both old and contemporary ceramic techniques, looking for ways to overlap ceramics and visual arts in conceptual forms. Among her most important exhibitions are Tretia cesta – Odkaz Hanza (2021), Folklore Museum in Galant; ACLIM!, OFF Biennale Budapest (2021), A.P.A. Gallery; Tellerrand, Kunstwerk e.V. (2019), Potsdam.

Nagy Csilla & Erika Szőke

The fading Earth

At Home Gallery

2022.10.9-20.11