Fired but Unexploded by Zsolt Asztalos

Fired but Unexploded by Zsolt Asztalos

Hungarian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Zsolt Asztalos, Fired but Unexploded – IV (still), 2011. Video, four-minute loop. Audio: Washing-up. Courtesy of the artist.

April 6, 2013

Zsolt Asztalos
Fired but Unexploded

 

1 June–24 November 2013
Vernissage: 30 May 2013

Hungarian Pavilion at the 55th International
Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia

Giardini, Venice

www.fired-but-unexploded.com
www.asztaloszsolt.com

National commissioner: Gábor Gulyás, Director of Kunsthalle, Budapest
Curator: Gabriella Uhl

bewildered – terrified – threatened

Each bomb has its own story, which is essentially one of two kinds. Bombs may explode and thus fulfill their role as objects made specifically for the purpose of destruction, and then enter history books and the personal histories that families maintain. Zsolt Asztalos in his turn looks into the other possible story in an installation he has prepared for the 55th International Art Exhibition in Venice: the story of the malfunctioning device (unexploded bomb) as it leaves behind its original function, assumes a life of its own, starts writing a narrative, becoming a director of our lives through the contingency it introduces. It stays with us humans as it generates and symbolizes conflicts among us.

It is an object of mercy, a threat, or a memorial. In Asztalos’s video installation, unexploded bombs are revealed to have several functions and fields of interpretation. Floating in an indeterminable space, the bombs seem to exist, thanks to the sound effects that surround them, in a matrix defined by the continuous interaction of the past and the recent past, the present and the future. Zsolt Asztalos’s objets trouvés are multiple representations of conflict situations, open to simultaneous interpretations on personal, local, regional and global levels. This brave and thought-provoking installation belongs to the praxis of visual art that has been instrumental, through research and exhibition, in processing the brutal traumas of the late 20th and 21st centuries.

A fully illustrated catalogue published by the Kunsthalle Budapest will accompany the exhibition. Written in English and Hungarian, the catalogue will contain a selection of original material documenting the work in progress in addition to essays written by scientists and philosophers.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: Fired but Unexploded

Advertisement
RSVP
RSVP for Fired but Unexploded by Zsolt Asztalos
Hungarian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
April 6, 2013

Thank you for your RSVP.

Hungarian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will be in touch.

Subscribe

e-flux announcements are emailed press releases for art exhibitions from all over the world.

Agenda delivers news from galleries, art spaces, and publications, while Criticism publishes reviews of exhibitions and books.

Architecture announcements cover current architecture and design projects, symposia, exhibitions, and publications from all over the world.

Film announcements are newsletters about screenings, film festivals, and exhibitions of moving image.

Education announces academic employment opportunities, calls for applications, symposia, publications, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Sign up to receive information about events organized by e-flux at e-flux Screening Room, Bar Laika, or elsewhere.

I have read e-flux’s privacy policy and agree that e-flux may send me announcements to the email address entered above and that my data will be processed for this purpose in accordance with e-flux’s privacy policy*

Thank you for your interest in e-flux. Check your inbox to confirm your subscription.