Haiku

Visiting is free of charge
July 09, 2019 – September 01, 2019
Every day 11 am – 7 pm
Closed on public holidays.
Capa Center – Project Room
Curator: Judit Gellér
Artists: Anna Ádám, Gabriella Cseh, Dorka Taskovics

The haiku, this originally rather restricted form of Japanese poetry born in the 17th century, has not only become a universally known and used lyrical genre during the past centuries, but its formal rules have also changed tremendously. The modern and contemporary haiku preserves almost only the three-line format out of all the strict rules. Three lines, three Hungarian female authors, three works created with different means. The exhibition titled Haiku evokes the travels of Anna Ádám, Gabriella Cseh, and Dorka Taskovics in Japan.

Dorka Taskovics went to Japan more than 10 years ago, in 2007. During her five-week journey, she had one peculiar rule: she would take only one image every day, using an analog camera and reversal film. The concept was that the photographs could be taken at any time of the day, anywhere, under any kind of circumstances, as such, the images could be the results of a longer observation or capture a spontaneous moment as well. The journal-like work was concluded in the form of a limited-edition book compiled as a gift. The split pages of the book present personal texts of a few sentences, each of which can be attributed to any of the images. Over time, the journal excerpts have become memory fragments. In the installation, the images printed on recycled paper appear as dream-like, floating memories.

The work of Gabriella Cseh originated in her series titled Nagare (Flow), which she created in 2008, and exhibited years later, in 2019. It depicted her travel experience in a previously hardly known cultural environment. Utilizing the full toolset of the camera, from the blurred to the crisp, from the grand total view to the tiny details, she captured the world in various scales. The memories of the journey – “the imprints of this never too flamboyant flow and abundance of signs, images, faces, and colors” have not faded in the author since then. Memories live on in the moments and gestures found in the present. Raising the questions of interchangeability, the recapturing of the experiences happens in new locations and via new tools.

Anna Ádám has been working with the garden motif for years. During her journeys, she has taken photographs of and in the most varied gardens, and she captures her experiences in single-copy travel journals created from collages. During her several weeks’ long journey in the Far East, she also visited Japan’s numerous gardens, arboretums, botanic and landscaped gardens, residential gardens, winter gardens, or rock gardens consisting of nothing more than stones. Her installation focuses on experiencing various contrasts, and in terms of format, it merges the two media she used during her journey (the photograph and the collage): lyrical, organic images of nature and gardens are projected on the geometric construction symbolizing the constructed, urban environment. (Judit Gellér, curator)

Anna Ádám (1983), a visual and theater artist and designer, who graduated from the arts university ENSAPC (L’École nationale supérieured’arts de Paris-Cergy) in Paris, France in 2016. In 2014, in Berlin, she was co-founder of the Gray Box collective, which operates on the border of visual arts and contemporary dance. Since 2013, she has regularly showcased her work at exhibitions and in theaters, and she holds workshops at Hungarian and international arts institutions and festivals.

Gabriella Cseh (1975), a multimedia artist, received her doctorate in 2017 at the Paris-Sorbonne University, with her work focusing on the Paris studios of Hungarian photographers. Among other recognitions, she has been awarded with the Pécsi József Photography Grant, the André Kertész Grant, as well as the art grant of the Government of France. Her works have been regularly showcased at exhibitions since 1995.

Dorka Taskovics (1980), a photographer, graduated as a designer in visual communications from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest in 2010, and started her DLA studies in 2012 at the Doctoral School of the same university. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a teacher at the Secondary School of Visual and Applied Arts. Her works have been shown at Hungarian and international exhibitions since 2005.