Choreography to Bolcsó, exhibition of the Hermina Gallery

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  Videos, video installations | 2013 - 2016

Profane Triptych; "Only from clear springs" is a thought and guiding principle that fundamentally defines the entire oeuvre of Bartók. In a letter, the composer expounds: two extremes can be considered pure sources, nature and man in symbiosis with it on the one hand, and clear spirituality on the other. There is no golden mean. The point of departure for this piece is Béla Bartók's most personal credo, the last three lines and the symbolic of the choir piece Cantata Profana cited above. The libretto is based on Romanian colinde, traditional folk songs collected by Bartók himself. Their subject is man craving the purity of nature, who cannot return to civilization after experiencing it. The glasses among the visual elements of the installation symbolize civilized human existence and comfort, while the pouring spring water water shows the overwhelming force of nature. Whenever these two encounter, water always prevails. It fills, knocks over, washes out the artificial abject deprived of its function, which thus diminishes next to the overwhelming natural water source. The photographs of various glasses also give rise to associations to specific groups of society. Composed for three screens, the central element of the work is the plot itself, while the two outer screens serve as a frame, introducing and leading it out. With its threefold structure, it follows the formal composition and dynamics of the musical piece. In parallel with Bartók's field recordings of folk songs, the three boxes also emanate noises recorded in nature.