Marianne Csaky
Encyclopedia
Marianne Csaky is a Hungarian writer
and sculptor
. Trained in arts as well as ethnography and philosophy, she started to exhibit her work in Budapest
in 1989. Since the very start of her career Csáky has been known for her non-mainstream forms of expression, her unconventional and provocative images. She regularly publishes poems, essays and translations.
, and has spent longer periods of time in Seoul
, Korea
, the USA, France
and Germany
as a resident artist.
In her early works - sculptures made out of pieces of waste wood and plaster - language, desire, subjectivity and the androgynous nature of soul and mind were in the focus of her interest (Aphrodite Urania, 1995, Feast, 1990). In this period of her career she was influenced by the works of ancient Greek philosophers, first of all Plato
's Symposium
.
In these works she started to use the love scene, a depiction of sexual intercourse
as a visual metaphor
or rather metonymy
of human subjectivity
and the language of desire (Aphrodite Urania, Hands and Soles, 1995, Slanting Space, 1997).
Csáky has also created complex spatial constructions which modelled the shifting, alterable and unstable nature of our views, beliefs, judgements and first of all the unstable nature of our identity
(Slanting Space). For instance, in 1997, she built a new slanting floor in Gallery 56, thereby using bodily instabilization for intellectual deconstruction. Chopping boards with carvings of scenes of sexual intercourse hung from the ceiling of the gallery, swinging and turning gently with the slightest movements of the air.
From 2000, her interest turned toward personal and small community history. These series of works (My Skins 2005, Time Leap 2007-8) are the appropriation of her family past, an experiment with the nature of memory and post memory work. In My Skins, a series of leather curtains and leather wall carpets with embossing and pencil drawing, she used swine leather again, referring to childhood memory. After the 56 revolution in Hungary Csáky's grandfather was compelled to live in a self-maintaining farm where he also produced animal hides. The pencil drawings on the leather are based on old family photographs from the artist’s childhood.
The Time Leap series (Light Boxes, 2007-8, Stitched Photos, 2008 ) represent a complex construction of different layers of time and subjectivity. It is the documentation of the artist’s efforts to displace records, deconstruct documents preserving personal memories, to rewrite the past, and, by doing so, change the present.
In the case of Light Boxes the artist took colour shots of herself, and from the colour negatives she inserted her figure into old black-and-white negatives depicting her as a child. As a result, she appears twice in each of these negatives, in two different ages, then and now. She constructed an installation for these film negatives by making a wire frame and placing a mirror behind each negative at a 45-degree angle. This mirror reflects the light from a light-bulb fixed to the wall above the frame, and illuminates the scenes from behind, making the negative images visible.
The second group of works in the Time Leap series (Stitched Photos – Video Stills, 2008) are images depicting a lonely female figure (the artist) in a solitary state of sexual desire, situated in positions of love acts without the object of this desire appearing in the images. This is again an intervention in the past – or rather, an intervention of the past in the present. The still images are taken from video recordings taken by the artist, while the silk figures sewn on the images are from the same series of old family photos as the ones appearing in the light boxes. While the light boxes rewrite the past by placing the artist’s present self in those images, in this series the opposite occurs: figures from family history appear in her present.
Madonna (2008) and Queen (2008) in Time Leap – Stitched Photos series also based on old negatives from the family collection depicting prearranged dressed up scenes. The “as if” perspective of family photos is also in the focus of Csaky’s interest, the way people's actions and people themselves are arranged, made to pose and the way they use the images of the nature. She claims that family photos, in this sense, are depictions, explicit manifestations of desires for things that are not there or are not the way they should be. However artificial the image of the desires and feelings appearing in family photos might be, it is, in fact, real.
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
. Trained in arts as well as ethnography and philosophy, she started to exhibit her work in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in 1989. Since the very start of her career Csáky has been known for her non-mainstream forms of expression, her unconventional and provocative images. She regularly publishes poems, essays and translations.
Biography
A native of Hungary, Marianne Csaky currently lives and works in Budapest and BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, and has spent longer periods of time in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, the USA, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as a resident artist.
Works
Marianne Csaky works with various media: photo, painting, sculpture, embroidery, video and installation. In her juvenile works she exclusively used leather for her sculptures and 3D objects.In her early works - sculptures made out of pieces of waste wood and plaster - language, desire, subjectivity and the androgynous nature of soul and mind were in the focus of her interest (Aphrodite Urania, 1995, Feast, 1990). In this period of her career she was influenced by the works of ancient Greek philosophers, first of all Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Symposium
Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's Symposium and Xenophon's Symposium, as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara...
.
In these works she started to use the love scene, a depiction of sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
as a visual metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
or rather metonymy
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept...
of human subjectivity
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
and the language of desire (Aphrodite Urania, Hands and Soles, 1995, Slanting Space, 1997).
Csáky has also created complex spatial constructions which modelled the shifting, alterable and unstable nature of our views, beliefs, judgements and first of all the unstable nature of our identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
(Slanting Space). For instance, in 1997, she built a new slanting floor in Gallery 56, thereby using bodily instabilization for intellectual deconstruction. Chopping boards with carvings of scenes of sexual intercourse hung from the ceiling of the gallery, swinging and turning gently with the slightest movements of the air.
From 2000, her interest turned toward personal and small community history. These series of works (My Skins 2005, Time Leap 2007-8) are the appropriation of her family past, an experiment with the nature of memory and post memory work. In My Skins, a series of leather curtains and leather wall carpets with embossing and pencil drawing, she used swine leather again, referring to childhood memory. After the 56 revolution in Hungary Csáky's grandfather was compelled to live in a self-maintaining farm where he also produced animal hides. The pencil drawings on the leather are based on old family photographs from the artist’s childhood.
The Time Leap series (Light Boxes, 2007-8, Stitched Photos, 2008 ) represent a complex construction of different layers of time and subjectivity. It is the documentation of the artist’s efforts to displace records, deconstruct documents preserving personal memories, to rewrite the past, and, by doing so, change the present.
In the case of Light Boxes the artist took colour shots of herself, and from the colour negatives she inserted her figure into old black-and-white negatives depicting her as a child. As a result, she appears twice in each of these negatives, in two different ages, then and now. She constructed an installation for these film negatives by making a wire frame and placing a mirror behind each negative at a 45-degree angle. This mirror reflects the light from a light-bulb fixed to the wall above the frame, and illuminates the scenes from behind, making the negative images visible.
The second group of works in the Time Leap series (Stitched Photos – Video Stills, 2008) are images depicting a lonely female figure (the artist) in a solitary state of sexual desire, situated in positions of love acts without the object of this desire appearing in the images. This is again an intervention in the past – or rather, an intervention of the past in the present. The still images are taken from video recordings taken by the artist, while the silk figures sewn on the images are from the same series of old family photos as the ones appearing in the light boxes. While the light boxes rewrite the past by placing the artist’s present self in those images, in this series the opposite occurs: figures from family history appear in her present.
Madonna (2008) and Queen (2008) in Time Leap – Stitched Photos series also based on old negatives from the family collection depicting prearranged dressed up scenes. The “as if” perspective of family photos is also in the focus of Csaky’s interest, the way people's actions and people themselves are arranged, made to pose and the way they use the images of the nature. She claims that family photos, in this sense, are depictions, explicit manifestations of desires for things that are not there or are not the way they should be. However artificial the image of the desires and feelings appearing in family photos might be, it is, in fact, real.
External links
- http://www.mariannecsaky.be
- http://www.memoart.eu
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-4vvNxMLnU