Crash in Venice

Similarly to previous years, the application process for the Hungarian Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibitionwas conducted by the Budapest Kunsthalle. Out of 12 curators’ applications, the jury selected Miklós Peternák’s application, presenting Hajnal Németh’s project.

In their evaluation, the jury made the following comment about the work: ”There has been a strong presence of everyday and mass culture elements in Németh’s works from the beginning. In her current project she is examining the symbolic role of the car in our lives, as one of the most important technical inventions, which has brought mobility to humanity. With the case study of a car crash, she researches the fatal nature of mortality, determined by accidental happenings.”

38-year-old Hajnal Németh represents Hungary in the international arts competition at the Biennale, which will host an unprecedented number of young and female artists this year: more than half of the 82 creators were born after 1975, and one-third are women.

This is the first time the Passive Interview goes abroad, but the work of the Munkácsy-awarded and Nam June Paik-award nominated artist has already been shown to the Hungarian audience, first in the Kiscelli Museum last spring, then in the MODEM in Debrecen in the summer and also at the AVIVA-award nominees’ display in the Kunsthalle in October.

The centerpiece of the installation is a car-wreck totalled in a crash, with an experimental opera playing in the backgroud, telling the reflections of car-crash victims in a dialogical form. According to Németh, the inspiration came from the way that the brain of a car-crash survivor reacts on the accident. „Human memory recites the critical moment in extreme slow-motion and recounts every minor detail, the drive and course of events leading up to the fatal moment, examining each decision made that day, which irrevocably lead up to the crash. I see this slow-motion reflection as a way of resolving the shock and trying to find a comforting explanation for the inevitable.”

The installation will be on display at the Venice Biennale in the Hungarian Pavilion between 4 June and 27 November.